“Houston, we don’t have a problem.” That’s the message that comes across loud and clear from partners at Haynes Boone, who gave us the lowdown on life and law in the Texan metropolis.
You can’t talk about Houston for long before the word ‘energy’ inevitably comes up. But these days that doesn’t just mean oil, gas, and electricity; there’s another kind of energy in the city’s atmosphere, which comes from its dynamic, diversifying economy, its vibrant neighborhoods, and its booming population. In recent years, a broad range of firms and lawyers have been beating a path down to Galveston Bay in order to get a piece of this action, but if you really want to understand what makes Houston tick, you need to consult a longstanding local institution, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Although it now has national and global reach, Texan powerhouse Haynes Boone has always retained a keen focus on its home state, and benefits from over 35 years of experience in Houston’s legal sector. The depth of its roots in the city is also matched by the breadth of its activity there. “There are certain practices that Haynes and Boone has really built to excel in the Houston market, including energy-focused litigation, M&A, and finance,” as one partner put it, while others highlighted its additional know-how in areas ranging from restructuring to employment and capital markets. Given all this, there’s nobody who's better placed to explain what it takes to achieve lift-off in the home of NASA. Here’s what the firm's attorneys had to say.
Chambers Associate: How would you describe the Houston legal market to someone coming from New York, Chicago, or California?
Ellen Conley, energy partner: The Houston legal market has a distinctly Texan culture that values directness, pragmatism and long-term client relationships. It is heavily concentrated on energy work, with a strong client base constituting energy companies, their private equity sponsors and related financial and industrial partners. This diverse, yet focused, group fosters legal experts with sophisticated transactional and regulatory practices.
Valisa Berber-Thayer, M&A partner: Houston is incredibly diverse and at the forefront of economic opportunity in the US. The Port of Houston and the energy industry place Houston in the heart of international trade and investment, and the business-friendly tax and legal frameworks of the State of Texas encourage investment and innovation from across the world. The Houston legal market benefits from all of these factors, providing opportunities to work on bet-the-company litigation and major transactions with clients from across the globe. Houston is also home to the US Bankruptcy Court of The Southern District of Texas, known for handling some of the US’s largest, most complex corporate bankruptcies.
Kelli Norfleet, restructuring partner: Houston has a unique legal market in that Houston lawyers are able to work on sophisticated, high stakes commercial matters and also enjoy a collegial atmosphere among the Houston bar.
Garrett Martin, litigation partner: The Houston market is a highly competitive mix of large Texas-founded firms and the international/coastal elite firms. The Texas-founded firms like Haynes and Boone and Baker Botts continue to have large offices and a massive presence, but most of the Am Law 100 firms have some presence here, varying in size from well-established offices to strategic outposts. The market for legal services is also large and active, with many varied practice opportunities for the mainstays of complex litigation and major M&A, but also practices like international trade and finance.
CA: Can you tell us a little bit about your practice and the work you do?
KN: I am the current Chair of Haynes Boone’s Restructuring Practice Group. My practice focuses on the areas of business bankruptcy and insolvency law and related litigation, financings, dispositions, and other restructuring transactions. I represent clients across a wide range of industries in a variety of bankruptcy and restructuring matters, including Chapter 11 debtors, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, and other parties in interest. I am also active in pro bono matters and serve as Co-Chair of Haynes Boone’s Pro Bono Committee.
VBT: I am a partner in our Mergers and Acquisitions practice group and enjoy a broad corporate practice in which I work with both public and private companies from across the US and worldwide in a wide variety of industries on M&A transactions, including complex cross-border transactions. I assist clients with general corporate matters, such as corporate formation and governance, commercial contracts, and corporate reorganizations. I also advise distressed companies on the transactional and corporate governance aspects of out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 reorganizations and have advised both debtors and bidders in bankruptcy auctions.
EC: I am a partner in the Energy, Power and Natural Resources Practice Group in the Houston office of Haynes Boone (co-chair of the Haynes Boone Energy Finance Practice Group). I handle energy finance matters, as well as the acquisition and disposition of oil and gas properties. I represent banks, private capital providers, and upstream and midstream energy companies on traditional debt and non-traditional financing transactions and assist oil and gas companies in acquisition and divestiture transactions through asset or equity sales, and with operational matters, including the review and negotiation of industry agreements. I have also been involved in several exploration and production bankruptcies and restructurings.
GM: One thing I love about Haynes and Boone on the litigation side is that our group really functions more like a boutique law firm within a larger full-service firm. We regularly have trials (I had two jury trials to verdict last year), and we basically always have someone in a run-up to a trial or arbitration hearing. The reason for this is really a result of where we fit in the market paired with our energy-industry expertise. Like most Am Law 100 firms, we have a lot of larger clients with complex, big-dollar disputes. The reality is that those kinds of cases are fun and great for growth, but they rarely go to trial. Unlike most Am Law firms, we also have matters for smaller clients that are just more likely to go to trial. The mix of our client base allows me to work on a wide range of tasks nearly every day, from briefing personal jurisdiction issues in a $1 billion bankruptcy adversary proceeding in the morning to prepping a witness for deposition in a $5 million contract dispute in the afternoon.
CA: What attracted you to the Houston legal market?
VBT: I am one of the first lawyers in my family, and when I interviewed with firms during law school OCI, Haynes and Boone, and particularly the attorneys in their Houston office, stood out to me for their warmth, personable interactions, breadth of interests, and the camaraderie I witnessed among the attorneys that I met there. The city of Houston and Haynes and Boone are both very welcoming, entrepreneurial environments where ideas and initiative are encouraged and supported. That environment, and the mentorship that I benefitted from, provided an incredible foundation for my career and opened the door to many opportunities for me, which is why I count myself among the many “lifers” at Haynes and Boone.
“If all roads lead to Mecca, all (or most) energy-industry opportunities lead to Houston.”
GM: As a litigator focused in large part on servicing energy clients, there simply isn’t a better place to build a practice. If all roads lead to Mecca, all (or most) energy-industry opportunities lead to Houston. You cannot beat the scope of the client-base in Houston: from traditional oil and gas producers, to truly integrated energy companies, to midstream groups and service providers, they are all here. And as a result, a large number of the most interesting cases are here, too. I wanted to be where the action is, and Houston is it.
KN: The Houston legal market was appealing to me because it offered the chance to work on complex legal matters while still enjoying a work/life balance. Houston is full of excellent, hard-working lawyers who also have lives outside of work.
CA: How has Houston evolved over the past five to ten years?
GM: In terms of the legal industry, Houston has seen a major influx of coastal firms, and I would wager more than any other US city. This has made the market more competitive in terms of lawyer hiring and retention, but also in winning and retaining clients. In terms of the city itself, Houston’s growth continues to astound.
EC: The arrival of a significant number of national firms has intensified competition for legal talent. Texas firms like Haynes Boone, however, have shown remarkable resilience, adapting strategically and continuing to obtain record financial results. We represent what the Houston legal market is known for - a culture that values its people and relationships.
“Houston has experienced an incredible amount of growth and increasing diversification of its economy. COVID brought business leaders from all over the US to Houston, and many of them have stayed.”
VBT: Houston has experienced an incredible amount of growth and increasing diversification of its economy. COVID brought business leaders from all over the US to Houston, and many of them have stayed. Rice University and the University of Houston have developed premier programs in entrepreneurship within their respective business schools, with their graduate and undergraduate (respectively) entrepreneurship programs garnering top rankings from The Princeton Review in recent years. This, combined with Rice’s investment in The Ion innovation district, the opening of a Houston outpost of Boston-founded Greentown Labs (a climate tech startup incubator), and programs such as the Rice Business Plan Competition and numerous incubators, accelerators and innovation centers across the city have created a dynamic ecosystem for innovation in the city.
CA: What industries drive the legal work in Houston?
KN: Energy (including oil and gas, oilfield service, and power); International Investments (both investments coming into the United States from foreign investors and investments from US investors going outside of the United States); Construction and Engineering; Shipping and Transportation; Healthcare.
GM: One primary driver is obviously the energy industry. That simple description, however, obscures a bit just how diverse clients in that space are. Of course, some of the work is driven by traditional oil and gas, but there is so much more to it. What many people have missed is that many of the traditional major oil and gas companies have shifted to becoming integrated energy companies with much broader focuses that include things like renewables and direct electricity development. Firms like Haynes and Boone have likewise transitioned to servicing broader practices with our clients in the past decade, which has been an exciting part of my practice.
VBT: While Houston’s economy has always been firmly grounded in the energy industry and manufacturing and industrial sectors, Houston has also built a world class medical community and thriving life sciences and biotechnology industries, has invested heavily in the energy transition and power and infrastructure sectors, and is a hub for investment and innovation from across the globe.
CA: What legal practices are thriving in Houston at the moment?
EC: Transactional practices broadly, particularly those having ties to the energy industry.
GM: From my perspective, litigation is really having a moment in the Houston market. The introduction of the Texas Business Courts in 2024 has generated a lot of opportunities with clients seeking to litigate in Texas forums. Moreover, larger economic uncertainty seems to be incentivizing companies to pursue claims more aggressively than they may have in the pre-Covid period.
KN: Energy, Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Transactions, Restructuring, Commercial and Energy Litigation.
CA: What types of clients do you find yourself working with most often?
EC: Banks, private capital providers and upstream and midstream energy companies.
VBT: My practice primarily focuses on seller-side M&A representations, where I help company founders shepherd their business into its next chapter under new ownership, and on the representation of clients with extensive international operations, where I advise on complex cross-border transactions and on establishing businesses in the U.S. market. I assist clients in a range of industries, but primarily manufacturing, commodities, construction, logistics, traditional and renewable energy, and consulting services.
GM: I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients in my time at Haynes and Boone. Again, the majority of my practice is in disputes arising out of the energy industry, but that is already a broad set of clients. Some of my favorite clients in that space are midstream and marketing companies, because the disputes are always fact-specific and challenging. But I also have regular opportunities to work with other interesting clients, particularly on land or contract issues, including real -estate developers, tech companies, national and local banks, and Texas colleges.
KN: I work with a wide variety of clients, including energy companies, financial institutions, construction and engineering firms, and financially distressed businesses.
CA: What can the Houston legal scene offer junior associates starting out their careers?
VBT: Because of Houston’s ties to the energy industry, and by extension the ethos of the initial wildcatters that shaped that industry, in my experience, Houston is a very welcoming business environment where those established in the business and legal community are always open to new ideas and willing to support young professionals and open doors for them.
EC: Exposure to new, innovative projects, particularly those that require significant initial investment and understanding. For example, data centers are becoming increasingly energy-intensive, particularly with the rise of AI, driving significant growth in energy demand.
KN: In a city the size of Houston, there is a lot of variety in the types of legal work that you will find here. That variety allows junior associates to find a practice that is truly a good fit for a life-long career.
“Associates can have a large living space with plenty of outdoor access in a walkable neighborhood within 15 minutes of downtown while still paying a reasonable rent or mortgage.”
GM: Houston is unique in the sense that it presents opportunities for really complex work that match the opportunities in the coastal markets, while still offering a relatively low cost of living and a sense of ease that most coastal markets cannot touch. Associates can have a large living space with plenty of outdoor access in a walkable neighborhood within 15 minutes of downtown while still paying a reasonable rent or mortgage. The jumpstart that this offers for building a family or paying off student debt is tough to beat, especially when you aren’t sacrificing quality of mentorship, prestige of client, or complexity of work. There really isn’t another market like it in that sense for associates. I have fielded at least a dozen calls from former law school classmates looking to move to Houston from large coastal markets because of the relative ease and lower cost of living, particularly once you’ve got small children in the mix.
CA: How does compensation in Houston compare to the big coastal markets of New York and California?
EC: Houston typically matches the major coastal markets on compensation. When adjusting for a lower cost of living and no state income taxes, however, Houston comes out substantially ahead.
GM: Houston firms are willing to compete for the best associates along with their coastal offices, and associate pay is typically identical across the larger firms’ offices—as is the case for Haynes and Boone, which matches market associate compensation in Houston. The same is largely true at the partner level, and opportunities for high compensation levels abound in Houston as they do in other large-city markets.
CA: How would you describe the culture of Haynes Boone’s Houston office?
VBT: Haynes and Boone’s Houston office, like the rest of the firm, has a culture focused on excellence, service and collaboration. Practice leaders see mentorship and development of the next generation of firm leaders as a key part of their role, and attorneys at all levels look for opportunities to support one another. Because so many attorneys and staff stay at the firm for their full career (or at least a significant portion thereof), we are invested in one another’s professional and personal success, and collaboration is a key part of our daily practice.
GM: Our practice groups are deeply integrated, and it would be an unusual week if I didn’t work with at least a couple of my transactional or restructuring colleagues on some project. It is much more fun to work with your colleagues to develop clients than against them, as I’ve seen with other platforms. I also genuinely like the people I work with and see them (and their families) outside of the office regularly. Many of the partners are younger with small children, which I think contributes to more energy in the office and a high level of understanding of the unique challenges young lawyers face. We know each other’s kids’ names. We go to each other’s houses. We want to succeed as a group, which I think is really unique.
EC: We are a collective team (not just individuals working in silos) with a deep commitment and passion to both clients and our colleagues.
CA: What’s your favorite thing about Houston– whether that’s something about your practice or your life in the city?
GM: It’s tough to narrow this down to just one thing, but I think I’d say my neighborhood. I live in the Heights area, which is highly walkable, packed with incredible restaurants (from tiny banh mi shops to James Beard Award winning dining rooms), and lovely streets and green spaces. I love walking to a bakery up the street with my family on Saturday morning, and biking down to a park later that afternoon. My kids go to a fantastic public school and walk to their friends’ houses. And all of this is within 15 minutes of my office downtown. Houston offers several neighborhoods like this, but I particularly love mine.
“Houston is always evolving – new people are frequently moving to this city, bringing with them diverse cultures and perspectives. There is always something new to do.”
KN: Houston is always evolving – new people are frequently moving to this city, bringing with them diverse cultures and perspectives. There is always something new to do – a new restaurant opening, a new art exhibition, a new musical or theater performance. Houston really has something for everyone.
EC: Family, friends and food.
CA: What advice would you give to a law student looking to begin their career in Houston, or to an associate looking to transition their practice to Houston? Why would you recommend Houston as a legal market to practice in?
VBT: I would recommend reaching out to as many current Houston attorneys as you can that practice at the type of firm and in the practice area(s) in which you think you are interested. They can give you valuable insight into life as an attorney in Houston and how to begin (or transition) your practice here. Also think about your “why” for coming to Houston. Unlike some markets, not having personal ties to the city will not preclude you from finding opportunities here, but a thoughtful answer to the question of “Why Houston?” will help to open doors for you.
GM: I always tell law students, regardless of their target market, to focus on mentorship and growth opportunities above all else. I’ve seen a lot of smart people—smarter than me—get sucked into an associate position that may look attractive at the outset but fails to offer real opportunity for building diverse skills or growth. I regularly get resumes from brilliant folks coming out of prestigious firms after five years of work but possessing the skill sets of a second-year lawyer because they were locked in very junior roles. When interviewing with firms, ask what kind of tasks or responsibilities associates have at various points in their practice. Are fifth years still handling mostly diligence? Have the eighth-year lawyers taken a witness at trial? We often end up being who we work with. If your mentors aren’t getting the development they need to reach partnership and succeed long-term, it’s a safe bet you won’t either.
EC: As one of the largest cities in the US, Houston is a premier city of opportunities, with a robust economy, rich diversity and continuing growth. The cards are stacked in your favor.
