The search will probe all options: staying put, existing high rises and to-be-built towers. The constants are location--Downtown or Uptown--and space efficiency for the 293-member team, boasting 140 attorneys, in Dallas, one of seven offices in the state. The 198,000-sf office in Renaissance Tower at 1201 Elm St. spans floors 45, 46, 53, 54, 55 and 56, the class A building's penthouse. The current 10-year lease expires in 2012.

Leading the search is the CB Richard Ellis team of executive vice president Phil Puckett, senior vice president Chris Hermann, senior associate Michelle Donaldson and sales assistant Harlan Davis. The team was up against Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle in the best and final.

Puckett tells GlobeSt.com that space and market analyses will be done in few weeks, allowing the RFP to go out the door and set the stage for a best and final by mid-2009 "at the latest." To plant the firm in a new building, he says the deal must get into the market. "2012 is driving our schedule," he emphasizes. "For a new building, that's right on target. The timeline we're on is very important if we're going to look at new buildings."