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Hey guys,

I'm having a lot of trouble using online resources to find a list of the mid-sized transactional firms that I can apply to for next summer. I'm sure there are several of them in any of the 3 cities (Dallas, Houston, Austin), but NALP and Martindale have been a swing and a miss for me so far. I'm not too sure how the websites work as far as how extensive the list of firms on it is, but I'll filter it to Dallas firms with 0-99 attorneys in the firm, and only 2-3 results will pop up.

Does anyone have any recommendations for firms I should contact? Or a better resource than the one I'm currently using? Any mid-sized firms in the 3 cities I previously mentioned will do. Preferably firms that do transactional/corporate work.

Thanks for all the help!

Part of the problem is that corporate / transactional work is inherently geared towards large firms that can throw a lot of bodies at various matters and bill a ton for it. If you mean mid-size firms that do things like corporate formation or employment agreements or similar things, most mid-size firms will handle smaller things like that. But if you're talking about the corporate / transactional work that people on TLS generally mean when they say corporate / transactional (like M&A), you're going to have a very hard time finding small firms that do that type of work.

I work at a transactional boutique, and it's very, very unique. There are maybe a handful of lawyers that do similar work in the country.

Yes, sorry I should be more clear. I'm talking about any transactional work at all. Employment/labor, drafting/negotiating documents, any sort of corporate work whatsoever.

Before I graduate, I just want to see that the transactional route is the direction I want to head in. So any of that work would help. If anyone has any firms (or better research websites than the ones I am using), it would be much appreciated!

Pretty much any midsize firm (aside from litigation boutiques) is going to have some form of transactional practice? Do they do real estate work or commercial leasing? That's transactional, and probably one of the more broad and open areas to get into.

If you're open, I would just search for all firms and exclude any that are exclusively a litigation firm.

The Texas Bar Journal had a listing of the biggest Texas firms and after the known firms, there were quite a few non-biglaw groups on the list that you might look into.

For Dallas, Scheef and Stone maybe?

I'll echo what others have said. There are problems with trying to define exactly what is "small" vs "midsized" vs "a more regional biglaw", etc. There are also difficulties with saying "transactional" because that can cover not just corporate, but real estate and more.

Martindale is one way to look (I just looked there too and it kept giving me errors for some reason).

I'll try to throw together some "mid-sized"ish firms that I can think of (note that people might consider some of these "regional biglawish"):

Munsch Hardt, Gray Reed, Kelly Hart, Bell Nunnally , Kane Russell Coleman, mcginnis lochridge, Naman Howell Smith & Lee, Graves Dougherty, Cantey Hanger.

There are more out there, I thought I had a list of these somewhere I'll see if I can find it.

This is a naive question, but what constitutes a "mid-sized firm" ? I have been narrowing my search to firms below 30-40 attorneys, but it seems like I may be way off here.

favabeansoup wrote:I'll echo what others have said. There are problems with trying to define exactly what is "small" vs "midsized" vs "a more regional biglaw", etc. There are also difficulties with saying "transactional" because that can cover not just corporate, but real estate and more.

Martindale is one way to look (I just looked there too and it kept giving me errors for some reason).

I'll try to throw together some "mid-sized"ish firms that I can think of (note that people might consider some of these "regional biglawish"):

Munsch Hardt, Gray Reed, Kelly Hart, Bell Nunnally , Kane Russell Coleman, McGinnis Lochridge, Naman Howell Smith & Lee, Graves Dougherty, Cantey Hanger.

There are more out there, I thought I had a list of these somewhere I'll see if I can find it.

Fantastic man. I really appreciate this list! Ya, Martindale was giving me the same issues. NALP was too.

Anonymous User wrote:
Fantastic man. I really appreciate this list! Ya, Martindale was giving me the same issues. NALP was too.

I think I found the list I was thinking of: http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/tx/TX-Top100-Charts-0816.pdf

It's slightly outdated because I know some firms on their that have grown since this, but it gives you a pretty decent look at the various firms out there, both national satellites and local texas.

OP here. Thanks a lot for this. I had never seen this before, but it's more helpful than any other resource I have used. Much appreciated.

Probably outdated but:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgDbsGbxKivggQpAzMAXzXkie7I2

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgDbsGbxKivggQmg-k0maYkBcb0r

favabeansoup wrote:I'll echo what others have said. There are problems with trying to define exactly what is "small" vs "midsized" vs "a more regional biglaw", etc. There are also difficulties with saying "transactional" because that can cover not just corporate, but real estate and more.

Martindale is one way to look (I just looked there too and it kept giving me errors for some reason).

I'll try to throw together some "mid-sized"ish firms that I can think of (note that people might consider some of these "regional biglawish"):

Munsch Hardt, Gray Reed, Kelly Hart, Bell Nunnally , Kane Russell Coleman, McGinnis Lochridge, Naman Howell Smith & Lee, Graves Dougherty, Cantey Hanger.

There are more out there, I thought I had a list of these somewhere I'll see if I can find it.

I would add BoyarMiller, AndrewsMyers, Chamberlain Hrdlicka, coats rose and royston rayzor for Houston firms.


Really the best way to check midsize/large firm in Texas is turn to like the back pages of a Texas Lawyer magazine when they list firms by size on whatever charitable contribution that all the firms give to.