Kennedy Barnes of White Wiggins & Barnes.

White Wiggins & Barnes, which expanded internationally after Kennedy Barnes returned to Dallas’ White & Wiggins in 2018, is ceasing operations, leaving a pared-down White & Wiggins to resume business beginning Aug. 27.

In the time since Barnes joined White Wiggins & Barnes in March 2018, the firm added offices in New York and Johannesburg, South Africa, affiliated with a Nigerian firm, and added a number of lawyers.

The strategic plan for White Wiggins & Barnes called for expansion of the entertainment and international practices in Africa, but both Barnes and White & Wiggins founder Kevin Wiggins said integration had not proceeded as well as they expected with the firm’s Dallas practice.

“We just mutually agreed that we have different interests in what we are pursuing and the match wasn’t good,” Wiggins said.

Barnes, who previously practiced at White & Wiggins for seven years in the 1990s and considers founding partner J. Ron White his mentor, said he and partner Ward White IV and lawyers in the firm’s offices outside of Dallas will go their own way in late August.

“We found that our vision for the legal practice of the future is a little inconsistent with the model they have operated for years,” Barnes said.

The 26-year-old White & Wiggins is the oldest minority-owned civil practice firm in Texas, according to the firm. Wiggins said it primarily does commercial litigation, real estate, probate and transactional work, but the departure of the Barnes group will not end the firm’s foray into entertainment and Africa. Two of the firm’s lawyers—Nnamdi Anozie and Martha Melaku—have U.S. clients with African contacts. particularly in the entertainment sector, he said.

Barnes said he and Ward have not yet decided on a name for their new firm. He said they  intend to strengthen the affiliation with the Nigerian firm, Tope Adebayo, a seven-lawyer firm in Lagos.

“The new name will reflect that,” he said.