"Firms in Texas Add Practices That Are Hot Due to Covid-19"

Jarrod Martin recently joined Chamberlain Hrdlicka as a shareholder in the bankruptcy practice. The Texas Lawyer article noted that bankruptcy is suddenly booming because of COVID-19.

Despite market uncertainty due to the coronavirus, the firms are taking advantage of a boon in certain practices by expanding with Texas hires in areas that have gotten busier as clients deal with the uncertain business and economic environment. In addition to labor and employment and bankruptcy, other surging practices including insurance coverage, health care and privacy and data security.

To launch its bankruptcy practice, Chamberlain Hrdlicka added Jarrod Martin as a shareholder in Houston. He formerly led the bankruptcy practice at Houston’s McDowell Hetherington.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka managing partner Larry Campagna said his firm has not had a bankruptcy practice in Houston for several years, but the drop in oil prices and the pandemic led the firm to decide to add the practice.

The search quickly focused on Martin, Campagna said, after a series of people, including a bankruptcy practitioner, a friend of a shareholder and a shareholder, suggested the firm talk to Martin. “It became a very focused search, very quickly,” Campagna said.

Martin said the bankruptcy and restructuring practice is “absolutely exploding,” and he needed to move from a litigation boutique to a full-service firm to better serve clients. He talked to more than a half-dozen firms ranging from Texas firms to Am Law 100 firms, but the offer from Chamberlain Hrdlicka was very competitive and the firm provides him with the range of practices and flexibility he needs to grow his practice.

Among clients, Martin said he represents the Chapter 7 trustee in the Anchor Drilling Services bankruptcy, and the Chapter 11 trustee for Watson Valve Services, one of the companies that filed for protection from creditors following an explosion at a related plant in Houston in January.

Campagna said the firm plans to hire more bankruptcy lawyers to work with Martin in Houston. “We just expect this will be a very busy area of the law for quite some time to come, particularly in Houston with the double-whammy of the pandemic and the [low] oil prices,” Campagna said.

To read the full article, click on this link.