Reuters - International law firm Ashurst said Thursday it opened its third U.S. outpost in Austin, Texas, amid an influx of firms setting up shop in the city.

Ashurst is among a small group of U.K.-headquartered firms that have moved to Austin in the last few years. The firm entered the U.S. in New York in 2009 followed by Los Angeles in February 2020, according to Ashurst’s website.

Wes Strickland will be managing partner of the Texas office and is expected to split his practice between Los Angeles and Austin, Ashurst said.

Strickland will initially be joined by another lawyer from the firm's Los Angeles outpost, but Ashurst said it plans to eventually build up a small group of lawyers in Austin.

The firm’s Austin entry is a response to a surge in demand for counsel on infrastructure investment, development and finance matters in the transport, social infrastructure and water sectors, Ashurst said.The expansion "puts us at the heart of infrastructure investment development in America,” said Anna Hermelin, co-head of Ashurst's Americas projects practice, in a statement.

Texas has been fertile ground for major corporations as the state has no corporate income tax and also because tech companies are hungry for fresh talent.

Major U.S. tech companies, including Oracle, Apple Inc, Google, Hewlett-Packard, SpaceX and Tesla Inc, have expanded their operations in the state in recent years.

Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, O'Melveny & Myers, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and more recently Morrison & Foerster are some of the large U.S. law firms that opened in Austin between 2021 and 2022.

Northern California and Austin have recently been among the top destinations for large U.S. law firms expanding into new markets.

Read more:

Law firms went West, headed South in 2021 to find new markets

Morrison & Foerster joins law firms landing in Austin's 'Silicon Hills'

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