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Illustration by Kyle Arnold<\/p>\n
TNS<\/p>\n
For corporate leaders that find themselves between the rock and the hard place, the great philosopher Warren Zevon had the best advice: \u201cSend lawyers, guns and money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In 2025, Texas lawyers were the hired guns advising businesses on tariffs, artificial intelligence disruptions, One Big Beautiful Bill and massive regulatory changes \u2014 work that paid them a lot of money.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Never in history have Texas corporate lawyers worked so many hours, charged such enormous rates and raked in more revenue and profits than they are right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Texas offices of more than three dozen law firms scored record-high revenues in 2025 \u2014 and many of them surpassed their old records by tens of millions of dollars, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Citing increased demand for legal services and healthy hourly rate increases, 48 of the Lawbook 50 law firms generated more revenue and more profits in their Texas operations in 2025 than they did in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Texas Lawbook 50 shows that lawyers at the top 50 firms operating in the Lone Star State collected $11.51 billion in 2025 \u2014 a 13.9% increase from 2024, which was itself a record year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By comparison, Lawbook 50 total revenue in 2018 was $5.98 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just five years ago, profits per partner at law firms in Texas ranged from $2 million to $5 million. In 2025, Texas Lawbook 50 data shows that profits per partner in Dallas and Houston now average $3.5 million to $8 million and elite firms are topping $10 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n As retired Gibson Dunn partner Rob Walters said in an interview late last year, \u201cTexas is the place to be a business lawyer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Golden Age for corporate law in Texas is now,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Most law firm leaders agree with Walters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe had record-setting double-digit growth across the board,\u201d said Scott Barnard, managing partner of the Dallas office of Akin. \u201cPractices involving M&A, private capital and capital solutions were very strong. The Texas data center work is just exploding.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas-based Akin saw its 2025 Texas revenue jump 15.4% to $279.2 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Breen Haire, the co-managing partner of Simpson Thacher\u2019s Houston office, said 2025 was extraordinary.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe have wonderful tailwinds in Texas in energy and infrastructure,\u201d said Haire. \u201cIt has been an amazing ride with the growth in AI and the need for power. The growth in demand for our services has been so steady.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Simpson Thacher had a monster financial year, with revenue from its Texas lawyers soaring 34% from 2024 to $186.8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dozens of their competitors reaped similarly huge financial rewards last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many good things coming together at the same time, but 2025 was the firm\u2019s best year ever,\u201d said Joe Coniglio, managing partner of the Dallas office of Greenberg Traurig. \u201cBusiness litigation has never been busier. Commercial real estate really picked up in the second half of 2025. Private equity and M&A work have seen big growth. And we are seeing more companies interested in setting up operations in Texas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Greenberg Traurig saw its 2025 revenue increase 26.4% to $198 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Law firms keep on trucking\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Kirkland & Ellis not only maintained the No. 1 spot on the Lawbook 50 leaderboard, but expanded its lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Texas lawyers for Kirkland, which has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston, generated $1.39 billion in 2025 \u2014 $240 million or 21% more than the prior year. By comparison, Vinson & Elkins and Norton Rose Fulbright, the second- and third-ranked law firm giants by revenue \u2014 both of which achieved record revenues and profits in 2025 \u2014 reported $1.26 billion combined.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two Houston-headquartered giants, V&E and Baker Botts, reported strong revenues in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite its Texas headcount declining by four percent, V&E grew Texas revenue by $34.6 million to a record $669.7 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLast April and May, we were all worried about how the rest of the year would go, but Q3 really picked up and Q4 was even stronger,\u201d said V&E chair Keith Fullenweider. \u201cQ1 of this year is up substantially. There is still so much growth opportunities in data center work and AI and the power industry. I think it is bigger than the shale boom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Baker Botts ranks fifth in the Lawbook 50 for Texas revenue at $447.6 million \u2014 a 10% jump from 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c2025 was an outstanding year \u2014 an historic year of growth,\u201d said Danny David, managing partner of Baker Botts. \u201cThe growth came as a result of our investment in our platform. There are so many incredible things happening in the Texas markets that we serve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n David said the firm\u2019s strengths \u2014 energy and technology \u2014 are the sweet spots for growth in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMany clients are looking for new ways to take advantage of AI and technology, and technology is looking to energy,\u201d he said. \u201cThose leaders are turning to Baker Botts for its expertise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 2025 one of best ever\u00a0<\/p>\n Legal industry insiders agree that 2025 was one of the best years ever for Texas business lawyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost firms in Texas had really good years in 2025, and some had really great years,\u201d said Kent Zimmermann, a law firm consultant for Zeughauser Group. \u201cSome firms posted some really big revenue records. That\u2019s not only because rates were up but same-store sales or demand was up significantly, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe legal industry is nothing if not resilient,\u201d Zimmermann said. \u201cWe had a mixed economy in 2025, a mixed geopolitical environment, the whole tariffs situation \u2014 and still, law firms keep on trucking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201c2025 was by far the strongest year financially for the Houston office of White & Case since we opened in 2018,\u201d said Jay Cuclis, the firm\u2019s Houston managing partner. \u201cWe have focused on energy in the broadest sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n White & Case saw its Texas revenue jump 16% in 2025 to $139.3 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cuclis said that while recent events in the Middle East are having a \u201cnegative impact\u201d by putting certain projects on hold, \u201c2026 demand continues to be strong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe see increased activity in LNG, but the uncertainty in oil prices makes it hard to buy and sell assets,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Baker Hostetler is one of those corporate law firms that has experienced extraordinary growth in its Texas offices during the past several years \u2014 going from $50 million in 2018 to $158 million in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe built out the Texas triangle,\u201d said Shawn Cleveland of Baker Hostetler. \u201cDallas is such a white-hot growth market with tax, transactional, cyber, litigation, automotive work and employment. Houston is incredibly strong in energy transactions and litigation and international trade. And opening our office in Austin has been a home run.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c2026 is looking just as good with so much middle-market work and the private equity practice is strong,\u201d he said. \u201cI see nothing but continued strong growth in North Texas and throughout Texas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawbook 50 key takeaways\u00a0<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Texas Lawbook 50, which calculates law firm revenue generated by their Texas lawyers, found:\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Thirty-one of the top 50 increased revenue by double-digits\u00a0 The Texas Lawbook is an online news publication focused on business law in Texas. To see the full list and for more Lawbook 50 coverage, visit texaslawbook.net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illustration by Kyle Arnold TNS For corporate leaders that find themselves between the rock and the hard place,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-284264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
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\nThirteen of the top 50 grew revenue by 20% or more\u00a0
\nFive law firms \u2014 Norton Rose Fulbright, DLA Piper, Simpson Thacher, O\u2019Melveny & Myers and Polsinelli \u2014 increased Texas revenue by 30% or more and Susman Godfrey at 29.3%\u00a0
\nO\u2019Melveny achieved the largest revenue increase by percentage at 41.4%\u00a0
\nNorton Rose Fulbright and Jackson Walker joined Kirkland and V&E as firms with Texas operations generating $500 million or more in a year\u00a0
\nEight of the top 20 law firms \u2014 V&E, Jackson Walker, Baker Botts, Haynes Boone, Winstead, Akin, Susman Godfrey and Bracewell \u2014 ranked by revenue are headquartered in Texas\u00a0
\nOnly two corporate law firms \u2014 Clark Hill and Morgan Lewis \u2014 witnessed a decline in 2025 revenue in Texas, and each of those revenue declines was less than 1.1%\u00a0
\nTwo firms \u2014 DLA Piper and Paul Hastings \u2014 joined 17 other firms achieving $200 million or more in revenue in Texas\u00a0
\nA&O Shearman is the only new firm to join the Lawbook 50, reporting $101 million in Texas revenue \u2014 up 18.% from 2024\u00a0
\nThe Texas\u00a0Lawbook<\/p>\n