Jackson Walker

Jackson Walker is the largest firm with offices only in Texas. The firm has more than 500 attorneys practicing in a broad range of practice areas in six offices across the Lone Star State: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Angelo, and San Antonio. Jackson Walker represents 6 Fortune 10, 38 Fortune 100, and 124 Fortune 500 companies. Moreover, Jackson Walker attorneys have represented clients in more than 85 countries and territories, and the firm is a founding member of Globalaw, a worldwide network of law firms with offices throughout the United States and in more than 80 other countries.

Big Dallas Beginnings

Jackson Walker was established in 1887 when former school teacher W.J.J. Smith started his practice in Dallas. In the 1890s, brothers John and George Robertson came to Dallas and entered into partnership with Smith. In the early days, Smith, Robertson & Robertson helped to form The Dallas Times Herald, the Dallas County Gas Company, and railroads, insurance companies, and other businesses as the city became a commercial hub. Both name partners of the current firm joined in 1948. J. Paul Jackson was an experienced attorney in oil, gas, and tax matters who argued several times before the Supreme Court. A. W. "Jess" Walker, Jr., was a professor at the University of Texas School of Law for 23 years and was known as the father of Texas oil and gas law. The firm became known as Robertson, Jackson, Payne, Lancaster, and Walker before changing to Jackson & Walker LLP in 1988. It later became Jackson Walker LLP.

Wide Ranging

With dozens of practice areas, Jackson Walker is a multifaceted force with reach that extends beyond the Lone Star State. Its attorneys focus on bankruptcy, cybersecurity and privacy, energy, environmental law, finance and banking, healthcare, intellectual property, international law, labor and employment, land use, litigation, public finance, real estate, regulatory law, tax law, wealth planning, and white collar matters. The firm is known for its energy work and has been recognized by Chambers, Best Law Firms, and Best Lawyers. Its healthcare practice is substantial, and the firm takes a multidisciplinary approach; together, lawyers from the firm’s bankruptcy, finance, government affairs, corporate, labor and employment, real estate, and tax groups address healthcare clients’ complex needs.

• In 1980, Jackson Walker helped incorporate the Dallas Mavericks. In 2023, a Jackson Walker team represented Mark Cuban and the Mavericks in the sale of a controlling interest in the team, listed as one of the year’s top 15 M&A deals by The Texas Lawbook.
• In 1998, partners Chip Babcock and Nancy Hamilton successfully defended Oprah Winfrey and Harpo Productions in a libel suit brought by two Texas cattlemen.
• In 2019, Jackson Walker advised iconic Texas fast-food chain Whataburger in the sale of a majority interest to BDT Capital Partners, LLC, a Chicago-based merchant bank that advises and invests in family and founder-led companies.
• Jackson Walker is leading the pack in handling the fallout from the February 2021 Texas winter storms. The Texas Supreme Court's Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted a request to consolidate 157 related cases involving the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and other defendants facing lawsuits over loss of power and water services during the storms.

• Mansfield Certification Plus, 2023-2024—Diversity Lab
• 25 national and 134 metro Best Law Firms rankings, 2024—Best Lawyers
• 67 attorneys and 23 departments ranked, 2024—Chambers USA
• Most Feared in Litigation, 2021-2024—BTI Consulting