Law Firms Join Early Winners in ‘Very Hot’ Texas Business Court

The nascent Texas Business Court is already paying off for law firms, who are using it to build caseloads, market services, and grow litigation departments.

Firms including Jackson Walker, Baker Botts, and Norton Rose Fulbright have gobbled up the 223 cases filed at the new venue so far, and they’re releasing reports about the court’s procedures to help drum up business. At least one firm is staffing up to handle the growing workload.

“No question, people are thinking about more disputes being brought in Texas than they were before,” David Harper, a Haynes Boone litigation partner in Dallas, said in an interview. “It may require more commercial litigation lawyers.”

The activity shows that a court intended to lure corporations to Texas also holds the promise of enhancing the bottom lines of law firms. While it’s still early going for the court—it only opened in September 2024 in the state’s five largest cities—practitioners so far see the venue delivering on its promise to efficiently handle business disputes.

As of Oct. 23, the business court had 223 total cases, with about half in Houston and a quarter in Dallas, said Grant Dorfman, a Texas Business Court judge in Houston. “That wildly exceeds anybody’s expectations,” he said.

Law firms with a heavy Texas presence are grabbing the business from the court. As of the court’s one-year anniversary, when it had tallied 185 cases, 16 firms worked on five or more of them, led by Jackson Walker with 14, and 11 each for Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann of Dallas and Beck Redden of Houston, Bloomberg Law reported.

Top companies that have turned to the court include AT&T Inc., BP Plc, and Exxon Mobil Corp. Working in the venue is “like playing in the big leagues,” said Rafe Schaefer, a Norton Rose litigation partner who has been involved in 10 hearings in the court. “They’re the type of cases that lawyers dream about.”

Collin Cox, co-partner in charge of the Houston office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said the firm is hiring five associates this year because of the business court and the general increase in litigation in Texas more broadly.

“Litigation is very hot in Texas,” said Gregg Costa, global co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s trials practice group. The state is “increasingly where corporate America is going to be resolving a lot of its disputes.”

Law firms also see the new court as a way to market their lawyers. Baker Botts, Vinson & Elkins, Latham & Watkins, and a host of other firms with offices in the state have released reports of business court procedures and opinions via articles, video and social media.

Norton Rose’s Houston partners developed the Texas Business Court Insider video series. Harper of Haynes Boone helped start a task force in the firm to advise clients and his own colleagues on the latest court rules and policy updates.

Need for Speed

Texas has long touted a business-friendly reputation, but lacking a business court meant most corporate legal matters settled in arbitration or lingered in the costly, overloaded state district courts. After decades of failed attempts to build an alternative, the Texas Legislature in 2023 approved the creation of the Texas Business Court.

The move was part of the state’s efforts to challenge the bench-only Delaware Court of Chancery as a magnet for businesses. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who applauded Elon Musk moving Tesla’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas, signed the court bill into law and appointed 10 business-minded judges with litigation experience to serve two-year terms.

Dorfman said he feared “crickets chirping” when the business court opened. So, he met with CEOs, in-house counsel, litigators, and law schools to “market the judges” to drum up business, he said.

“The Field of Dreams school had it right that there is a demand for this,” Dorfman said.

In attempts to challenge Delaware, business court judges in Texas, who now have law clerks, aim to write more opinions on corporate law to guide lawyers and businesses in corporate transactions, Judge Dorfman said. The court has not yet hosted a trial, though more than three dozen cases are set to be heard by a jury over the next year.

Among its pledges, the court guaranteed speed. While most business court cases settle, attorneys so far have praised the ability of judges to move others to trial within 18 months—a fast clip compared to waiting up to four years in state district courts, said David Harrell, a litigation partner at Troutman Pepper Locke in Houston. The court can also share cases among judges to avoid overloading one division.

“We recognize it as an emerging venue,” said Andrew Price, a Norton Rose Fulbright partner in Houston who co-leads commercial and energy disputes practice in the US. “It’s certainly good business from the law firm’s perspective.”