Law firms. Keep Austin Wired

• Author: Laura Lorek
• Pages: 12-13

Business of Law | LAW FIRMS

LAW FIRMS

Keep

Austin

Wired

Driven by a tech boom, lawyers

are flocking to Austin, Texas

BY LAURA LOREK

Five years ago, Valeska Peder-

son Hintz never would have

considered moving to Aus-

tin, Texas.

The corporate partner with Perkins

Coie had spent most of her career in

the rm’s Silicon Valley ofce and be-

lieved the Lone Star State’s capital city

couldn’t support her practice, which

specializes in advising emerging growth

companies, investment banks and ven-

ture capital rms.

But things started to change. Austin

had become a vibrant and mature tech

hub—so much so that Perkins Coie

in February 2020, seeing “signicant

strategic opportunities in Texas as

Austin and Dallas continue to grow

as business centers for startups, me-

dium-size companies and large global

corporations,” opened an ofce in

Austin. This February, it moved into an

18,000-square-foot space after signing a

multiyear lease in June.

In November 2021, Hintz decided to

make the move she thought she never

would. “Before, it was really hard to

do my practice here, and now it’s not,”

Hintz says. Also, the COVID-19 pan-

demic has changed how companies and

lawyers work; they don’t have to be in

Silicon Valley anymore. “Silicon Valley

is a mecca, but I don’t think it’s the only

one,” she says.

Hintz is one of dozens of lawyers

who have joined BigLaw and boutique

rms in Austin in the last year. In 2021,

Austin led the country with the most

law ofce openings in the United States

with 16 new ofces. It was followed

by Los Angeles and New York City,

each with 13, and San Francisco with

10, according to Leopard Solutions, a

New York City-based business intelli-

gence rm.

The booming tech scene is lead-

ing to an expansion of BigLaw in the

Austin market. Kirkland & Ellis made

the biggest splash, opening an ofce

in April 2021 with approximately 24

lawyers. Gunderson Dettmer Stough

Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian came

the same month, starting out with two

lawyers, but it has since expanded to

10 attorneys, according to Wesley C.

Watts, founding partner of the Austin

ofce. One large rm that has made the

move is Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart &

Sullivan, which opened its Austin ofce

in January 2021 with four partners.

O’Melveny & Myers opened in June

2021 with three partners and one senior

Photo illustration by Sara Wadford/Shutterstock

ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2022

12