Texas firms are having to work even harder to compete in their own backyard. In the latest sign that Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts and others are being forced to respond to the influx of out-of-town firms in the state, compensation for associates at Texas-based firms shot up in the first half of this year. Total compensation costs at these firms for all lawyers who were not equity partners rose 10.5 percent compared to the first half of last year, while head count declined, according to John Wilmouth, senior client adviser for Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group.
This was the biggest rise in any U.S. market, and more than twice the national increase. (This figure includes compensation for all associates and other nonequity lawyers at firms headquartered in Dallas or Houston, including lawyers outside Texas.) “Several managing partners have told us that they’ve raised salaries in response to competition from firms headquartered outside Texas,” says Wilmouth.
