Texas' top law firms

The legal market

Austin texas with label

An abundance of investment opportunities has bred pretty healthy legal markets. Dallas and Houston are two of the largest markets in the country, with the Dallas/Fort Worth area housing more than 10,000 corporate HQs, more than anywhere else in the States. As such, Texas firms have opened their doors to a flood of lateral hires over the past few years. One Haynes & Boone associate told us: “There's been a lot of change in the Houston market over the last few years, with many national and international firms opening up here. We've seen people leaving the traditional Texan firms to go to them, so there's been more in the way of turnover than normal.” Since 2010, Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin, Quinn Emanuel, Kirkland & Ellis, Arnold & Porter, K&L Gates, Reed Smith, and Katten Muchin have all launched Houston branches. Longstanding Texan firms are increasingly under pressure to up their game since young associates looking to start their careers now have a lot more choice of where to go.

The energy sector isn't Texas' only winning industry. As Amanda Kelly, manager of attorney recruitment at Haynes and Boone, points out: "Many people don’t realize that Texas is second only to New York in the number of Fortune 1000 company headquarters. Our firm serves 20% of the Fortune 500 corporations in a wide variety of industries, including energy, technology, aviation, transportation and healthcare so we are diversified and staying busy. Right now, for example, real estate has ramped up nicely, and a good amount of our work is coming in from outside Texas, especially on the IP side." Karen Sargent of the career services office at Southern Methodist University notes adds: "I'd say intellectual property law was originally the rocket docket in East Texas – we have a US patent and trademark office opening in Dallas now, and IP is a big focus of our law school. Obviously energy is big here, but that ebbs and flows with the economy. On the corporate side, we're a center for some of the largest corporations in the country, and that brings in a big deal of M&A work. Law firms are now moving into the Dallas area for IP and transactions, where they'd previously moved to Houston for energy."


 

Satisfaction survey

undefinedThe leading firms in Texas for associate satisfaction

Which firms in Texas offer the best associate experience? In this section we are only including firms who were willing to take part in our research, and whose Texan offices are a significant part of their identity. 

 

 

Band One


Arnold & Porter
Gibson Dunn
Katten Muchin
Sidley Austin
Willkie Farr

 

 

Band Two

Akin Gump
Baker Botts

DLA Piper
Dorsey & Whitney
Duane Morris
Fish & Richardson
Foley Lardner
Greenberg Traurig
Haynes and Boone
K&L Gates
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Mayer Brown
Orrick
Perkins Coie
Vinson & Elkins
Waller
Weil
White & Case

 

 

Band Three

Bracewell 
Dykema
Hogan Lovells
Holland & Knight
Hunton
Jackson Walker
Jones Day
Morgan Lewis
Nelson Mullins
Norton Rose
Polsinelli
Proskauer
Reed Smith
Seyfarth Shaw
Shearman & Sterling
Sheppard Mullin
Simpson Thacher
Skadden
Winston & Strawn

 

Expertise

Chambers USAIf you're motivated by doing the best work possible, the industry-standard Chambers USA rankings are invaluable. Here are the best firms in Texas for the most common practice areast. There are lower bands and many more practice area rankings at chambers.com.

 

Banking & finance

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Kirkland & Ellis 
Latham & Watkins Simpson Thacher
Sidley Austin  Hunton 
Vinson & Elkins     Holland & Knight Mayer Brown 
      Winstead

Capital markets

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Akin Gump Bracewell 
Gibson, Dunn  Sidley Austin 
  Kirkland & Ellis     Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
      White & Case

Corporate

/M&A

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Sidley Austin 
  Weil Holland & Knight
       Hunton
      Jackson Walker 
      Jones Day
     
     
     
      Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Energy & projects

Texas' energy and projects work is too complex to capture in a single ranking. Texas dominates in US energy work, but a lot of top-level regulatory, global transactional and contentious work also happens in New York and DC. So you'll find the energy and projects rankings in USA - Nationwide, rather than at Texas level.

Environment

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Jackson Walker 
Kelley Drye  
Bracewell  Beveridge & Diamond King & Spalding 
Vinson & Elkins  Holland & Knight  
  McGinnis Lochridge    

Intellectual property

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Heim, Payne
Holland & Knight 
  Jones Day Susman Godfrey 
  Norton Rose   Morgan, Lewis
  Pirkey Barber    Slater Matsil
  Winston & Strawn     Vinson & Elkins 
      Alavi & Anaipakos