Baker & Hostetler officially announced its Dallas debut this week, adding four more partners in the city for a total of 16 lawyers.

Including the newest group, composed of partners from four different firms, Baker & Hostetler now has nine partners working in Dallas, its second Texas location. The firm has been hiring Dallas lawyers over the course of several months, but did not confirm its plans to open an office until now.

Baker & Hostetler has been interested in expanding into the Dallas market for a while because it has a number of clients with headquarters, operations or other legal needs in the city, firm chairman Paul Schmidt said in a statement.

He said despite the disruption caused by the new coronavirus and efforts throughout the United States to contain its spread, the firm felt it was important to move forward with announcing the office launch.

The newest Dallas laterals are M&A partner Todd Thorson, who came from Winston & Strawn, litigation partners Tamara Baggett from Barnes & Thornburg and David Anderson from Wick Phillips, and tax partner Matt Hunsaker from Baker Botts. They joined in February.

Earlier this year, corporate partner Ryan Gorsche joined the firm from Kirkland & Ellis, along with Robert Schroeder, Jordan Bethea and Patrick Rose, all from Wick Phillips. White-collar litigator Shawn Cleveland, who now leads the office, joined Baker & Hostetler in September 2019 from Winston & Strawn.

In interviews Tuesday, Baggett and Thorson each said they were attracted to Baker & Hostetler's wide practice offerings and collaborative culture, and that it was a good fit for their respective practices.

Cleveland said the firm had planned to open the office during the first quarter of the year.  While many of the lawyers were actually hired weeks ago, Cleveland said the firm held off on officially announcing the new office to "make sure we had all of our core teams in place."

The firm's permanent space will be ready in the fall, he said. He expects the group to grow to as many as 50 lawyers over the next two years.

The Dallas office opened in temporary space Feb. 21, but the lawyers and staff started working remotely March 12 because of the coronavirus, Cleveland said.

The firm's Houston office opened in 1990.

Cleveland said the Dallas group now includes lawyers in M&A, private equity, data, and complex litigation including white-collar defense and tax. The firm plans to add more lawyers in those practices in Dallas and also expand with health care, privacy and data security and related areas, intellectual property, labor and employment and bankruptcy.

"We are actively looking and expect to have more lawyers hired soon," he said.

Cleveland declined to identify the Dallas group's clients, as did Baggett and Thorson, but Cleveland said their industries include engineering, energy, automotive, airline, telecommunications and defense contracting industries.

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Baker & Hostetler Continues Dallas Growth Sans Office Space, Adding 4 Partners