Dallas, Texas. (Photo): f11photo/Shutterstock.com)

On the cusp of a new decade, Texas law firm leaders seem upbeat about what the next year, at least, will bring.

Looking at the industry as a whole, a new report from Civi Private Bank's Law Firm Group, co-authored by Hildebrandt Consulting, found that 2019 was another strong year for the U.S. law firm industry and revenues should continue growing in 2020. The authors of that report also do not expect a recession in 2020.

With that in mind, Texas Lawyer asked a number of local managing partners: What is your forecast for 2020? What practices do you hope to grow during the year? And what will your firm do to outpace the competition in Texas?

Their responses were lightly edited for length and style.

Gregory Bopp, managing partner of Bracewell

"As we approach our firm's 75th anniversary, we're focused on capitalizing on our strengths in Texas and in other large markets such as New York, Washington, D.C. and London. Consistent with that focus, we will continue to build on our market-leading reputation for excellence in the energy, infrastructure, finance and technology sectors. With respect to Texas, over the past year we deepened our bench through partnership promotions and the addition of several strong lateral partners in our energy, finance, white-collar, commercial litigation and IP practices. Given the robust level of activity in the final quarter of 2019, we certainly expect 2020 to be a very productive year."

David Dawson, chairman and CEO of Winstead

"Winstead had a very productive 2019 across all practice groups. Based on work in the pipeline, we expect 2020 to also be strong, with real estate, real estate finance, banking and corporate activity leading the way as it has in past years."

Neal Manne, co-managing partner of Susman Godfrey

"The metrics that affect other firms don't really apply to us, given the unique nature of our practice. We have terrific cases on both sides of the docket, and a terrific group of trial lawyers. We will continue to work tirelessly to achieve great results for our clients. If we do that, 2020 will be a success for our firm—regardless of the economics."

John Martin, managing partner of Baker Botts

"We have experienced an extraordinarily strong year in 2019 across all of our practice groups.  I am confident that Baker Botts will continue to be recognized as a leading, differentiated firm in technology, energy, IP, litigation, environmental, and other practice areas in 2020. These areas require technical depth and business acumen and are among those in which we are proudly technical. We also will continue to scale our firm but will do so strategically rather than for the sake of growth. This means sharpening our differentiation and enhancing our technical expertise even further in areas in which we provide value propositions for our clients."

Richard Rose, managing partner of Coats Rose

"We are still pulling things together, but it is clear that 2019 was a very good year for us as both revenue and profits were up quite a bit. There is no indication to us at this time of a slowdown [in the] new year in our core practice areas of affordable housing, municipal finance and general real estate work."

David Taylor, chair of Locke Lord

"We expect great things for Locke Lord in 2020 as we continue to build upon our leadership in the middle market across the firm's key sectors. In Texas, we are focused on growing our strengths in key practice areas such as energy, corporate, real estate, commercial litigation and white-collar defense, to name just a few. I am excited about the momentum we have in our M&A practice, where [based on Mergermarket data] we earned the No. 2 rank in Texas M&A by deal count for Q1-Q3 2019—the latest of our numerous top 10 rankings during the past five years. We are proud of this accomplishment, especially considering the dip in overall deal activity in 2019.

"Our economic outlook for 2020 is strong — particularly in Texas, where the thriving economy continues to produce growth opportunities across sectors. As the state's roster of corporate headquarters increases, we expect sustained competition from out-of-state firms. In this environment, we're leveraging our extensive experience in Texas and the deep networks we've developed for more than 125 years. We will continue to align our strengths across our five key sectors and 21 offices to enhance our full-service offering and work to ensure we are consistently providing the highest-quality service and value to our clients."

Christopher Trowbridge, managing partner Bell, Nunnally & Martin

"2020 promises to bring a number of business trends into focus nationally, in Texas and here at Bell Nunnally. As a firm, we continue to see strong revenue growth driven by a diverse range of practices, including litigation, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, commercial finance, labor and employment and white collar. North Texas is a boom town, with a seemingly endless parade of large companies decamping from less business-friendly environs for the entrepreneurial Dallas-Fort Worth region. This dynamic creates enormous opportunities for established legal practices, like ours, that are steeped in the region's legal, economic and regulatory ecosystems. Bell Nunnally continues to strategically expand our offerings and attorney ranks to accommodate this additional business. Overall, we are enthusiastic about the business confidence level nationally, and confident that it will translate to another banner year."