King & Spalding swiped three litigation partners from Winston & Strawn, continuing its raid on the rival law firm to build its Dallas office, the firm said Tuesday.
Moving over is LeElle Slifer, who was co-chair of general litigation at Winston, John T. Sullivan who focuses on complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense, and Katrina Eash, who works on complex commercial disputes.
The new hires will reunite with prominent Texas litigator Tom Melsheimer and other Winston lawyers who jumped to King & Spalding’s Dallas office in February.
“These partners, together with their colleagues who joined us last month, bring the exceptional litigation talent, team-orientation, and focus on growth and excellence that has made our litigation practice one of the strongest in the world,” Robert Hays, King & Spalding’s chairman, said in the announcement.
King & Spalding nabbed nine litigation partners from Winston last month. The majority of the hires, including Melsheimer and Steven Stodghill, went to Dallas.
Melsheimer, known for defending billionaire Mark Cuban on insider trading charges, was the managing partner of Winston’s Dallas office and co-chair of its global litigation practice. He is now King & Spalding’s global head of trial and leads the firm’s office in the city.
‘Not a Hard Sell’
In an interview Tuesday, Melsheimer said it was a “lengthy, deliberate process” deciding to leave Winston after nearly 10 years. He said he “loved” the firm and was “very excited about the future of Winston,” but he was attracted to King & Spalding’s “culture of great lawyering” and its “vision for Texas and beyond.”
King & Spalding expressed interest in his Winston team in Dallas, including IP litigators and some lawyers Melsheimer worked with for decades, he said. The firm offered him a “unique opportunity” to lead its already established Dallas post.
“The ability to essentially relocate some of my closest friends and longtime professional colleagues was extremely attractive,” he said. And given that King & Spalding had been “on a tear” over the last decade in building their legal talent across Texas, their offer “was not a hard sell for any of our group.”
Big Law firms have rushed to open offices and build out their presence in Dallas, seeking to win clients in the metro’s diverse economy—including technology, finances services, and energy sectors.
Simpson Thacher & Barlett and Latham & Watkins each poached partners from Kirkland & Ellis to open Dallas offices last month. The moves come amid a rise in corporate relocations, private capital, and artificial intelligence data center development in the North Texas region.
The firms are moving into the region with established posts from rivals Baker Botts, Vinson & Elkins, Haynes Boone, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and Kirkland.
Melsheimer, who has been an attorney for 40 years, said he used to talk with colleagues in the 1970s about Dallas’ main attraction being its centralized airport. Now, he said the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is still appealing but “probably not in the top five reasons” to come to Dallas.
He described how Dallas has lured
“Texas is just in a tremendous growth mode and Dallas is one of the biggest beneficiaries of that especially Dallas law firms,” Melsheimer said.
King & Spalding entered the Lone Star State’s legal market in 1995 when it opened its Houston office. The firm extended into Austin in 2008, before launching its Dallas post in 2024.
“They’re not pioneers,” Melsheimer said. “They’ve built three successful offices already, and they were interested in us grow and enhance what they’ve already done in Dallas.”
King & Spalding’s Dallas office now has 48 attorneys, according to Melsheimer. He declined to comment on whether the firm plans to hire more Winston partners in the near future.
“We are thrilled to be joining this pre-eminent practice and to contribute to the firm’s continuing upward trajectory in Dallas and beyond,” Slifer said in the statement.
King & Spalding said this year it has added 27 new partners firmwide, including 10 in Dallas. The firm also has hired 20 associates in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, DC, in the last month, Melsheimer said.
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