Spotlight On: Patrick Rouse, Attorney, Corporate and Banking, Langley & Banack
May 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Patrick Rouse, corporate and banking attorney at Langley & Banack, discussed the advantages of being an independent law firm while also noting the benefits of being in the San Antonio market. “We are fortunate to live in a growing community. As long as people are moving here, and they seem to be moving here rapidly, professional services of all kinds, including legal services, will be needed,” he said.
What have been the key achievements and milestones for the firm during the last year?
The biggest achievement is that we continue to grow. We hired eight lawyers in 2024. We’ve recently hired two new associates and a junior shareholder, and we’re always looking for good talent. Our New Braunfels presence is expanding rapidly. At the beginning of 2026, we will more than double our number of offices and conference spaces in that market.
What makes your firm different from other players in the market?
It is our size and not being part of a statewide, regional, or national firm that sets us apart from other local firms. With respect to the size of our firm, we offer expertise in a variety of practice areas that are not offered at every local firm. As to the large law firms in town, most of them are based outside of Texas and certainly headquartered outside of San Antonio. All of our decisions are made right here, and our core focus is on serving our clients here in Central and South Texas.
Our culture is still firmly rooted in Central and South Texas and the clients we serve here. Our growth is within and around the markets where we have offices. Langley & Banack is focused on the growth and success of clients in Central and South Texas.
What is the advantage of being independent from national firms?
Our size and commitment to our clients are what sets us apart from other firms in our market. We pride ourselves on our flexibility and ability to meet our clients wherever they need us. We have a wide range of expertise providing specialized legal services across various industries. Whether it’s real estate, banking, insurance, litigation, estate planning, family law, bankruptcy, appellate, or municipal law, we have the right professional in-house to assist our clients.
As a full-service law firm, we’re equipped to handle most legal issues. While there are some areas of practice we don’t currently focus on, such as intellectual property or criminal defense, we’re well-versed in virtually everything else our clients require. There’s no need for them to reach out to attorneys in New York or California; when they come to us, they can trust that we understand their challenges firsthand. For example, if a client has a project in northwest San Antonio, chances are our attorney is familiar with the area, the local issues, and the landscape. We also have the resource of our Meritas affiliation that allows us to bring in experts across the country and the world should the need arise.
What sets us apart is our genuine commitment to our clients. We know them personally, and we see them regularly in the community, whether at dinner or local events. That connection fuels our accountability. When we make a promise, we follow through. Our clients know that when we say we’ll deliver, we will.
What makes San Antonio an ideal place for businesses to operate?
As long as people keep moving to our community, business is going to be great. It’s going to thrive. San Antonio and the surrounding areas are a great place to do business right now.
Then there’s the cost factor. We’ve seen a lot of people pushing out from Austin, for example. Austin is a great city, a great place to be, but it’s much more expensive than San Antonio in terms of finding housing and things like that. Then you couple that with traffic issues. We certainly have our share of traffic issues, but it’s nothing like what you would experience in other major metropolitan areas. This is a great place to live.
What are the sectors driving the demand for your services?
Looking around and just thinking about what other attorneys at our firm are engaged with, there seems to be a strong component of estate planning, probate, and litigation that arises out of that. We also have a robust and thriving insurance defense and construction litigation practice.
On the transactional side, we continue to see strong demand for real estate, lending, and corporate transactional services.
Overall, the work is widespread across all our practice areas. I wouldn’t say that there’s one group that’s necessarily carrying anybody or carrying the firm. It’s broad-based in terms of what our attorneys are handling and what we’re seeing. There is plenty of work to go around.
What is your assessment of the legal talent pool in San Antonio?
It’s pretty tight. Finding good lawyers is not easy, especially in some of the areas that we’re talking about: the corporate transactional side and the niche litigation areas. It’s a pretty small pool of people. San Antonio has a close-knit legal community, and there are good, capable lawyers here. We’ve found some associates and lateral hires here, but we’ve also found a number of new attorneys outside of the San Antonio market who were excited to move to our thriving community.
What is your outlook for the firm for the next two to three years?
We’re going to continue to grow and develop. We’re going to keep finding new talent, including lateral hires who are looking for something different and a little more flexibility, including a little more rate flexibility regarding what they’re charging clients. A significant component of work that I’ve seen in the last year has been driven, at least in part, by cost sensitivities. Legal work isn’t cheap. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. That’s what the market determines it is.
We’re also looking to expand to New Braunfels. Our Fredericksburg office continues to grow and thrive. I think the next three to five years look good. We’re going to continue to expand our services to new clients while also maintaining our commitment to excellence with our existing clients.
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