Houston Lateral Movement Overview

Over the last 12 months, there were a total of 520 lateral attorney moves in Houston. 287 with Associate, 150 with Partner, 57 with Counsel and 17 with Attorney titles. The top five practices with the most movement are as follows:

Litigation- 31% of Lateral Moves
Corporate- 23% of Lateral Moves
Energy- 17% of Lateral Moves
Labor & Employment- 9% of Lateral Moves
Banking- 7% of Lateral Moves

*Lateral data copyright 2018 Firm Prospects, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Not for redistribution.*

Coming and Going

PARTNERS: Kirkland & Ellis added seven transactional partners to the Houston office including two corporate energy partners from Latham, three additional corporate partners from V&E, Hunton Andrews Kurth and Weil, an energy project finance partner from Simpson Thacher and a corporate tax partner from Thompson & Knight. Morgan Lewis added six partners to their health care and corporate practices with a Baker Hostetler team of four transactional health care partners, a health care litigation partner and a corporate partner. An additional corporate partner from Jones Day with PE/M&A expertise rounds out the six. Shearman Sterling planted the flag in Houston with a four energy partners from Baker Botts, two additional corporate energy partners from Thompson & Knight and Jones Day and a Tax Partner from Thompson & Knight. Sidley nabbed four corporate partners and a tax partner from Hunton Andrews Kurth as well as an environmental partner from Bracewell. And, White and Case also opened in Houston, assembling a strong slate of energy partners from Hunton Andrews Kurth, King & Spalding, Vinson & Elkins, Paul Hastings and Akin Gump.

ASSOCIATES: The graphs below illustrate the movement by class year in practices with the most activity.

TOTAL Expansion and contraction BY FIRM

Want to Know Who Went Where?

Here is THE FULL LIST OF LATERALS, including names and practice area:

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Current Trends

The graph below demonstrates the current demand for talent by practice.

The previous top five practice areas continue to see activity along with a surge in IP needs. Here is why:

Litigation - Litigation spending continues to be on the uptick after years of reduction and top CLO's expect a 10% increase in Litigation matters. Complex Commercial Litigation matters are at peak levels while companies are reducing their law firm rosters by 20%. This is creating a major influx in litigation work for those firms that remain on the lists. (1)
Labor & Employment - L&E continues to be a demanding area of expertise due to several factors including changes and/or reductions in federal employment laws but increases in state and local government actions, a resurgence in "failure to hire" litigation, sexual harassment issues and non-union NLRA issues that have increased, in part, from the rise of social media.
Corporate - An active M&A environment continues with strong deal volume in 2018 as companies continue to look for opportunities to bolster modest organic growth. Meanwhile, the regulatory and geopolitical challenges remain. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice’s appeal to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, coupled with increasing scrutiny around Chinese investments in the U.S., demonstrates that the regulatory environment may remain challenging but this will create a need for additional expertise to manage the landscape. (2) Lastly, the recent U.S. tax reform has created opportunities for U.S. companies to repatriate cash to the U.S. and corporate tax expertise will continue to be a valuable asset to any corporate group.
Energy - Crude oil, LNG and other refined products are still in a price slump but exports continue to rise. This ecosystem maintains activity in LNG projects while increasing the drive towards efficiency to increase margins. The latter is creating winners and losers adding to the consolidation trend. Projects, acquisitions and investments in leaner operations are keeping M&A and finance lawyers busy for the foreseeable future. However it is likely that China, the 2nd largest importer of US LNG, will impact developers as the 10% tariff goes into effect on September 24th. The final trend on energy is renewables. 70% of net global power is attributed to renewables and the renewable energy market is expected to reach $777.3B in 2019. (3) Due to a variety of factors including demand, customer concerns and security vulnerabilities in electric grids, it’s become increasingly popular for major utility companies to pursue clean energy. This is creating an influx in demand for renewables expertise, especially those with transactional experience in the energy storage arena.
Intellectual Property - 70% of current IP needs fall into the transactional category. Firms with strong prosecution shops are looking for technical IP lawyers and other clients are looking for licensing experience for rapidly growing tech transactions practices. We still need to see what impact the U.S. Supreme Court’s case in Oil States Energy Services will have over PTAB cases and IP Litigation in general, but there based on talent demands, there are currently no signs of a slow down. We are consistently hearing requests for junior and mid-level IP litigators from a variety of clients. 30% of current demand can be attributed to IP Litigation.

What does this mean for attorneys interested in exploring the market? It means opportunities are abundant. Even for attorneys with expertise outside of the top five “in demand” practice areas, firms are growing and looking for stellar talent. We have relationships with a number of firms in Houston and across the country. Our goal is to make lasting matches that lead to long term success for both the firm and the candidate. If you are an attorney that is considering your future, now is the time to assess the market and explore any opportunities that may be a better fit. If you are ready for a career consultation go HERE.

Lateral data copyright 2018 Firm Prospects, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Not for redistribution.

(1) BTI Consulting, Litigation Outlook 2018

(2) JP Morgan Global M&A Outlook
(3) AZOCleantech, Renewable Energy Trends 2018

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