Shortly after the Korean War, Thomas A. Brown left the United States Navy to attend the University of Texas School of Law. In 1957, he joined the Houston firm of Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman, Bates & Jaworski (now Fulbright & Jaworski). With his experience in the Navy, it was no surprise that Brown spent the next decade focused on practicing maritime and energy law.
G. Byron Sims was raised in Long Beach, California. The son of a port engineer for the Keystone Shipping Company, Sims also knew the maritime industry well. In 1967, Sims graduated from the University of Texas School of Law. Sims was determined to build a respected and talented firm from the ground up.
As the Texas offshore and energy industries continued to thrive, Brown recognized his clients wanted more than competence in maritime and energy law; they wanted dedication. In 1967, Brown left Fulbright & Jaworski to start a firm tailored to his clients’ expectations. Sharing the same vision for his own firm, Sims joined Brown later that same year. The two of them went on to form the firm known today as Brown Sims.
By 1976, both Brown and Sims had achieved their goal to create a superior law firm servicing clients in the maritime and energy sectors. As client confidence grew with each success, they received increasing demands to expand the firm’s practice beyond maritime and energy law. They obliged.
While maintaining the strength of its core practice, Brown Sims expanded the legal services it offered to include a robust trial and appellate practice, legal counseling, transactional services, and coverage advice.
By 1986, Brown Sims had expanded its expertise to other industries, including: construction, environmental, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, products manufacturing and design, retail and service providers, and transportation. The firm also expanded its practice to employer related services, including state and federal workers’ compensation defense.
By 2000, Brown Sims had become a full-service litigation firm offering exceptional legal advice and services in not only the maritime and energy industries, but almost every other major industry in Texas.
On the morning of Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the southeastern coast of Louisiana. Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, causing over $100 billion in damages and becoming the costliest hurricane in United States history. As recovery in the Gulf Coast region began, the firm’s clients again approached it and requested that Brown Sims expand its practice, this time to Louisiana. Again, the firm obliged.
In direct response to the overwhelming need of its clients in that area, Brown Sims opened up its New Orleans office in 2006. The New Orleans office quickly grew from a few talented lawyers to more than ten. Not only was the firm pleased to be able to meet its clients’ immediate legal needs, it was excited to be a part of the area’s overall economic recovery.
In continued response to its clients’ needs along the Gulf Coast, Brown Sims opened up its Miami office in 2007. As in New Orleans, great results led to this office’s boom.
Today, the vision of two talented admiralty lawyers over 50 years ago has been realized by a firm with more than 50 lawyers offering diverse expertise to hundreds of clients in thousands of matters across not only the Gulf Coast, but the entire world.
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