Julia Mann, Managing Partner – San Antonio, Jackson Walker
In an interview with Invest:, Julia Mann, managing partner of Jackson Walker’s San Antonio office, discussed growth driven by energy, tech, and education sectors. She highlighted expanding public finance, strong litigation work, and responsible AI use. Mann emphasized talent retention and deeper community ties through the firm’s new conference center.
What trends in San Antonio’s growth are having the greatest impact on your clients right now?
Some of our key sectors continue to fuel growth. The energy industry remains strong across this region, especially in South and West Texas. We support many of those companies from a professional services perspective through our San Antonio office. They’re helping build the resources needed to power Texas’ overall growth, and that’s an important role for us.
We’re fortunate to see our education systems growing, particularly in technology and healthcare. That helps fuel our economy while also raising the overall standard of living and quality of life in the community.
Lastly, we benefit greatly from the highly skilled individuals coming out of our military installations. These service members often choose to stay in San Antonio, bringing valuable expertise and leadership into the local business community. That pipeline has served the region well.
What key achievements or milestones stand out for your firm over this past year?
For Jackson Walker’s San Antonio office, continued growth has been significant. Just this year, we’ve added three new partners to our team, including launching a new public finance practice group here in San Antonio. Public finance plays a key role in how things get built and done in our region, so this addition helps us make an even greater impact on the community.
On the litigation side, we’ve had a particularly busy year. Cases don’t go to trial as often as they once did, but we’ve already handled five business litigation trials this year. For business disputes, that’s a meaningful number, and it raises our profile as a firm that has the expertise to resolve complex issues when needed.
From a transactional perspective, we’ve focused on supporting projects that bring power and water to businesses so they can grow. One area of growth is data centers, which have unique infrastructure needs. We’ve developed a team specifically focused on helping clients and investors navigate every stage of a data center’s lifecycle. That involves coordinating real estate, land use, zoning, tax incentives, and power industry considerations. We see this as a continued source of growth for the region.
Which other practice areas have seen significant growth or strong demand recently?
Litigation remains a major focus for us — it makes up about 25% of our firm, which is unique for a firm our size, as many large firms have moved away from litigation. It continues to be a strong source of revenue and growth for us.
Within our corporate practice, we’ve seen significant focus on mergers and acquisitions, particularly involving technology companies and the use of technology more broadly. One of the challenges — and opportunities — is helping clients harness technology appropriately and responsibly. We’ve worked to educate ourselves so we can help clients implement technology in ways that support their businesses, while ensuring they do so ethically and professionally.
How is Jackson Walker leveraging technology, including AI, to better serve clients and streamline operations?
We’re using AI in several ways. One is to enhance our knowledge management. With over 500 lawyers, we’re generating an enormous amount of valuable work and insights. AI allows us to share that knowledge across all our offices efficiently, which makes us more effective and ensures we’re delivering the best possible service.
Our AI technology is fully housed in-house, so we’re not pulling information from the internet. This protects client confidentiality while allowing us to process large volumes of data more efficiently.
In general, AI has helped synthesize complex information and manage large data sets. It’s not perfect, but it certainly helps us work smarter.
What does talent recruitment and retention look like today in San Antonio’s legal field?
There’s always a bit of a war for talent. Jackson Walker has been successful in retaining our people — we have one of the highest retention rates among firms. A big reason for that is the intentional focus on maintaining our culture as we grow.
We just completed our summer associate program and made offers to 100% of the students who worked with us this summer. That reflects our approach to hiring thoughtfully and building a team that will continue to strengthen our culture.
Recruiting also benefits from the fact that we’re a Texas firm. Our geographic closeness means we know our partners and work closely together. We focus on finding people who want to be part of a true partnership, rowing in the same direction toward shared goals.
How has your new conference center helped deepen connections with the local business community?
I’m especially proud of how we designed our new offices to be a welcoming place and a true gathering spot for the business community in San Antonio. In our first year, we hosted more than 38 different events in the space, hitting every target on our list of key organizations we wanted to bring in.
The goal was to create an extension of our home — a place where people feel welcome and part of our community. It’s been rewarding to see that vision come to life. We continue to receive requests to use the space, which tells me it’s working.
What are your top strategic priorities for the San Antonio office over the next two to three years?
First, retaining our talent is critical. We’ve built a great team, and growing thoughtfully means making sure our partners have the support they need to build their practices.
Second, there are practice areas where we’d like to deepen our bench so we can fully meet our clients’ needs. We want to ensure we have the right people in place to provide complete, wraparound service.
Lastly, we’re committed to continuing our community involvement. Jackson Walker must remain known as a firm that cares about San Antonio and supports it not just financially, but with our time and talents.
