Launch of Winston’s Dallas Office Featured in Various Publications

The launch of Winston & Strawn’s Dallas office garnered significant media coverage with headlines such as D Magazine’s “Chicago Law Firm Raids DFW Firms, Snagging ‘Apex Predators’ for New Dallas Office,” The American Lawyer’s “Winston & Strawn Moves into Dallas, Poaching 21 Lateral Partners,” and Texas Lawbook’s “Chicago-based Winston & Strawn Lures Dozens of Litigators to Start New Dallas Practice.”

On February 6, 2017, Winston announced the expansion of its Texas practice in Dallas with the addition of 23 prominent partners joining from eight different firms. The office will be co-led by Thomas Melsheimer, a trial lawyer from Fish & Richardson, and Bryan Goolsby, Locke Lord’s former real estate investment trust practice group and finance committee chair.

Bloomberg Law notes that it is rare for a large law firm to recruit so many partners from such a variety of different law firms at once.

Tom Fitzgerald, managing partner of Winston, said that the addition was driven by a combination of existing client demand and opportunities to hire from outside. He explained that the firm conducted an analysis, based on current clients and clients the firm hoped to land, about practices in the market that would best suit Winston.

“We had several clients in the area that we thought we could better serve by having a local office—major corporations, financial institutions, and other types of privately owned companies,” Mr. Fitzgerald told Bloomberg. “We also thought our platform could attract the highest level talent in Dallas. That has been proven correct by the people joining us as partners.”

“In my 30 years of experience, no one has ever put together this sort of ‘dream team’ of super-talented lawyers here. It’s a group of apex predators,” Steve Stodghill, who joins from Fish, told D Magazine. He added that the office represents “a seismic shift—the biggest shakeup in Dallas legal circles in a very long time.”

A Dallas attorney not involved with the office agreed with Mr. Stodghill’s comparison, telling D Magazine: “The word seismic is apropos. This is the equivalent of starting a firm with an Olympic all-star team.”

Thomas Melsheimer, a former federal prosecutor and recognized leading trial lawyer in Texas, told Texas Lawbook that “other firms have approached me before, but it was clear that Winston was serious about Dallas and serious about me and my practice group.” He went on to explain that “Dan [Webb, Winston’s co-chairman] was instrumental in my thinking. He is one of the top three trial lawyers in the country. Dan convinced me that we can grow our complex trial team into a truly national practice.”

Mr. Goolsby said he was attracted to the challenge of helping Winston & Strawn launch a Dallas office alongside some lawyers he has known for many years. 

Real Estate Partner Billie Ellis, who joined from Locke Lord, stated: “This was a unique opportunity to be involved in something that we think is going to change the paradigm here for national firms coming into Dallas.”

Making a large commitment to Dallas, Winston now has a practice focus ranging from commercial litigation, transactional, finance, tax, and real estate.

The announcement was also covered by Texas Lawyer, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Business Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Law360, Legal Week, The Lawyer, Legal Business, ABA Journal, IFLR, and CDR.