| Vinson & Elkins | 2300 First City Tower, 1001 Fannin, Houston, TX 77002-6760 |
| www.velaw.com | (713) 758-2222 Fax: (713) 758-2346 |
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History: first Texas, then the world
If J.R. Ewing needed a law firm (and actually, he probably does), he'd call in Vinson & Elkins. Founded in 1917 by Texas Judge James A. Elkins and William Ashton Vinson, the firm has historically relied on oil and gas industry-related litigation. Vinson opened its first international office in 1971 in London. The firm also represented clients active in the Soviet Union beginning in the early 1970s - although the firm did not set up an office in Russia until 1991. In 1979, the firm opened its second Texas office in the state's capital, Austin, followed by a Dallas branch in 1986. The Dallas office has since grown into the firm's largest outside Houston. In 1994, the firm's London office established a multi-national partnership (MNP) under the rules of the English Law Society and can now practice English as well as U.S. law. In that same year, the Moscow office relocated to 16 Ulitsa Spirodonovka, putting it within strolling distance of the Kremlin and Red Square.
Boom!
Business is booming at Vinson & Elkins. The firm's client list continues to swell, its workload continues to accelerate, and its revenues continue to skyrocket. Some Vinson insiders feared that the boom years would level off with the collapse of overseas markets in 1998, but recent indications suggest this won't happen for some time. While some lawyers have had to change their field or geographic region of concentration, the economic crisis has barely affected Vinson. The downside of all this success - tremendously overworked attorneys (at least in some areas). To ease associate pain, the firm has taken the lead in the Texas associate-salary market with offers of $110,000 ($125,000 in DC and NYC) for first-years in 2000, edging out big-name Southern competitor Andrews & Kurth.
Strapping practices
Vinson's corporate practices are robust as well. Vinson's health care practice is one of the largest in the nation. The firm is a leader in corporate work such as information technology, project development and finance, and real estate transactions. The energy industry has always been a gusher of revenue for Vinson & Elkins. The M&A group has been active lately, representing regular Vinson client Enron Corporation in its $2.1 billion sale of Portland General Electric (and assumption of $1 billion in debt) to Sierra Pacific Resources in November 1999. The department advised the directors of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners in their January 2000 acquisition of KN Interstate Gas Transmission Co. from Kinder Morgan Inc. for $735 million. The energy industry loves and appreciates Vinson - Vinson was named the best firm in the industry at the semi-significant 1998 Energy Finance Awards, the same year that the firm advised on more than 100 mergers and acquisitions in the industry.
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Bright southerners welcome
If you're smart, diligent, and a graduate of the University of Texas, you fit Vinson's target profile dead-on. But plenty of other candidates have a shot at joining Vinson. Recruiters first and foremost "expect you to be bright, a self-starter, kind of independent, hard working," and have "good communication skills." Vinson looks for less generic attributes as well. For instance, according to the firm literature, "individuality, not conformity, is looked upon as an asset" and "foreign language proficiency" is given consideration. Our sources add that the firm tends to "mostly hire from Texas." This is true in terms of academics, as well. In addition to the usual line-up from Harvard, Yale, Chicago and Stanford, Vinson "looks to the University of Texas" and the "University of Houston somewhat." The ol' college tie is a boon to those grads with some holes in their transcript, as Vinson will "take the top quarter or top third at UT" but usually only the "top five percent at other schools." Regardless, Vinson recruitment is a "grade-driven" process, and even though there is "a whole lot of the 'good old boy network'" in place, there are still "particular grade cutoffs, although not as stringent as at some New York firms," according to a Houston office associate.
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Staying out of the fray
Vinson associates report that turnover at the firm is "average for this size Texas firm." The firm's geographic distance from San Francisco and New York's Internet feeding frenzy seems to have kept the firm from hemorrhaging of its attorneys to hard-charging dot coms. Nonetheless, Vinson does "constantly have people leaving for other opportunities." Some are worried that "pretty high turnover" is becoming a "problem," with at least one associate reporting a loss of "about ten percent of the firm each year." A colleague reminds worriers that "actual attrition is different than life change" decisions that take associates to employment outside of the corporate law firm world. Let's see if Vinson's recruiting staff agrees.
Pro bono weighs in
Rare is the associate who dismisses the firm's pro bono efforts as "lip service," even if "the pressure is to bill" steadily in addition to undertaking public service work. Vinson & Elkins donated "about two or three million dollars'" worth of time to represent the University of Texas in a controversial case, which in March 1996 stripped the public university system of affirmative action funding. Another high-profile effort found lawyers doing much of the legwork behind the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's action in December 1999 to create a federal safety standard for multipurpose lighters. The firm became involved after representing the parents of a four-year-old girl who died from burns suffered as a result of playing with a multipurpose lighter.
Marathon training
More than one associate uses the word "outstanding" to describe Vinson's training opportunities. The firm is "loaded with training - constantly bombarding us with CLE training" and offering formatting software programs that annotate various agreements and other documents to assist new attorneys. One Houston associate enthuses that "partners look out for the development of my practice" and another mentions "five or six workshops for first-year litigators - lots of money, time and effort put into it." Another litigator explains that there are "one to three CLEs each week" and for first-years in his department, "workshops on depositions, motions, and trial advocacy." The only sour note may be the informal training - some associates criticize a "complete 'sink or swim' mentality" with "partners who abandon you completely."
Socializing your way to the top
The social life at Vinson is alive and well, "better than other Texas firms," in the words of a Houston litigator, with a "traditional 'party' reputation." The scene is "fairly good," with "lots of social events - arts, sports - especially in the summer," although there is "less associate/partner mixing than there should be. "If you want to spend your time hanging out with people from the office, there's a lot there," advises another associate in the same office. "There is a premium on 'company bonding.'"
The stuff that Vinson's made of
Advice abounds for those considering making Vinson a professional home. The firm's reputation is as "strong as any" and "this is a good place to start your practice, regardless of your long-term goals." Those weighing the decision "should ask what sort of people, training, and work experience," may be gained, "plus consider the cost of living in Texas." (Hint: lower than San Francisco and New York.) Along the same lines, a New York litigator counsels that you "see if you like the people and consider the benefits of the practice at a larger firm. This is a 'self-starter' place - if you'd rather be assigned to one partner, this is probably not the best place."
From Houston comes the warning to "watch your back - don't believe everything you are told" and be aware that "there will be some very large tradeoffs. Find good work and partners you can tie in with, and be very cognizant of what the atmosphere here is like compared to other firms." Finally, "be very sure of what is important to you." A quality-of-life corollary from Dallas reminds candidates not to be "afraid to take time off and do things outside the office - I think that's a hard thing for an associate to keep in mind."
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Mary Vaughan
Director of Attorney Employment
(713) 758-3202
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Andrews & Kurth;Baker Botts;Fulbright & Jaworski
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