By Peter Rudegeair
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Seven partners in the Dallas office of
Haynes and Boone are leaving the firm to join Akin Gump Strauss
Hauer & Feld.
Tom Yang, Garrett DeVries, and Matt Zmigrosky will move over
to Akin Gump's corporate practice, while Marty Brimmage Jr.,
Mike Warnecke, Arnold Spencer and Sarah Teachout will join the
litigation department. All seven will be based in the firm's
Dallas office.
Akin Gump's hiring of the Haynes and Boones partners
illustrates the strength of the market for lateral moves as well
as the demand for legal services in Texas, according to Kent
Zimmermann of the Zeughauser Group, a legal consultancy.
"Texas is one of the hottest markets in the country right
now," Zimmermann said. The strength of the energy sector and the
number of large corporations based in the state has prompted
many firms to expand their presence there, he said. Texas is
home to 52 Fortune 500 companies, ranking it second behind
California.
The timing of the move had yet to be finalized, an Akin Gump
spokesman said, but it would likely take place in the next few
weeks.
The new additions would bring the number of partners in Akin
Gump's Dallas office to 43, while Haynes and Boone's office
there would be left with 88 partners.
The news of the lateral moves was first reported by the
website Above the Law.
(An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of
Kent Zimmermann.)
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