A group of 11 litigators, led by Jay Brown, joined Winstead in Houston on July 1. They came from Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, a litigation firm based in Houston.
Brown, Hilary Borow and Steve Wedemeyer joined Winstead as shareholders in the firm’s commercial litigation practice group. The eight associates with the group are Matthew Foytlin, Sean Milligan, Bruce Wilkin, Brannon Dillard, Andrew Edelman, Dawn Norman, Carol Wilkins and Lauren Sneed.
Brown says Winstead offers him and his group “a lot of capacity in terms of lawyers [and] in expertise to get certain work done.” Because Winstead is a regional firm, he says, it’s a good fit for his practice, which is litigation in Texas for clients from around the country. He also sees cross-selling opportunities at Winstead. “It was a good time to make a move,” he says.
Brown says his clients include Air Liquide America of Orlando, Corrections Corporation of America of Nashville, Zurich America Insurance Co. of Schaumberg, Ill., Axis Insurance Co. of Alpharetta, Ga., and RSUI Group Inc. of Atlanta.
The 11-lawyer group in Houston is only a part of Dallas-based Winstead’s lateral hiring during 2011; the 268-lawyer firm has brought on 39 laterals so far in 2011.
Brit Brown, managing partner of Beirne Maynard, says he wishes Brown and his group success at their new firm. He says the group that left did a lot of insurance work, and the 55-lawyer Beirne Maynard has been expanding in other areas, such as energy and commercial litigation. “We can fill the gap; in fact, it is creating an additional need for hiring, and we already had some hiring in process,” Brit Brown says.
First reported in Texas Lawyer: Tex Parte Blog.