Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Winston & Strawn have both opened new bases in Texas with the hires of teams of partners from rival firms.

Winston & Strawn, which has had an office in Houston since 2011, has launched in Dallas with 21 lateral partners from eight firms.

The Dallas partners include seven from Locke Lord, six from Fish & Richardson, three from Jones Day, and one each from Norton Rose Fulbright, Greenberg Traurig, Squire Patton Boggs, K&L Gates, and Miller Egan Molter & Nelson. Additionally, two other partners from Locke Lord have joined Winston & Strawn's Houston office.

Bryan Goolsby, a real estate investment trust lawyer who came from Locke Lord, and Thomas Melsheimer, a trial lawyer from Fish & Richardson, will lead the Dallas office as managing partners. Goolsby is a former executive chair and managing partner of Locke Lord, and Melsheimer was managing principal of the Fish & Richardson office in Dallas.

Tom Fitzgerald, Winston & Strawn's managing partner, said the firm sees a lot of opportunity in Dallas because current clients have work in the region, there is much opportunity to get new clients because of Dallas' large corporate base, and because the firm landed an "all-star" team of lateral partners.

Melsheimer said Winston  is making a big splash. "Winston isn't opening up an office. They are making a statement about a big-time commitment to Dallas," he said.

In addition to Goolsby, the partners from Locke Lord include Billie Ellis Jr, Andrew Betaque, Todd Thorson, David Lange, Matt Stockstill and Ken Betts. The Fish & Richardson lawyers include Melsheimer, Steven Stodghill, Brett Johnson, Scott Thomas, Taj Clayton and John Sanders Jr. The partners from Jones Day include Matthew Orwig, Shawn Cleveland and Basheer Ghorayeb.

The others are Tom Hughes from Norton Rose, Christina Tate from Greenberg Traurig, Jeff Cole from Squire Patton, Jordan Klein from K&L Gates and Chip Gage from Miller Egan.

Additionally, real estate partners Douglas Yeager and Jeffrey Smith will join Winston & Strawn's Houston office from Locke Lord.

Fitzgerald said the firm's executive committee had considered Dallas for a while, but decided in early summer to open an office in north Texas, targeting such practice areas as complex commercial litigation, white-collar investigations, capital markets, M&A, private equity and finance. The office should reach 55 to 60 lawyers within a few weeks, he said.

Melsheimer, a litigator who had practiced at Fish & Richardson for nearly 20 years, said he wasn't looking to change firms, but once Winston & Strawn approached him, he was impressed by the firm's extraordinary commitment to Dallas. "They were not looking to have half a dozen lawyers, some retreads from other firm. They really went out and got some of the best lawyers in town in their respective practice areas. I've never seen that before," he said.

When asked for a comment on the departures, Locke Lord provided this statement: "Out-of-state law firms set their sights on Texas at the beginning of this decade and have spent large amounts of money luring partners away from well established Texas firms. Locke Lord is very proud of our strong Texas history that goes back to the late 19th century, of our network of more than 300 lawyers in Texas alone, of our strong support of and commitment to the cities in which we reside, and of our long-time ties to our clients who share our same investment in this great state."

Meanwhile, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which has had an office in Dallas since 1984, has opened a Houston office that will be led by eight oil and gas partners.

Rob Walters, partner in charge of the firm's 60-lawyer Dallas office, said the firm could not yet identify the eight lawyers yet because of their obligations to their former firms and clients.

"It is absolutely an elite team and it is oil and gas, capital markets, master limited partnerships and tax, as well as public company M&A. Our focus of course is energy transactions work," Walters said.

Walters said the firm has a worldwide energy practice, but has lacked breadth and depth in the "hardcore" oil and gas area. He said the firm has long considered expanding in Houston, one of the nation's energy capitals, with oil and gas strength, but has patiently waited for the right lawyers.

"I don't think there's a higher domestic priority for the firm," he said.

Walters said the firm already does a lot of work in Houston in the litigation, environmental and regulatory areas, and with the office in the city adding transactional expertise, the firm may also expand in Houston into controversies and international arbitration.

Ken Doran, chairman and managing partner of Gibson Dunn, said in a statement that the expansion of the firm's oil and gas transactional capability takes the firm's energy practice "to the next level".