Christian Rice’20
Guest Writer
As I write this, it’s 94 degrees in Austin, Texas. But the weather isn’t the only thing that’s hot in the Lone Star State; the Texas legal market is on fire. Law firms are doing everything they can to attract top legal talent to the fastest-growing state in the country;[1] including (at some firms) $25,000 summer associate signing bonuses. Some might say such incentives are nuttier than a port-o-potty at a peanut festival but, with many businesses moving to Texas, the legal market is growing quickly and firms must compete to hire top talent into the state.
It’s no wonder businesses nationwide are moving to Texas; Texas is both the best state for business and the best state to start a business.[2] Texas’s economy has been strong for decades, including through the financial crisis. During the recession, numerous news outlets from the Atlantic to the Houston Chronicle deemed Texas’s economic performance “the Texas Miracle,” as Texas didn’t lose any jobs during the recession and housing prices decreased only briefly before quickly rebounding.
Texas also features world-class food (even beyond life-changing BBQ and Tex-Mex), diverse cultures (Houston has been named the most diverse city in America for several years running),[3] and metropolitan cities with major attractions. Three of the nation’s ten biggest cities are in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas), as is America’s fastest growing city (Austin).
As if this isn’t enough reason for businesses and law firms to increase their Lone Star presence, Texas has no state or local income tax. The effective state and local taxes on a $190,000 salary are high in cities like New York City (9.68 percent), San Francisco (9.14 percent), and D.C. (7.18 percent), while Texas’s 0 percent tax rate means employees and attorneys moving to Texas keep more dollars in their pockets. This, combined with lower cost of living, means that Texas’s most expensive city, Austin, is still much cheaper than its out-of-state counterparts. $210,000 in salary plus bonus in Austin is equivalent to roughly $343,000 in D.C., $437,000 in San Francisco, or $525,000 in New York City.[4]
For these reasons and many others, businesses and lawyers are flocking to Texas faster than ever: to Austin for appellate litigation and venture capital; to Dallas for finance and real estate; and to Houston for corporate and energy practices.
As Texas’s business and legal markets have heated up, so has UVA Law’s Texas presence; in the four years since Lone Star Lawyers (“LSL’s”) founding, LSL has grown to some 130 dues-paying members (including 70 1Ls) who want to practice at a big law firm in Austin, Dallas, or Houston.
With such a large Texan contingent, law firms have a strong desire to interact with students at UVA Law. LSL hosts panels and happy hours with attorneys roughly once every three weeks to teach LSL members about different practice areas, what it’s like to be an associate at a big law firm, and how to make a big law application more competitive.
But LSL isn’t solely business: law firms also sponsor regular, members-only events to promote their name. This fall, law firms have sponsored several social gatherings, including a Texas-themed event featuring Texan drinks, BBQ, and Brazos Tacos. Last spring, firms hosted vineyard and axe throwing events to give LSL members the opportunity to interact with attorneys in a more comfortable environment. Law firms have also been generous enough to sponsor LSL merchandise. In the last year, firms have sponsored LSL-branded mugs, sweaters, and softball jerseys for our softball team, the “Rio Grande Slams.”
In addition to law firm and social events, LSL offers a variety of mentorship opportunities. Every LSL 1L is assigned a 2L or 3L mentor to help him or her with the big law firm application process. LSL’s board also hosts office hours roughly once per month in the fall to review resumes and cover letters, conduct mock interviews, and give interview tips. Finally, LSL connects 1Ls to LSL alumni-attorneys in Texas to give more specialized advice when needed.
As we say in Texas, LSL is not “all hat and no cattle.”[5] Interaction with attorneys, mentorship by law students and alumni, and application assistance has made a big difference in LSL members’ big law success; last year, 76 percent of LSL’s 1Ls who sought out a summer associateship in big law were given at least one offer.[6] LSL’s Vice President of Marketing, William Kelly, recently completed the 1L hiring process and says: “LSL is a freaking machine at getting people jobs in Texas. Working at a big firm in Houston last summer, I compared notes with my coworkers from across the top fourteen law schools—they were amazed at what LSL does at UVA and it’s clear that no other Texas law school organization functions even close to LSL’s level.”
Now, LSL is focusing on ramping up its alumni base. New to LSL this year are UVA Law alumni events hosted in Dallas and Houston. Our first alumni happy hour in Dallas featured roughly fifty attorneys, current students, and admitted students, and LSL is planning a similar happy hour in Houston this winter. In addition, LSL’s first newsletter will go out to all LSL alumni in January.
Everyone knows Texas is hotter than a two-dollar pistol, and now that phrase applies to its legal market as well. LSL will continue to serve students interested in the Texas legal market and, hopefully, UVA will remain among the top schools for Texas-bound law students for decades to come. If you are interested in the Texas legal market, please reach out to me at cr6xh@virginia.edu.
I would like to thank LSL’s board members for the many hours of work they put in to make LSL’s success possible: Haley Cambra ’20 as Co-President; Reese Gwinn ’20 as Vice President of Finance and Softball Captain; Garrett Engel ’21 as Vice President of Career Development; Peggy Porter ’21 as Vice President of Social Events; William Kelly ’21 as Vice President of Marketing; Will Brown ’21 as Vice President of Mentorship; and Hunter Bezner ’21 as Vice President of Professional Relations.
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cr6xh@virginia.edu
[1] Texas has been the fastest-growing state in the U.S. by population since 2010. http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/fastest-growing-states/.
[2] https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2019/05/08/texas-best-state-for-business.html; https://www.statesman.com/news/20190708/texas-is-best-state-to-start-business-says-study.
[3] https://www.houston.org/news/houston-still-most-diverse-city-nation-report-finds.
[4] All figures were calculated using Nerd Wallet’s Cost of Living Calculator, which can be accessed at: https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator.
[5] “All hat and no cattle” is a saying that means “they speak highly of themselves but don’t have anything to show for it.”
[6] This statistic is based on a survey of 100 percent of LSL’s 1L members in the summer of 2019 and was not developed by UVA Law’s Office of Private Practice.