Three corporate and securities lawyers from Winstead in Dallas recently moved to Bracewell & Giuliani. Partners Bruce Cheatham and Brice Tarzwell, and counsel Connie Stamets joined Bracewell’s 400-lawyer corporate and securities practice at the end of February. Cheatham commented that Bracewell’s New York, Washington, and international offices were a draw because of the benefit they hold for his practice. After losing Cheatham, Winstead reorganized, doing away with his former position of corporate and securities section head.
Source: www.law.com
The Dallas office of Bracewell & Giuliani has added two new partners. Bruce A. Cheatham and Brice E. Tarzwell have joined the firm’s corporate and securities practice. Connie S. Stamets has also joined the firm as counsel. All three of the new hires came from the Dallas office of Winstead P.C., where Cheatham was the head of the corporate and securities group. Bracewell & Giuliani has 400 lawyers in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., Kazakhstan and London.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Hunton & Williams has raised starting salaries in Charlotte, NC to $145,000. National firms Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Dechert; and Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw are also reported to have increased to $145,000 or plan to next year. Until now, first-year associates at Hunton’s 43-lawyer Charlotte office were making only $117,5000, making the increase a 23 per cent raise. The firm’s Raleigh, Richmond, DC, LA, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Norfolk, and Knoxville offices also now have a starting pay of $145,000. The NY office also increased to match the market rate of $160,000.
Source: www.charlotte.bizjournals.com
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal plans to open two more offices after the opening of its Menlo Park office in March. The Chicago-firm will open an office in Dallas this month, and by the end of March will have another somewhere in southeastern U.S. Sonnenschein currently has 10 U.S. offices and one in Brussels. The firm is positioned for growth and wants to have more than 1,000 attorneys to increase profits and attract new talent; lateral hiring of lawyers from other firms is the firm’s strategy for increasing its numbers.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Jenkens & Gilchrist of Dallas, TX is reported to have been talking with Hunton & Williams management about a number of lawyers from Jenkens’ Dallas office relocating to Hunton & Williams’ Dallas office. Currently, Jenkens’ Dallas office houses most of the firm’s lawyers, 140 of 251 attorneys in six cities across the country. One of the largest firms in Texas, Jenkens’ management assures that the firm is talking with several firms, and refuses to confirm rumors of negotiation with Hunton. Hunton & Williams is based out of Richmond, VA, and boasts 875 attorneys in 18 offices worldwide; management from this firm would not comment either.
Source: www.law.com
On Jan. 17, San Francisco’s Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold opened in Houston with the arrival of four new attorneys. Carrie Weitinger, Julia Adams, and associate Monica Fendler are leaving Houston’s Westmoreland Hall to join the new office; former Germer Gertz associate Shannon Thorne is also coming aboard. Sedgwick’s TX managing partner reported that the firm wanted to open an office in Houston because the city is one of the country’s major litigation centers. Opened in 2001, Dallas was the firm’s first Texas office, and Austin was second in 2006. In total, Sedgwick has 370 attorneys in 13 offices worldwide.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius opened a Houston office on Jan. 2 with the arrival of five new lawyers from litigation boutique Edwards, Burns & Krider. Brady Edwards, one of the five, commented that the team at Edwards Burns did a lot of products liability and toxic tort work, which was sometimes hard to do at a small firm, so they took the opportunity to move to 1,353-lawyer Morgan Lewis. Morgan Lewis first came to Texas in 2004, when it opened an office in Dallas. The firm was founded in Philadelphia, has 22 offices with the new Houston addition.
Texas firm Winstead Sechrest & Minick has gained several new lawyers in three offices around the state. The Austin office welcomed Scott Rhodes; Dallas gained eight new attorneys; and three new lawyers joined the Houston office.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Atlanta-based firm Powell Goldstein has lured two partners and 11 other attorneys and paralegals away from Akin Gump’s real estate and finance practice. Kieth Dunsmore, having previously spent 13 years with Powell, will head a new capital markets practice group in D.C. Robin Green, the second of the two partners, is to lead the new Dallas office and will be joined by seven of the former Akin Gump attorneys. The office will focus on real estate, banking, and financial services.
Source: www.law.com
275-lawyer Dallas-based firm Jenkens & Gilchrist has increased salaries nationwide, with first-year associates now earning $140,000, The firm’s Texas offices are located in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Also announcing raises is Houston firm Porter & Hedges, with first-years making $135,000 plus $5,000 in bonuses. Source: www.law.com
Dallas firms Munsch, Hardt, Kopf, & Harr and Gardere, Wynne, Sewell have raised associate salaries. Both firms maintain offices in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Gardere Wynne, who employs 278 attorneys, will now pay first-years $140,000. Munsch Hardt employs over 100 attorneys and has set first-year pay at $135,000.
Source: www.law.com
Three more major Texas firms have announced raises for associates at all experience levels. Dallas firm Winstead, Sechrest & Minick has bumped first-years to $135,00 with a $5,000 potential bonus and Houston-based Fulbright & Jaworski’s first-years will earn $140,000. Baker & McKenzie will pay associates in Dallas and Houston $140,000 with a $10,000 potential bonus for the first year.
Source: www.law.com
