JD Journal » texas law firms

Staff Layoffs at Brown McCarroll

joshua — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:50:38 +0000

Tipsters report that an unconfirmed number of staff have been shown the door at Texas powerhouse Brown McCarroll and that some partners may be on their way out as well. Information is still sketchy as of now, and we’ll update this post as more information becomes available. If you have any specific information for us, please share it here.

Seventy-year-old Brown McCarroll has historically focused on litigation as a core practice area. Its 2003 merger with business law firm Hilgers & Watkins added a corporate and transactional practice. The firm has offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and El Paso.

Haynes & Boone Cut First Year Salaries

joshua — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:40:58 +0000

First year associates at Haynes & Boone will be starting after Thanksgiving, but at a reduced rate. The firm emailed its incoming associates and informed them that the salary for first years has been cut to $145k. The firm says that it has not decided on a pay structure for 2010 yet so this may be a temporary cut, but that seems unlikely in today’s market. The rush to $160k was fueled by competition for the best students coming out of law school and was coupled with other perks and benefits, lavish events and other promotions designed to win the hearts and minds of the next generation of lawyers. With law school enrollment on the rise and the number of biglaw jobs on the decline, the tables have turned a bit and firms don’t need to persuade recent graduates to come work for them. A job offer is enough.

Clients are also pushing for lower hourly rates, particularly from first year lawyers who are essentially getting on the job training at the clients expense. In today’s economy, firms are increasingly catering to the wishes of their clients in order to get the business and so more and more firms are offering cut rates for first year hours, or moving to alternative fee structures. None of this adds up to returning salaries to 160k next year for Haynes & Boone first year associates.

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, and if it does happen I will happily eat my words.

Swine Flu Claims the Life of Texas Lawyer Sidney Davis Jr

joshua — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:34:45 +0000

Sidney Davis Jr, a partner at Texas firm Touchstone Bernays, died from complications of the H1N1 virus, better known as the Swine Flu.

Davis was appointed last month to lead an investigation into the conduct of two Dallas County constables who are accused of forcing employees to sell raffle tickets to raise money for their reelection campaigns. His practice, however, was focused on representing insurance companies.

Sidney Davis Jr graduated from the University of Texas School of Law at Austin in 1979, where he was the editor of the Texas Law Review. Mr. Davis was 54 years old.

Nine Fish & Richardson Lawyers Move to Bracewell & Giuliani

joshua — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:26:36 +0000

As we reported last month, Fish and Richardson is closing its office in Austin. Nine IP lawyers from that office have signed on with Bracewell & Giuliani, according to a press releasefrom Bracewell.

The IP group is headed by Alan Albright, who was managing principal of Fish & Richardson’s Austin office. Ed Cavazos, Barry Shelton, Andrew Gajkowski, Chris Johnson, Betty Chen, Michael Chibib and David Hoffman round out the group. Some of the nine have already made the move, and the rest will come over as they wrap up current projects.

Bracewell & Giuliani employs more than 400 lawyers at offices in Texas, New York, Washington DC, and Connecticut, as well as in Dubai, Kazakhstan, and London.