Kirkland & Ellis, which has built its Texas presence to nearly 300 lawyers in Houston and Dallas, is opening an office in Austin initially staffed by four partners relocating to Austin, who will be joined by about 20 others including transplants and lateral hires.

The office will open with Marc Browning, a corporate partner who previously worked in Kirkland’s Houston and Bay Area offices; tax partner Stephen Butler from Houston; corporate partner Kim Hicks from Houston; and debt finance partner Doug Tedeschi from Chicago.