A Fish Out of Austin: Fish & Richardson Closes Austin Office

A Fish Out of Austin: Fish & Richardson Closes Austin Office

As a New Yorker, people often tell me that Austin is "the oasis of Texas." I think they mean that Austin is a culturally progressive blue city in middle of a red state.

I hope they don't mean that Austin is a great place to practice law.

On Friday, Fish & Richardson announced plans to close its Austin office. This marks the second major law firm to get out of Austin this summer. Weil Gotshal has already announced plans to close its Austin office.

The Austin Business Journal described the importance of Fish & Richardson to the local legal market:

Fish, which opened its Austin office in 2005, currently has 28 attorneys and a total staff of approximately 68 locally. A spokeswoman in the firm's Boston headquarters confirmed the firm will close the office on Dec. 31.

According to Austin Business Journal research, Fish & Richardson is the 16th largest law firm operating in the city, ranked by number of attorneys. Fish reported firmwide revenue of $420 million in 2008. Some of the firm's clients include Microsoft Corp., Google and Freescale Semiconductor Inc.

Are Austinites ready to make the move to "regular Texas"?