Shearman & Sterling's Houston office has only been open 15 months, but its midlevel associates there are so satisfied with the firm that the office topped city of Houston rankings on The American Lawyer's 2019 Midlevel Associates Survey.

Shearman was first among 16 firms in Houston with enough surveys from the city to be ranked. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld leads the breakout for Dallas, which includes survey results from eight firms.

The Houston office of New York-based Shearman launched in May 2018, two months after the firm opened in Austin.

The first six firms on the Houston office ranking are out-of-state firms.

Meanwhile, appearing in the Midlevel Associates Survey rankings for the first time, Houston-based litigation boutique Susman Godfrey pulled a sixth-place ranking on the overall survey, which included 96 firms. In the Houston breakout rankings, it came in seventh.

The survey results, which The American Lawyer made public on Monday, show that midlevel associates—those in their third, fourth and fifth years—are happier on the job than they were last year. The average composite satisfaction score for the group of firms was a 4.29 on a 5-point scale, up from last year's average of 4.27.

Associates in both Dallas and Houston are more satisfied than the industrywide average. The average for Dallas was 4.44, while the average for Houston was even higher at 4.56.

Bill Nelson, who leads Shearman's Houston office, said many of the associates there joined along with partners from their prior firms, and those longtime connections created a collegial environment. Nelson joined Shearman in Houston with a group from Haynes and Boone, but the office launched with teams from Baker Botts, Thompson & Knight and Jones Day.

The capital markets lawyer said Shearman offers midlevel associates the trifecta of good work, training and leadership opportunities.

"There's a real emphasis on continuous career growth and development, and at the same time we are permitting these associates to work on elite, premier global transactions," Nelson said.

Scott Barnard, the partner-in-charge of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's Dallas office, said firm leaders and partners take pride that the Dallas office did so well on the city ranking.

Over the last year or so, he said, the firm has adopted a number of suggestions from associates and counsel. That included hiring Carrie Marker as director of career counseling and planning, whose role is helping associates integrate into the firm and stay on their desired career path, he said. Another is Akin JUMP!, a program that allows midlevel associates and counsel to spend time in other offices.

Associates have also embraced the firm's expanded parental leave policy, he said, but one big factor in Dallas was the move in early 2019 to the Uptown area of Dallas.

"It's a brand new state-of-the-art office, a lot of glass, open space [and] collaborative space," he said, adding that new office "really does put some pep in your step."

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National Rankings

While Susman Godfrey was the highest-ranked among Texas firms in the national survey results, Akin Gump came in at 15th, down from seventh last year. It landed just ahead of Thompson & Knight, which in the 17th spot was up from 46th last year.

Vinson & Elkins was 45th, a drop from 18th a year ago, and Bracewell was 54th, up from from 99th last year.

Susman Godfrey managing partner Neal Manne said he is gratified to see how well the firm did its first time participating in the survey, particularly because the five firms with higher midlevel associate scores are not direct competitors.

For the second year in a row, New York-based Schulte Roth & Zabel led the national rankings, followed in order by Paul Hastings; Drinker Biddle & Reath; O'Melveny & Myers; and Blank Rome.

"We are happy that we ranked sixth. Next year, I hope we will be ranked No. 1," Manne said.

Susman Godfrey's highest scores in individual categories were for "interesting work," "benefits and compensation" and "management openness." The firm is known for paying associates more than market rate, providing unlimited paid parental leave and unlimited vacation—even to train a puppy—and allowing lawyers to continue working as long as they like, until they reach a mandatory retirement age of 100.

In answers to open-ended questions, Susman Godfrey associates said the litigation firm gives them tremendous responsibility and important work very early on.

"Susman Godfrey has given me opportunity to be a real trial lawyer," a fourth-year associate wrote.

Manne said the associates do work long hours, but that's because midlevels at the firm do more than research and document review.

"If you're really at trial, then your hours are going to be really high," he said. "Guess what? Our partners work really hard, too."

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