Different Strengths, One Team: An Interview With Texas Attorneys of the Year Chris Converse and Chris Babcock

At Foley, collaboration is embedded in our culture and in how we serve our clients. We recruit, retain, and promote people from a variety of backgrounds who bring together their unique strengths, perspectives, and approaches to deliver innovative solutions and service excellence.

The firm’s collaborative culture was on full display when partners Chris Converse and Chris Babcock worked together on a “rare kind of legal achievement” that required both strategic vision and deep technical analysis. Converse, the big-picture thinker, and Babcock, the in-the-weeds tactician, played a key role in shaping and advocating for Texas Senate Bill 29, drafting the legislation, testifying in support of it, and advising on major reincorporations.

Babcock and Converse recently won Texas Attorneys of the Year at the 2026 Texas Legal Awards, presented by Texas Lawyer and Law.com for their leadership in helping shape Texas’ evolving corporate governance landscape.

We caught up with both attorneys to find out more about their successful collaboration, what they have learned from each other’s differences, and why a variety of perspectives leads to the best results.

Chris Converse: One of the things I appreciate most about working at Foley is that we are a firm with the resources to seize this type of advocacy opportunity. We have incredibly talented people across the firm, and the firm’s culture encourages us to hone our individual strengths while also working together to bring the most value to our clients.

Chris Babcock: That’s exactly right. Our work on Texas Senate Bill 29 was rare opportunity with a lot of moving parts and some difficult legal challenges. This type of complex matter benefits from having a team of people who think differently about the problem.

With 26 years of practice experience, Converse describes his role as helping clients and teams maintain focus on the broader strategy.

Converse: My instinct is always to step back and ask, “What are we trying to accomplish? What are the key issues that matter most?” When you’re dealing with a complicated matter, it’s easy to get distracted by side issues. I make it my job to ensure we’re staying focused on the objectives that will ultimately drive success.

Babcock, who has practiced since 2011, approaches challenges from a different angle.

Babcock: I enjoy digging into the details. I like getting into the weeds, understanding the nuances, and testing every assumption. That means spending time with the doctrine, the technical issues, and the areas where the answer may not be immediately obvious.

The two attorneys divide the work with mutual deference and some humor, and their collaboration proved powerful.

Converse: Chris has an incredible ability to immerse himself in the details and uncover arguments or implications that others might miss. That’s a tremendous asset on a matter where precision matters.

Babcock: And Chris brings the strategic perspective that keeps everything connected to the client’s goals. It’s not enough to have the right legal answer. You have to understand how it fits into the larger picture and what it means for the client.

The collaboration also reflects something both attorneys see as distinctly Foley.

Babcock: There’s a real appreciation here for different working styles. People aren’t competing to prove they can do every aspect of a matter themselves. The expectation is that you’ll bring your strengths to the table and trust your colleagues to bring theirs.

Converse: That’s one of the reasons Foley has been such a rewarding place to build a career. There’s a deeply rooted understanding that we serve our clients and each other best when we work as one team. Everyone contributes something unique, and that’s viewed as a strength, not a limitation.

Looking back, both attorneys agree that their contrasting approaches produced something greater than either could have accomplished alone.

Converse: The best teams are rarely made up of people who think exactly alike. It’s been one of the most rewarding things in my whole career.

Babcock: We complement each other really well and see each other’s blind spots. The combination of strategic focus, technical depth, creativity, and collaboration helped us achieve a result we’re incredibly proud of.