Even with the COVID-19 pandemic raging and slowing the economy, firms based outside Texas continued to open offices in the Lone Star State, where the economy is diversifying beyond oil and gas, and lawyers can bill at healthy rates.

Nearly half of all Am Law 200 firms operate at least one office in Texas. They steadily moved in over the course of four decades, but that accelerated in recent years as Big Law and regional firms expand around the country. Texas is on a short list for many of those firms.