Rick Burleson, who over a decade built his Texas namesake firm into an energy powerhouse, said Burleson LLP had to close its doors on Dec. 31 due to falling oil prices, lawyer defections and declining revenues that could no longer cover the overhead of five offices.
While those factors surely contributed to Burleson’s announcement in November that it would close at the end of 2015, former lawyers at the firm say other things, such as Rick Burleson’s super-majority ownership of the firm, clients’ conflicts, overreliance on the oil and gas title practice and diversification too little and too late, also help explain the demise of the firm that once had 140 lawyers.
