Balch & Bingham, a midsize firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, with offices throughout the Southeast and in Washington, D.C., has moved into the hot Texas market with an office in Houston and two energy and M&A partners.

Philip Dunlap, who joined Balch & Bingham on Tuesday, came from local firm BoyarMiller. Additionally, David Bowsher, who was a partner at Adams and Reese in Birmingham, joins the firm on Feb. 3. He will split his time between Houston and Birmingham.

Balch & Bingham isn't the only Birmingham-based firm in Texas, a logical westward expansion region for law firms headquartered in the Southeast. Others include Lightfoot, Franklin & White and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

Stan Blanton, managing partner of Balch & Bingham, said the firm had been eyeing Texas expansion since before he took on his leadership role four years ago, but it began work in earnest on the Houston launch a year ago.

"Our strategy has basically been to try to find practices complementary to the ones we already have—or expand what we have," Blanton said of the 200-lawyer firm's plans for Texas.

While the Houston office may have been a long time coming for Balch & Bingham, the firm has a roster of about 75 clients in energy, banking and financial services, manufacturing and health care in the Lone Star State. Those clients include Vistra Energy, an electric generating company in Dallas, as well as BBVA USA and Cadence Bank, which both have large Texas operations, Blanton said.

Blanton said Dunlap and Bowsher will help the firm expand its oil and gas work.

"We've traditionally been an electricity firm. The addition of oil and gas … fits really well with what we do. We expect to get those guys involved in electrical asset transactions and get our people involved in oil and gas," he said.

By year-end, Blanton said, Balch & Bingham should have as many as 10 lawyers in Houston, and it may eventually add offices in Dallas and Austin.

"The amount of economic activity in Texas is very attractive to us. If you are going to want to grow, you want to do it somewhere where people are doing transactions, and there's a lot of legal work," he said.

In addition to Alabama, the firm has offices in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and in Washington, D.C. Outside of Texas, Blanton said potential growth areas include northern Florida, Tennessee and the Carolinas. But, like in Texas, all growth is client-driven, he said.

"We are not the kind of firm that is just going to pick a city and plant a flag and move there," he said.

Dunlap said that broad client base in Texas was a key factor in his decision to join the firm, because it provides him cross-selling opportunities.

"It's not a national firm that's based in New York or San Francisco that's coming into town. For my practice, focused on the middle market, it was a great place to bring my practice and expand my practice," Dunlap said, adding that his new firm also allows him to maintain his billing rates.

Dunlap declined to identify his clients, but said most are middle-market, privately held companies in the energy services, midstream, health care, and industrial manufacturing sectors. Some are private equity fund portfolio companies, he said.

Blanton said the firm's ability to offer lower billing rates than national firms is a selling point with clients and with prospective hires. He said his billing rate as a nuclear regulatory lawyer, at  $650 an hour, is among the firm's highest.

Bowsher was not available for comment on his move.

Chris Hanslik, chairman of BoyarMiller, said in a statement Friday: "The news of another law firm coming to Houston is not surprising given the trend over the past few years. We wish Philip the best of luck."

A spokeswoman for Adams and Reese said the firm has no comment on Bowsher's departure.

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