Homepage Increase Font Size Decrease Font Size Print This Article
The Best Lawyers in Dallas 2003

When CEOs failed to follow in the footsteps of Dallas' Old Guard leaders, lawyers stepped up to plate. Now, with the increasing number of attorneys in civic roles, lawyers are the city's new power brokers. PLUS: Our exclusive list of the top 180 attorneys in 20 specialities, as selected by thier peers.

by Wick Allison


Why Lawyers Now Run Dallas

Everybody expected CEOs to take the place of  the Old Guard leaders, but they didn't. That's why lawyers are the city's new power brokers—and its new power holders.

A QUIET REVOLUTION HAS TAKEN PLACE in the power structure of Dallas. It has been so long in the making and so subtle in its emergence that, as far as I know, nobody has noticed it until now. Once recognized, it is self-evident. The reasons for it, I believe, are understandable given what has gone on in American cities and in business in the last two decades. It should have even been predictable, although nobody I know who writes about cities or about power elites predicted it. I am talking, of course, about the rise of the lawyer at the power center of the city.

To give but one example (the example that alerted me to the phenomenon and caused me to write about it): a few weeks ago, I was invited to a discreet breakfast meeting downtown to discuss a particular city problem. After I had ordered my corn flakes, I was introduced to the others at the table. It didn't strike me until halfway through the meeting that of my five compatriots, five different law firms were represented. As far as legal matters were concerned, I was the only civilian at the table. But the meeting had nothing whatsoever to do with the law (and if it had, five lawyers would have had five different opinions, so what good would it have done?).


The meeting I attended is not an unusual experience anymore. Look at the leadership of any charity or civic venture in Dallas, and you'll see a lawyer at or near the top. When the business community wanted to pursue a bid for the Olympics, they recruited a lawyer, Tom Luce, the co-founder of Hughes & Luce, to lead the effort. That shouldn't surprise anyone, because the organization that epitomizes the city's business community, the Dallas Citizens Council, has been chaired for several years by Mike Boone, co-founder of Haynes and Boone. In fact, Boone so far has held the second-longest tenure of any chairman in the Council's history. Where business executives once ruled, lawyers now dominate. When the mayor wanted an examination of the city's governance, she called on David Laney of Jackson Walker to head the Charter Review Commission. When the mayor wanted a change at the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, she was able to dislodge chairman—and lawyer—Chris Luna. But Luna still holds his position as chair of the Dallas Assembly.

While there are good reasons for it, there is also certain irony in the proliferation of attorneys in the leadership slots of the city. For decades, the Dallas Citizens Council—formed by bankers Bob Thornton, Fred Florence, and Nate Adams to comprise the "yes or no" men of Dallas—had as a firm rule that no lawyers would be admitted. They wanted as members only owners of companies or progenitors of great wealth who could make a decision without having to consult with a board of directors or a group of partners. Lawyers were seen as agents, not as doers.

The first crack in the old-line position occurred in the mid-1970s when, after much internal debate, the Citizens Council decided to hire a full-time director to manage its activities. Up until then, the Council's affairs had been run by the business leaders themselves. When the decision was made, insurance magnate Ben Carpenter groused to a young associate named Rick Douglas (later president of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce) that it was the end of the Council as an effective organization. From then on, he said, people would leave the fate of their city to "hired hands." The first of these hired hands was the recently retired Dallas city attorney, Alex Bickley, who was brought on board in 1976 as executive vice president.

The second crack in the surface of the business establishment was more of a thrown-open door. While Bickley worked hard to maintain the clout of the old-line business establishment—often resorting to lawyerly bluster where quiet persuasion had worked before—there was no doubt that, as the 1980s began, the members of the Old Guard were beginning to fade. A new generation of leaders was emerging in Dallas. Among them was a youngish lawyer by the name of Johnny Johnson, who had not only founded the fastest-growing law firm in Dallas, at that time named Hewitt Johnson, but who also numbered among his clients a fellow SMU graduate named Ray Hunt, scion of the second Hunt fortune and a growing force in Dallas civic affairs. (Hunt and Johnson were also board members of D Magazine's parent company at the time.)

Johnson made his presence felt first in 1981 by organizing and leading a successful public campaign to throw out an incumbent school board and replace it with a reform slate. The next year he was invited to chair the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, a slot in the Dallas power structure that had never before been held by an attorney. As a result of his new position, and under Hunt's patronage, in 1983 he became the first lawyer to be invited to join the Dallas Citizens Council.

Once the dam broke, the flood began. Johnson was the first of the law firm's managing partners to be invited to Dallas' most prestigious table, but within a decade lawyers came to be counted among the Council's most dependable members. In the last five years, lawyers became instrumental in all areas of our civic life. Attorney Susan Mead was not only the first woman to chair the Central Business District Association, but she also founded the Downtown Partnership (with Gerald Sampson, then COO of Neiman Marcus) to stimulate development of Main Street. Darrell Jordan has headed up the Cotton Bowl Committee. Jesse Oliver has been chairman of DART. Santiago Salinas is the vice chairman of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Board.

There are two good reasons why lawyers have stepped into civic roles. To understand them, we first should remind ourselves why the Dallas Citizens Council was formed in the first place. The motivating rationale came from R.L. Thornton. He felt that businesses and banks in Dallas spent too much effort competing against each other, everyone fighting to get a slightly bigger piece of what was actually a small pie. Thornton suggested everyone's time would be better spent if they worked together to make the pie bigger. If Dallas grew, their businesses would grow, real estate would be worth more, bank deposits would swell. The Dallas Citizens Council became the engine they used to build a little town on the prairie into the seventh largest city in the United States.

These were big businessmen, yes, but they were a different breed of businessmen from people who do big business today. To start with, they were owners. On top of that, they were owners in a particular place—Dallas. If Dallas went belly-up, they would have to pack up and move. If Dallas boomed, they would boom.

The first reason lawyers have moved into the lead in so many civic roles is that those owners no longer exist. Their businesses and banks were bought up in the great wave of consolidation that has characterized American business over the last two decades. Large businesses aren't run by owners; they are run by CEOs. Those CEOs report not to their peers in the city, but to the financial markets. Their concerns are not about new stores in North Dallas, but about new stores in Guangzhou. They have nothing to gain—and a lot to lose—by getting embroiled in local controversies. Their only real tie to Dallas is that many of their employees work here. But many of their employees work in Stuttgart, too. CEOs don't act like the old owners, first of all, because they aren't owners. Second of all, because they don't depend on Dallas for their revenues.

Managing partners of major law firms act like owners because they are owners. Their law firms depend on business being done in Dallas. They can open offices in Houston, Austin, Washington, even Mexico City, but the cash flow starts here. If Dallas dried up, their firms would split up. So, like the owners of old, like the Stemmonses and Carpenters and Cullums, it is in the self-interest of the lawyer to make sure the city prospers. The more hospitable the climate is for business, the more business will be done here. If downtown is a turn-off to a new business, it is in the interest of the major law firms to spend time and effort and money to invigorate downtown. Do that first—make the pie bigger—and then there will be an opportunity later to compete to get the new client who moves to Dallas because of the sex appeal of our downtown. If there are no new clients, there will be nothing to compete for.

Self-interest is the first reason lawyers have stepped into the breach, and it is the best reason a city could hope for, because it is a reason without illusion, without sentiment, and without any sign of going away. It is the kind of reason that gets things done.

The second reason is that clients want lawyers who have clout. Rainmaking is often a matter of making power connections. Not only do those connections bring in more business, but they also establish lines into the power centers where decisions are made. A law firm without the perception of clout is a law firm that will soon be depending on trusts and estates to scratch a living.

To my mind, there is a huge benefit to having lawyers step in to fill this leadership role in the life of a city. Lawyers are intellectuals. They make their livelihood by their wits. They are trained—those that are trained well—to think things through, to watch for consequences, to be foresighted. They are also well-equipped to deal with a public process that in the modern world must involve different constituencies, solicit opinions, and forge compromises—all of which would drive an owner accustomed to getting his own way up the wall with frustration. Cities are complicated creatures, and these are the kinds of qualities that politicians, who are necessarily short-sighted and often dumb, don't bring to a city's leadership.

Lawyers are also advocates. Most business people are fairly inarticulate, as well as fairly narrow, in their interests and their understanding of the outside world. When it comes to politics, business people are, in fact, downright naive. Lawyers may be lots of things, but they are not naive.

For better or for worse, lawyers are our new power elite. As far as I can tell, they've arrived at the top just in the nick of time. I can't think of a time when Dallas needed a new power establishment more.

A jury of their peers selected the top 180 attorney in 20 specialties.

Before you object to the subjective nature of this list, let us explain how we did it. D Magazine mailed ballots to 3,000 attorneys across Dallas-Fort Worth who were licensed to practice with the State Bar before 1994, asking them to vote for the lawyers who represent the best of the profession. The ballot was also posted on our web site.

We asked each attorney this question: "Which Dallas lawyer, of those whose work you've witnessed firsthand, would rank among the current best? Your answers may include co-counsel, lawyers you have observed in court, opposing counsel, etc." With that question in mind, lawyers were asked to name three lawyers—one from inside and two from outside their law firms. Self-nominations were not counted, and attorneys had to nominate at least one lawyer from outside their firm for their same-firm vote to be valid.

That said, we took great pains to prevent any bias in favor of large firms and to prevent ballot-box stuffing. We hired a marketing research company to tally the votes. Same-firm votes were assigned less weight than outside-firm votes, so a large number of same-firm votes did not guarantee a best listing. Only ballots signed by the attorney with his or her State Bar number were counted. We also enlisted the help of a panel of well-respected attorneys to review the list. Final decisions regarding confusing ballots or close calls were deferred to our committee.

ANTITRUST

 

Tyler A. Baker

CARRINGTON, COLEMAN, SLOMAN & BLUMENTHAL, LLP

Jerry L. Beane 

STRASBURGER & PRICE, LLP

Curt Lynn Frisbie  

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Gregory Huffman

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Barry F. McNeil

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Robert C. Walters

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

APPELLATE

 

Nina Cortell  

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Robert Gilbreath 

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Deborah Hankinson

HANKINSON & WHITAKER LLP

P. Michael Jung

STRASBURGER & PRICE, LLP

Jeffrey Levinger

CARRINGTON, COLEMAN, SLOMAN & BLUMENTHAL, LLP

Brent M. Rosenthal

BARON & BUDD, P.C.

Ben Taylor

FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI L.L.P.

BANK LENDING

 

Dorothy H. Bjorck

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

James R. Littlejohn

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.

Karen S. Nelson

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

William D. Young

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

BANKRUPTCY & WORKOUT

 

Stephanie Curtis

THE CURTIS LAW FIRM PLLC

Robert D. Albergotti

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Sander L. Esserman

STUTZMAN, BROMBERG, ESSERMAN & PLIFKA, PC

Bill Finkelstein

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Toby L. Gerber

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Jack L. Kinzie

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Patrick J. Neligan Jr.

NELIGAN, ANDREWS & FOLEY, L.L.P.

Robin E. Phelan

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Brenda T. Rhoades

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Judith W. Ross

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Daniel C. Stewart       

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

BUSINESS LITIGATION

 

Charles L. Babcock

JACKSON WALKER L.L.P.

George W. Bramblett Jr.

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

William A. Brewer III

BICKEL & BREWER

James E. Coleman

CARRINGTON, COLEMAN, SLOMAN & BLUMENTHAL, L.L.P.

William B. Dawson

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

Ernie E. Figari Jr.

FIGARI DAVENPORT & GRAVES, L.L.P.

Don Godwin

GODWIN GRUBER L.L.P.

Michael G. Gruber

GODWIN GRUBER L.L.P.

George M. Kryder 

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

Michael P. Lynn

LYNN TILLOTSON & PINKER, L.L.P.

Stephen F. Malouf

LAW OFFICES OF STEPHEN F. MALOUF

Timothy R. McCormick

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Mike McKool Jr.

MCKOOL SMITH, P.C.

Tom Melsheimer   

FISH & RICHARDSON P.C.

Ralph I. Miller

WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

Robert H. Mow

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Rod Phelan

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Richard A. Sayles

SAYLES, LIDJI & WERBNER

William D. Sims Jr.

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

Donald C. Templin

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Mark S. Werbner

SAYLES, LIDJI & WERBNER

Elizabeth Whitaker

HANKINSON & WHITAKER LLP

Fletcher L. Yarbrough

CARRINGTON, COLEMAN, SLOMAN & BLUMENTHAL, L.L.P.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

 

Patrick M. Arnold

FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI L.L.P.

Bob Dyer

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Edward A. Peterson  

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.

C. Ted Raines Jr.

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Jonathan Thalheimer

MCGUIRE, CRADDOCK & STROTHER, PC

Jim H. Wallenstein

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Robert E. Wilson

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Kathleen J. Wu 

ANDREWS & KURTH L.L.P.

CORPORATE FINANCE/MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

 

Andrew M. Baker

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Michael M. Boone

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Byron F. Egan

JACKSON WALKER L.L.P.

Thomas W. Hughes

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.

Brian M. Lidji

SAYLES, LIDJI & WERBNER

William McCormack

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Gregory R. Samuel

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Michael A. Saslaw

WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

Larry Schoenbrun

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Janice V. Sharry

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Brad Whitlock

JACKSON WALKER L.L.P.

Michael D. Wortley

VINSON & ELKINS L.L.P.

CRIMINAL DEFENSE

 

Jim Burnham

LAW OFFICES OF JIM BURNHAM

Michael P. Gibson

BURLESON, PATE & GIBSON, L.L.P.

Ronald L. Goranson

LAW OFFICE OF RONALD L. GORANSON

Mike McCollum 

LAW OFFICES OF MIKE McCOLLUM

Tom Mills

MILLS & WILLIAMS

George R. Milner

MILNER & FINN

George R. Milner III

MILNER & FINN

Douglas Mulder

DOUGLAS D. MULDER

Reed W. Prospere

PROSPERE & RUSSELL CRIMINAL LAW FIRM

Howard Shapiro

THE SHAPIRO LAW FIRM

Barry Sorrels

SORRELS & UDASHEN

ERISA

 

E. Philip Bush

LOCKE LIDDELL & SAPP LLP

Barry W. Cowan

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C

T. David Cowart

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Suzan Fenner

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Sharon M. Fountain

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Nancy Furney

HALLETT & PERRIN, P.C.

J. Mike Holt 

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Bruce D. Pingree

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Karen K. Suhre

KAREN K. SUHRE ATTORNEY AT LAW

FAMILY LAW

 

Angeline Lindley Bain

GORANSON, BAIN & LARSEN, L.C

Carla M. Calabrese 

CALABRESE ASSOCIATES, P.C.

Ike Vanden Eykel

KOONS, FULLER, VANDEN, EYKEL & ROBERTSON, PC

Thomas P. Goranson

GORANSON, BAIN & LARSEN, L.C.

Thomas A. Greenwald

GORANSON, BAIN & LARSEN, L.C.

Larry Hance  

HANCE & ASSOCIATES

Rhonda Hunter

RHONDA HUNTER ATTORNEY AT LAW

Paula Larsen 

GORANSON, BAIN & LARSEN, L.C.

Kelly McClure

MCCLURE DUFFEE & EITZEN LLP

Mike McCurley

MCCURLEY, KINSER, MCCURLEY, NELSON & ORSINGER, L.L.P.

Thomas L. Raggio

RAGGIO & RAGGIO, PLLC

FRANCHISE & DEVELOPMENT

 

Charles B. Cannon

JENKENS & GILCHRIST, PC

Deborah S. Coldwell

JENKENS & GILCHRIST, PC

Ann Hurwitz

PIPER RUDNICK LLP

Joyce G. Mazero

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Michael E. Santa Maria

PIPER RUDNICK LLP

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

 

Jeffrey M. Becker

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Kenneth Glaser

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

J. Kevin Gray

FISH & RICHARDSON P.C.

Herbert J. Hammond  

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Wei Wei Jeang

MUNSCH HARDT KOPF & HARR P. C.

David L. McCombs

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

V. Bryan Medlock Jr.

SIDLEY AUSTIN BROWN & WOOD LLP

Jerry W. Mills

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Jerry R. Selinger

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

Barton E. Showalter

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Bruce S. Sostek

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

LABOR & EMPLOYMENT

 

Kim Askew

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Edward B. Cloutman III

LAW OFFICES OF EDWARD CLOUTMAN

R. Rogge Dunn

CLOUSE DUNN HIRSCH LLP

Dave Ellis 

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Ron Gaswirth

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Hal K. Gillespie

GILLESPIE ROZEN & WATSKY, PC

Michael P. Maslanka

GODWIN GRUBER L.L.P.

Ken Molberg

WILLSON, WILLIAMS, & MOLBERG

William C. Strock

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

LAND USE & ENVIRONMENT

 

Jill A. Kotvis

JILL A. KOTVIS, PC

Susan Mead

JACKSON WALKER L.L.P.

Dwight "Ike" Shupe

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Scott Summy

BARON & BUDD, P.C

MALPRACTICE & PERSONAL INJURY

 

Charla Aldous

ALDOUS & MCDOUGAL

Lisa A. Blue, Ph.D  

BARON & BUDD, P.C.

Frank L. Branson

LAW OFFICES OF FRANK L. BRANSON

Russell W. Budd

BARON & BUDD, P.C.

Jim Cowles  

COWLES & THOMPSON

Rob Crain  

CRAIN & MONTES, L.L.P.

Al Ellis

SOMMERMAN, MOORE & QUESADA, L.L.P.

Coyt Randal Johnston      

JOHNSTON TOBEY, P.C.

Ralph Cole "Red Dog" Jones

PARHAM JONES & SHIVER, L.L.P.

John H. Martin

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Jeff Rasansky

THE LAW OFFICES OF JEFFREY H. RASANSKY, P.C.

Lewis R. Sifford

SIFFORD, ANDERSON, VICE & MACFARLANE, LLP

Allen M. Stewart

BARON & BUDD, P.C.

Paula Fisette Sweeney

HOWIE & SWEENEY L.L.P.

Windle Turley

 

LAW OFFICES OF WINDLE TURLEY

Les F. Weisbrod

MORGAN & WEISBROD LLP

MEDIATION

 

Mary Burdin      

BURDIN MEDIATIONS

Ross Hostetter

BURDIN MEDIATIONS

Jay J. Madrid 

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.

Christopher Nolland

THE LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER NOLLAND

Will Pryor

WILL PRYOR, MEDIATION & ARBITRATION

Maxel "Bud" Silverberg

THE LAW FIRM OF MAXEL ("BUD") SILVERBERG

Ross W. Stoddard III

LAW OFFICES OF ROSS STODDARD

OUTSOURCING TECHNOLOGY

 

John Howell

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

John W. Martin

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P

Peter Vogel

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

TAX

 

William P. Bowers 

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

R. Brent Clifton

LOCKE LIDDELL & SAPP LLP

Henry D. (Nick) DeBerry      

BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.

Richard M. Fijolek        

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

David G. Glickman         

BAKER & MCKENZIE

Thornton Hardie III           

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Vester Hughes

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Josh O. Ungerman

MEADOWS, OWENS, COLLIER, REED, COUSINS & BLAU, L.L.P.

R. David Wheat 

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

TRUSTS & ESTATES

 

John F. Bergner

WINSTEAD SECHREST & MINICK P.C.

Santo (Sandy) Bisignano Jr.

BISIGNANO & HARRISON L.L.P.

Thomas H. Cantrill

JENKENS & GILCHRIST

John M. Collins

HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP

Ronald R. Cresswell

LOCKE LIDDELL & SAPP LLP

Jack Hawkins

GARDERE WYNNE SEWELL L.L.P.

Kathryn Henkel

HUGHES & LUCE, L.L.P.

Robert H. Kroney

KRONEY-MINCEY, INC.

Rust E. Reid

THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Edward V. Smith III

GRAHAM & SMITH, LLP

WHITE COLLAR DEFENSE

 

Terence J. Hart 

MUNSCH HARDT KOPF & HARR, P.C.

Charles M. Meadows Jr.

MEADOWS, OWENS, COLLIER, REED, COUSINS & BLAU, L.L.P.

Tom Mills      

MILLS & WILLIAMS L.L.P.

Edwin J. Tomko

MCMANEMIN & SMITH, P.C.


Up | Down | Top | Bottom
 Month: Year:
 TABLE OF CONTENTS: MAY 03