Fennemore Craig is formally packing its boots and heading to Texas. The Am Regulation 200 agency announced a merger with San Antonio labor & employment boutique Schmoyer Reinhard, bringing all 11 of the boutique’s attorneys into the fold and boosting Fennemore’s workplace tally to 23.
The transfer marks the most recent step in Fennemore’s development technique. CEO James Goodnow mentioned the agency’s growth spurt made one factor painfully clear: their labor and employment observe wasn’t protecting tempo.
“We’ve had success in development, however as we’ve carried out that, we realized that there have been some observe areas that we wanted to fortify,” Goodnow defined, noting that whereas Fennemore already has robust L&E expertise, “we didn’t see the labor and employment bench rising on the identical clip” as the remainder of the agency.
Enter San Antonio’s labor & employment agency, Schmoyer Reinhard.
Not solely are Shannon Schmoyer and Christine Reinhard bringing their specialised experience, however they’re additionally bringing a shopper roster filled with nationwide firms.
“The vast majority of our shopper base is massive, nationwide firms, and we’ve simply been tremendous, tremendous lucky,” Schmoyer mentioned, clearly conscious that in Biglaw, nothing says “match made in heaven” fairly like a stacked shopper checklist.
Reinhard highlighted a special benefit for her crew: becoming a member of a agency with the tech horsepower to push ahead on innovation.
“With know-how, the appearance of AI and with the ability to try this ethically, responsibly in the best way we should always, that’s what’s thrilling,” she mentioned. “That’s not one thing you could essentially do as a small agency — a minimum of not simply.”
Translation: AI is nice, however it prices cash. Fennemore has cash. Offered.
The merger additionally displays a deliberate strategic transfer into Texas — a state that has grow to be the most popular authorized market within the nation for corporations making an attempt to plant flags, rack up income, and possibly get a good plate of brisket alongside the best way.
“Texas has been on the prime of our potential growth markets for a while now,” Goodnow mentioned. “And also you look inside Texas and also you see that San Antonio, in reality, is likely one of the quickest rising cities. And in the event you look even deeper than that, you see that San Antonio doesn’t have the identical stage of Am Regulation 200 corporations in it, so it’s not as saturated as a Dallas or a Houston.”
In different phrases: ripe for the selecting.
With this transfer, Fennemore continues its transformation from regional mainstay to nationwide participant, and if Texas is any indication, the agency has no plans to decelerate.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Regulation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the perfect, so please join together with her. Be happy to e mail her with any ideas, questions, or feedback and comply with her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
