Perkins Coie's office in Washington D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

A decade after launching its Texas presence in Dallas, Perkins Coie is expanding southward with an office in Austin as large firms from all over the country eagerly snap up talent across the Lone Star State.

Dean Harvey, managing partner of Perkins Coie's Dallas office, said the firm expanded into Austin because it is a market that suits the firm's strengths in technology, intellectual property and venture capital.

The Am Law 50 firm launched the Austin office on Thursday with three partners—Andy Smetana and Craig Tyler from Vinson & Elkins, who were counsel and partner respectively at their former firm, and Jose Villarreal, who was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Additionally, Wendy Wang, who was also counsel at Vinson & Elkins, is joining Perkins Coie as a partner in Palo Alto.

Smetana represents emerging companies and investors in the technology sector, and is former general counsel for Vapor IO in Austin. Tyler is a trial and appellate lawyer who litigates trade secrets matters as well as patent infringement and validity matters. Villarreal advises technology and growth companies and does patent litigation. Wang also does IP litigation.

According to Harvey, the Austin office has been a couple years in the making, as the firm refocused on Texas after years of expansion on the East Coast.

He said the lawyers brought on to open the Austin office bring practices and experience that fit precisely into the firm's strategic focus on technology. Hiring will continue, with a health care partner expected to join soon. And the firm will continue to build out practices including early-stage, M&A, patent litigation, privacy and security and technology in Austin, he said.

Villarreal said he looks forward to helping Perkins Coie build its Austin operation, because the firm is "coming with a lot of energy and enthusiasm." He said its strong IP practice firmwide will bolster his own patent litigation practice.

The former Vinson & Elkins lawyers were not immediately available for comment. Villarreal said Tyler and Smetana are former Wilson Sonsini colleagues.

The litigator declined to identify his clients, but said they include software companies. According to online court records in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, an important venue for patent litigation, Villarreal has represented Revel Systems, Technomedia Talent Management, Allied Telesis and MongoDB.

When asked for a comment on Villarreal's departure, a Wilson Sonsini spokesperson said in a statement: "We thank Jose for his contributions to the firm and our clients, and wish him well."

Mark Kelly, chair of Vinson & Elkins, said in a statement, "We thank Craig, Wendy and Andy for their contributions to the firm and wish them well in this new endeavor."

Perkins Coie has 30 lawyers in Dallas. Austin will be the 20th office for the Seattle-founded firm.

Austin has also been an increasingly hot spot for litigation in the last year. In 2019, Austin saw the largest gains in new cases added to district courts in 2019 compared with other big Texas cities, according to a recent report by Texas Lawyer.

As for further expansion in the hot Texas market, Harvey said the firm has no short-term plans to add an office in Houston.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that a partner from another Perkins Coie office will be transferring to Austin. 

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