All About Big Law Firms in Dallas
Big law refers to the largest law firms in a given market, as well as a particular way of living and working as a lawyer. A big law firm in Dallas means a firm with several hundred or more lawyers that serve businesses and individuals throughout Texas and the US. A lawyer at a big law firm works in a high pressure environment under great expectations to build relationships with clients and bring in significant fees. Most big law firms are exotic places , not unlike the capitals of France and the United Kingdom. Big law firms typically have beautiful offices in high-rise buildings with views of the skyline or the park. Big law firms in Dallas are fast-paced and highly profitable. The Dallas big law environment is not for everyone.
The Largest Law Firms in Dallas
Prominent among the top law firms in Dallas are the esteemed Winspear Company, the largest law firm in Dallas, which offers a wide range of practice areas including bankruptcy, real estate, and complicated commercial litigation and also has a target list of 60 individual and 100 large corporate clients; Hughes and Luce, the second largest law firm in Dallas, a multidisciplinary business law firm noted for significant Emerging Growth Company and M&A practice, which also represents 2,400 active clients across 40 organizations of every size; and Baker Botts, a 150-year-old company with about 800 lawyers who represent a broad spectrum of industries.
Among the long-established, top-ranked law firms in Dallas:
Foster Quan, listed as among the top law firms in Dallas for intellectual property, also specializes in general legal services that include insurance, litigation, contract, IP, export, manufacturing, fiduciaries, receivership, financial services, estates, bankruptcy, anti-trust, tax, healthcare, utility, real estate, employment, technology, unfair trade practices, labor, antitrust and international law.
Hackler, Flynn, O’Callaghan, Behrens & Meyer, founded in 1985, is a business complex litigation boutique with distinguished trial lawyers who have experience in protecting business interests in numerous bench and jury trials.
Haynes and Boone, the fourth-largest law firm in Dallas, has almost 500 attorneys and is considered one of the top firms in the Southwest, having been in existence for over 40 years.
Jordan, Hyden, Womble, Culbreth & Holcomb is a general practice firm with an insurance company background that was founded in 1980.
Munsinger Walsh McClure & Gund is a long-standing boutique firm that specializes in commercial litigation and primarily handles litigation cases across Texas.
Dallas Area Big Law Careers
Competition for jobs and internships in big law firms is fierce. The American Bar Association expects the legal industry to grow as more businesses turn to law firms for legal services. Big firms typically search for top talent and hire the majority of associates right out of law school. Law school recruits participate in a program called "on-campus interviews" at schools throughout the country, but the competition makes it very difficult to secure a position. Many top firms like Akin Gump are looking to recruit high-profile law students who are within the top 10 percent of their classes.
Once hired, many associates can expect to spend up to seven years in their positions. Like any job in a competitive industry, positions within big law firms come with their challenges. But those with a passion for law and a strong work ethic do well and make their careers at big law firms.
Associates and partners may work long hours and travel frequently to meet with clients (sometimes outside the country for multinational clients). While the money is often good, salaries and bonuses vary and whether you receive one depends on your performance and your firm’s annual profits.
Big Law’s Impact on the Dallas Economy
The impact of large law firms extends well beyond the courtroom and the boardroom. Their footprint in the economy can be substantial. In 2016, the Dallas Fort Worth economy boasted a gross metropolitan product of $131.6 billion. Of that, $60 billion was generated from financial services alone ‒ a field in which large law firms hold a significant presence.
Moreover, large firms have a multiplicative effect on the local economy. Many big law firms employ hundreds of paralegals, secretaries, and administrative personnel. And their work product requires a vast array of supporting professionals, from rental agents to accountants to marketing consultants. Each of these jobs directly contributes to the local economy .
Big law firms also source materials and services from local businesses. This, too, provides a positive impact on the local economy. By partnering with local businesses, large law firms enrich their communities by providing stable income to shops and contractors throughout the DFW metro.
Their additional spending on rent, utilities, supplies, and more further stimulates the local economy. Big law firms sometimes lease hundreds of thousands of square feet. They also build, upgrade, and renovate entire skyscrapers and office buildings. This provides a boost to local construction, contractor, and subcontractor economies.
All told, large law firms are not only important to their clients, but to their communities and the local economy.
The Challenges for Big Law Firms
The legal market, especially in the Texas legal market, is changing at a rapid pace. The last 15 years have seen a transformation in business for big law firms as they have had to respond to increased competition from smaller firms and non-traditional legal service providers, as well as new technologies and changing client expectations. The pressure to remain competitive is real: according to the American Lawyer 2014 Survey, 45% of the nation’s largest firms experienced declining revenues between 2011 and 2013. At both the national and local levels, revenue growth is difficult. One report estimates that law firm expenses outpaced gains in the gross revenue of national law firms by more than 25%. Add to that the effects of lower hourly billing rates and alternative fee arrangements, rate pressures that some believe may have peaked in the mid-2000s and have since leveled off. Law360 recently reported a survey of 600 attorneys from across the U.S. in which 54% said they expect their firm’s hourly billable rate growth to stay flat or increase only slightly. Big firms’ heavy investments in technology combined with their slower, less agile improvement in productivity than smaller firms compound to make it harder for them to compete in this environment. At the same time, large firms are having a hard time with their own large client bases. According to the National Law Journal, firms with $750 million-plus in revenue this year saw more than 16% of their gross revenue billed to clients accounting for more than $10 million per year, and 48% of those firms’ revenue came from clients spending more than $5 million a year. The high maintenance required by these clients can slow the firm’s response to the changes in the market, especially when added to the fact that large firms are slow to embrace new technologies, preferring instead to make gradual incremental changes to existing technology rather than more radical adoptions. For some firms, if not most, the billable hour can drive costly work that crowds out important technology investments, and the resulting inability to justify the required capital investments, meanwhile imposing accounting pressures such as a packrat mentality of "don’t throw it out till you absolutely know it’s dead" as required by multi-year internal technology reviews, can be a severe handicap. Nationally, a recent survey by Citi Private Bank found that 76% of outside counsel described their firm’s culture as "process-oriented," but only 30% said their firm was "entrepreneurial." Firms like BuckleySandler, White & Case and Davis Wright Tremaine have made significant gains on competitors in recent years by being more flexible and adaptive than their larger rivals. Compounding this pressure is the influx of new competitors into the market, like alternative service providers and technology companies.
What Lies Ahead for Big Law
The trends that are shaping big firms now are not likely to go away anytime soon. They are "the new normal" as one litigator said. But that doesn’t mean big law is going to look the same as it does today.
In fact, it looks more than probable that mergers will continue to occur. A big firm that survives this time will be well-positioned for mergers in the next decade. It is a simplification to say that big firms will continue to grow by merger, but it is still true. As firms try to innovate — to stay relevant — and to meet the client’s request for alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), they may find mergers the only way to sustain that middle ground between a law firm and a non-law firm.
1. Legal Innovations
Traditionally conservative, big firms have begun to use artificial intelligence and project management to organize document review and enhance the discovery process. Robotics is even entering the field, taking over low skill tasks from humans in the review process.
Another new tool in the big firm legal toolbox is e-discovery that many large firms are adopting as a way to streamline and automate the review process. E-discovery has been helped by cloud technology that hosts document storage across the internet. This allows law firms to share information easily, both internally and with clients. The upshot is faster responses and lower billing rates for clients and faster accurate pleadings. Others, including some small law firms, are finding ways to use these new strategies even when they do not have the deep pockets of the big firms.
2 . Shift in Client Expectations
Clients have been working for years to stop the billable hour model with a flat fee and discounted rates. Other clients prefer AFAs. Now, large firms are just beginning to realize that they need to adapt to their client’s needs.
Another huge change has been a preference for practice group leaders to develop business on their own. Lateral hires who can add to the book of business continue to be in demand. If the firm isn’t flexible in arranging financial deals with laterals so that they can remain competitive, they may never make partner. Buddy Mills, a longtime firm partner, says the new ruling on compensation by the American Bar Association (ABA) opening doors to free agents not seeking partnership means firms need to adapt if they want to attract the best talent.
3. Law Industry Changes
Not unlike telecommunications and transportation, other big businesses are competing directly with big law. Non-law firms, such as accounting practices, are offering new models to serve clients where big firms once had the market all to themselves. They boast low overhead and offer their expertise at lower rates than typical "big law" rates. Law firms have been slow to respond until they see other law firms accept AFAs and the clients ask for them. The industry is changing but not quickly enough to satisfy the changing expectations of its biggest clients.
Finally, clients are changing wants and needs—quickly. While it may take longer for big law to see the need for their reactions, clients now want fast and flexible billing that suits their bottom line instead of the law firm’s.