Munck Wilson Mandala will open an office in Austin on Oct. 1 with three partners, including new office head Michael Rodriguez, who has moved to Austin from the firm’s Dallas headquarters.
The other partners are Michael Noe, who joined Munck Wilson from Able IP, and Jennifer Jasper, a one-time Munck Wilson associate who formerly was a partner in West, Webb, Allbritton & Gentry. Noe and Jasper joined the firm on Sept. 6, but they are practicing from their homes until the office opens on Oct. 1.
William Munck, managing partner of 55-lawyer Munck Wilson, said the firm opened an office in Austin because Rodriguez expressed interest in moving there, but it’s a location the firm was considering anyway along with Houston.
Munck said Austin makes sense for the firm because the core of the firm’s practice is for high-tech companies. The Austin office will do intellectual property protection and litigation, copyright and trademark enforcement, corporate law and other work for technology clients and startups.
“It was an opportunity for us to seize that moment,” Munck said. He expects the office to grow to 10 to 15 lawyers.
Rodriguez said he asked the firm to move to Austin because his wife wanted to go back to school to study environmental science and the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are the best options for her.
In Austin, Rodriguez said he will focus on “making strong reaches” into acquiring startup and technology clients from the Hispanic community.
