On December 10, 2024, BakerHostetler announced it would be opening a new Austin, Texas office. The office would be built on the 10 attorneys leaving rival firm Locke Lord. The move is the first part of a larger strategy to enhance BakerHostetler’s position in Texas, where the legal market has seen dramatic growth.
The departing lawyers’ group is headed by Cynthia Bast, who led Locke Lord’s affordable housing group. They are leaving the firm before Locke Lord’s planned merger with Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders on January 1, 2025. The merger will create a combined entity with over 1,600 attorneys. As explained by Bast, the merger was prompted by potential client conflicts following the acquisition as Troutman Pepper represents lenders in affordable housing transactions and the team assembled by Locke Lord represents borrowers and owners in financing deals.
BakerHostetler’s new partners include Rick Morrow, Victoria de Lisle, Chris Schrauff, Matthew Borah, and Raj Bandla. Bast will lead the firm’s new Austin office, but will also co-lead a group focused on affordable housing, community development, and tax credit work. The client base is comprised of nonprofit organizations along with local and national development companies.
BakerHostetler has its roots in Texas, establishing a Houston office in 1988 and a Dallas office in 2020. Given the increasing significance of Austin in technologies and energy sectors, BakerHostetler believes that this would be a strategic location to expand in the state. Despite a slowed wave of law firm expansion in Austin since 2021 – when a wave of major expansion really started taking off, though most now focus on Houston and Dallas-BakerHostetler finds opportunity for building a more diverse practice that serves local as well as national clients.
Mark Ramzy, a mergers and acquisitions and private equity partner who joined the firm from Kirkland & Ellis in 2023, will also help the new office come to fruition. BakerHostetler continues to expand its Austin office with lawyers from other practice groups. Locke Lord said the move was recognized, indicating that discussions with the leaving group had been underway for a while, and wished them all well in their future endeavors.
