A couple of interesting stories have popped up over the past several days regarding Houston lawyers.
First, there was Mary Flood’s profile of the DeGuerin (or was that DeGeurin?) brothers, Mike and Dick, two of the best in Houston’s formidable criminal defense bar. The criminal defense bar in Houston has essentially branched out from two extraordinary criminal defense lawyers, the late Percy Foreman and Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. Mike and Dick are from the Foreman tree, while such excellent Houston criminal defense lawyers as Dan Cogdell and Jack Zimmermann stem from the Haynes tree. A good follow-up story for Flood would be to track the number of first-rate criminal defense lawyers in Houston who have been influenced by Foreman, Haynes and their many acolytes.
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, this ABA Journal article profiles Houston’s $1,100-per-hour lawyer, Stephen Susman. As noted earlier here, Susman has long contended that that he charges in excess of a grand per hour “to discourage anyone hiring me” on an hourly basis. As they say in legal circles, Susman prefers cases with a bit more meat on the bone.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
Mr. Susman’s in the wrong market, unless he’s serious about not wanting to be hired by the hour. There are plenty of New York and Washington based corporate attorneys charging in excess of $1,000/hour today.