Dallas firm Gwinn & Roby has closed its doors. The defense firm once housed 200 attorneys in three offices throughout Texas. Source blame HB 4, a tort reform measure set in 2003, for the downfall of the firm.
Source: www.texaslawyer.com

Locke Liddell & Sapp and Lord Bissell & Brook LLP have announced that two firms will merge in early October. The new firm, which will be called Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP, will house over 700 attorneys and will have around $400 million is gross revenue. Current Dallas managing partner Jerry Clements of Liddell & Sapp will head the new firm.
Source: www.bizjournals.com

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP has announced that litigation partner Bretton C. Gerard will join the firm’s Dallas office. Gerard specializes in business litigation, focusing on real estate, partnership and property disputes. He is also very skill in mediation and arbitration.
Source: lawfuel.com

Dykema Gosset P.L.L.C., a law firm based out of Detroit, announced this Wednesday that it will be opening a Dallas office. The new branch will be composed of commercial litigators, although Dykema hopes to expand to corporate, real estate and financial practices over the next few years. Darrell Jordan, the attorney who ran for mayor of Dallas last year, will head the new office.
Source: crainsdetroit.com

Meckler, Bulger & Tilson will open a Dallas office September 1st. The Chicago based office has recruit six attorneys from Baker & MacKenzie LLP’s Dallas office to begin the new insurance practice. This new office is part of a Southwestern expansion; Meckler Bulger & Tilson also has plans to open a Phoenix office. The firm’s major clients include Geico and Travelers Insurance.
Source: news.google.com

Two more Texas firms have announced first-year salary increases. Dallas-based firms Jackson Walker and Gardere Wynne Sewell are matching the new TX market rate of $160,000. Gardere’s new starting salary will be effective Sept. 1, but there is no bonus associated with it. Jackson Walker’s raise will not be effective until Jan. 1, 2008; it includes a base salary of $140,000 plus a $20,000 bonus, $15,000 of which the new associates will receive immediately. Neither firm has decided on a new compensation structure for more senior associates.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is rapidly adding partners (20 this year) and offices (three this year), yet its total headcount is growing slowly. The total number of attorneys has only grown by five, reaching 650, because some lawyers have left as the firm sharpens its strategic focus. The firm’s new offices are located in Dallas, Charlotte, and Menlo Park. Sonnenschein aims to expand its litigation, corporate, and real estate groups, and hopes to grow to 1,000 attorneys by 2009. Along the way the firm has lost lawyers due to its increasing emphasis on profitability and productivity standards.
Source: www.law.com

A group of three attorneys–Partner Michael E. Santa Maria, Of Counsel Todd Bowers, and associate Kevin Maher–has moved from DLA Piper to Baker McKenzie LLP’s Dallas office. The were recruited to expand Baker McKenzie’s complex commercial cross-border transactional practice. Both Santa Maria and Bowers have worked for Baker McKenzie previously as associates. The three hope to improve Baker McKenzie’s Latin American presence.
Source: lawfuel.com

Dallas-based Haynes & Boone announced that all Texas associates’ salaries will now be at the market rate of $160,000 for first years. The salaries for second and third years will be $170,000; $180,00 for forth years; $190,000 for fifth years; $200,000 for sixth years; $205,000 for seventh years; and $210,000 for eighth years. Associates’ bonuses will also be increased to as much as $5,000 for first-years and up to $70,000 for eighth-year associates. Associate classes, as a group, must reach certain billable-hour totals for the bonuses to be distributed, but for the first time Haynes & Boone has also added individual billable-hour bonus goals.
Source: www.law.com

Dallas-based Winstead has announced it will not be joining the other Texas firms that raised associate salaries. The new salary scale is effective today at Vinson & Elkins, the firm that started the move to $160,000 for 1st-years, and $170,000 for 2nd years. Winstead will continue to pay a starting base salary of $135,000, and will instead offer a merit-based bonus of up to $25,000. Denis Braham, chairman and chief executive officer of the firm, commented on the decision saying that Winstead would prefer to reward individual associates based on their contributions. He feels that bonuses will keep the firm competitive, attracting associates with a long-term view and who want to be rewarded for hard work.
Source: www.law.com