Several Texas lawyers have made lateral moves to new firms recently. Bruce A. Cheatham and Brice E. Tarzwell have joined Bracewell & Giuliani in Dallas as partners in the corporate and securities practice. Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold’s Austin office has hired partner Mike Shaunessy, associate Deborah Loomis and special counsel Taline Manassian in the commercial law practice. Additionally, Sean C. Urich has joined Winstead’s Dallas office as a labor and employment associate, while William R. Rohrlich II joined the firm in The Woodlands as a corporate associate.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Former Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Judge Sarah Duncan, has joined Locke Liddell & Sapp’s Appellate Section. She will be based in Austin, but will still continue work in San Antonio and other parts of the state. One of Duncan’s responsibilities with the Appellate Section is to expand the firm’s work with criminal appeals. One of the leading firms in Texas, Locke Liddell has offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

After Jenkens & Gilchrist officially closed, 93 of its attorneys were laterally hired by Hunton & Williams. Eighty-seven will be in Dallas, five in Austin, and one in Houston. The firm will open a new Austin office to accomodate the new hires. With the new additions, Hunton & Williams will become one of the largest non-Texas based firms in Dallas; the Dallas office will grow from 70 lawyers to 157. The new hires’ practice areas include financial institutions, corporate, financial services, real estate, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, and estate planning. Hunton & Williams now has almost 1,000 attorneys in 19 offices worldwide.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announced the promotion of nine new partners in the firm’s Dallas and Houston offices, effective April 1, 2007. R. Craig Baker, Steven S. Camp, Michael P. Cooley, John A. Eliason, Brett D. Lamb, Colin Martin, Robert T. Slovak, and Jeannette Vloitos practice in the Dallas office, and John T. Woodruff works out of Houston. With offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Mexico City, Gardere is one of the Southwest’s largest full-service law firms. The firm specializes in the areas of corporate, banking, real estate, bankruptcy, legislative and regulatory affairs, tax, labor, environmental, and intellectual property.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

Winstead has acquired 12 more Jenkens & Gilchrist lawyers, adding to the 18 they already hired from the San Antonio and Austin offices. Six of the new additions come from Winston’s Dallas headquarters; the other half are leaving the Austin office. Jenkens’ numbers have dropped to under 200 attorneys in recent weeks; it is rumored that most of the remaining Dallas lawyers will move to Hunton & Williams.
Source: www.law.com

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

Fish & Richardson has snared 8 business and litigation attorneys from Texas giant Andrews Kurth. Citing Fish & Richardson’s exceptional IP practice as the main appeal in the move, the new attorneys will bring the Austin office’s total to twenty. On the other side, Andrews Kurth managing partner Rex VanMiddlesworth is disappointed and notes that “…business is strong and our struggle is to just get enough folks to do what we need to do.”
Source: www.texaslawyer.com

San Francisco-based firm Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold has opened a new office in Austin, the firm’s twelfth in total. Sedgwick has snagged Jackson Walker partner Laura Lee Prather to head the new office. The firm will look to add additional associates immediately. Sedgwick employs a total of 351 attorneys. 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

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has raised salaries for Texas associates at all levels. The firm’s first-years will now earn a base of $135,000 with an additional $5,000 bonus. Akin Gump employs 900 attorneys worldwide and has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. Source:www.law.com