A Houston search firm is suing two partners from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton‘s Houston office, claiming they breached a yearlong search contract by cutting the recruiters out of a deal to launch their firm’s Houston office.

The petition filed Thursday in state district court in Harris County does not identify the law firm or the recruiter. But the defendants are identified as Patrick Gaas and Daniel Shank. The two lawyers led a 13-lawyer group from Coats Rose to Atlanta-based Kilpatrick Townsend, allowing the latter firm to open a Houston office in October 2017.