Dallas trial lawyer Mark Werbner joined Winston & Strawn as a partner Monday, three months after his former longtime partner Richard Sayles and eight others from their 25-year-old litigation boutique left to open a Dallas office for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

Werbner said a client conflict, which he declined to describe, delayed his move to Winston & Strawn, where his is part of the complex commercial litigation practice. Absent the conflict, Werbner said, he might have lateraled to Winston & Strawn around the time the rest of the Sayles group moved to Bradley.

Winston & Strawn opened its Dallas office in February 2017 with 21 lateral partners from eight different firms. It was the right destination for a number of reasons, Werbner said, including the “enormous talent” that Dallas office managing partner Tom Melsheimer brought together at the fairly young office. He also noted the firm's global reach and its “client base that is quite elite and probably the envy of many firms.”