McGinnis Lochridge

The firm remains partner-heavy and trial-focused, eschewing the high-leverage associate pyramid that characterizes most national litigation departments. This structure means client matters — including high-stakes oil-and-gas royalty disputes and probate litigation for family offices — are staffed by senior attorneys capable of first-chairing trials, not managed by junior associates.

The firm's deepest bench is in energy litigation — upstream producers, midstream operators, and mineral-rights holders in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford. It also maintains concentrated practices in commercial real estate disputes, water law, agricultural land-use litigation, and financial services defense.

No. McGinnis Lochridge is structured as a pure litigation and dispute-resolution practice. Family offices and operators typically engage the firm for trial work, appeals, and regulatory enforcement defense rather than M&A or fund formation, which are routed to transactional firms.

The Decatur location, northwest of Fort Worth, is unusual for an Austin-headquartered firm of McGinnis Lochridge's vintage. It reflects deliberate geographic proximity to North Texas ranching families, mineral-rights holders, and agricultural landowners who are core clients for probate, title, and oil-and-gas litigation.

The firm's appellate heritage traces to name partner James McGinnis, a former Texas Supreme Court justice. The current appellate team practices before the Supreme Court of Texas, the Fifth Circuit, and intermediate state courts, with a docket concentrated in commercial, energy, and constitutional-law appeals.