The Houston office of Fulbright & Jaworski has gained two international corporate partners. Kevin Trautner joins from King & Spalding, where he specialized in finance and M&A. Charles Powell left Haynes & Boone, where he was the head of the technology practice, providing counsel related to venture capital, securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Thompson & Knight announced that effective Aug. 1, its first and second-year associates will receive a pay raise. In all of its U.S. offices, starting salaries will be $160,000 and those for second-years will be $170,000. The compensation structure for other associate classes has yet to be determined. This Dallas-based firm is the fifth TX firm behind Vinson & Elkins, Andrews Kurth, Locke Liddell & Sapp, and Susman Godfrey to raise associate salaries in the last two weeks.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Houston-based Susman Godfrey has joined the ranks of Texas firms raising associate salaries. The firm raised salaries to $160,000 for first-years, $170,000 for second-years, $175,000 for third-years, $180,000 for fourth-years and $190,000 for fifth years. Unlike other firms, Susman’s pay hikes have no hour requirements attached. For example, starting in their third year, Vinson & Elkins associates must bill 2,000 hours in order to be eligible for the full raise.
Source: www.law.com
Locke Liddell & Sapp is the third Texas-based firm to raise associates’ salaries in Texas and Washington, D.C. Following Vinson & Elkins and Andrews Kurth, Locke Liddell has also raised first years’ pay to $160,000 and second years’ pay to $170,000. Additional raises for other associate classes are still under discussion. Locke Liddell is based in Houston and Dallas.
Source: www.law.com
In response to Vinson & Elkins’ Wednesday salary hike, Houston-based Andrews Kurth has announced pay raises of its own. First-year associates in Texas and D.C. will now receive $160,000, and second-years will earn $170,000. The firm has not decided on the compensation structure for higher-level associates.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Vinson & Elkins raised Texas first-year associates’ salaries to $160,000, becoming the first Texas-based firm to match the New York market rate. V&E also raised pay for its Washington, D.C. associates. Salaries for first through eighth year associates were raised, but starting in the third year, associates must work 2,000 credit hours in order to be eligible for the complete raise. With this system, associates earn salaries comparable to those in NY, but if they are not able to make the 2,000 hours their pay is reduced only slightly, and only for that year.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Jones Day recruited Weston Loegering for its litigation practice in Dallas. Loegering joins the firm from Hughes & Luce as a partner. He has done work in civil and criminal litigation, as well as white collar crime defense, securities litigation, and class actions. Jones Day employs more than 2,200 lawyers in 30 offices around the world.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
One of El Paso, Texas’ larger firms, Delgado, Acosta, Braden and Jones, has broken up. Three of the partners, Alejandro Acosta Jr., Hector Delgado, and John Jones, have become partners with Bickerstaff, Heath, Pollan & Caroom, which changed its name to Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado & Acosta. The Austin-based firm now has an El Paso office where Acosta and Delgado work; Jones will head the Houston office. Two other lawyers moved to the Austin firm, while eleven of the other lawyers from the El Paso firm have found new jobs or opened their own practices. Paul Braden, the other partner of the old firm, has joined Fulbright & Jaworski as a partner, and will continue to work in El Paso.
Source: www.elpasotimes.com
Texas lawyers are making lateral moves. Gary Short left Vinson & Elkins to join Jones Day in Dallas as a partner in the employee benefits & executive compensation practice. Nancy Furney and Lori Oliphant have joined Winstead in Dallas as shareholders. Formerly with Jenkens & Gilchrist, Francis Munchinski has joined Cox Smith Matthews in Dallas as of counsel in the firm’s energy department. Bracewell & Giuliani has gained public law attorney, William King, as of counsel in Houston. Litigation attorney Noelle M. Reed has become a partner in the Houston office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Federal prosecutor Katya Jestin has joined Jenner & Block as a partner in the New York office. She will work in the firm’s litigation department and the white collar criminal defense and counseling practice. Jestin was most recently the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime & Racketeering Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She is most noted for her convictions of Peter Gotti and his 16 co-defendants on charges of racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and extortion. Jenner & Block has more than 450 lawyers in offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York and Washington, D.C.
Source: www.prnewswire.com
Houston and Dallas-based Locke, Liddell & Sapp, and Chicago-based Lord, Bissell & Brook are finalizing plans to merge and form a 700-lawyer firm named Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell. After the merger is approved by partners, the deal is expected to close by August 1. Jerry Clements, the Austin, TX-based managing partner of Locke Liddell will head a nine-member executive committee. Locke Liddell is the larger firm, with 399 lawyers compared to Lord Bissell’s 300. However, Lord Bissell’s location cover more area, with offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, CA, and London. The two firms have worked together in the past on banking regulatory matters and as co-counsel or counsel for co-defendants on litigation or arbitration related to reinsurance disputes.
Source: www.law.com
International law firm, Haynes & Boone, welcomed a new attorney to its Houston office. Jill Groff, who specializes in complex business litigation, has joined as an of counsel. She mostly handles antitrust, securities, and white collar criminal defense matters. Haynes & Boone employs over 450 lawyers in its offices in Texas, New York, Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Moscow.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
