Mergermarket Law Firm H1 2017 M&A Rankings: V&E, Kirkland, Latham – and a lot of Non-Texas Firms

By Mark Curriden – (July 25) – The Texas Lawbook has exclusive new Mergermarket M&A data on the law firms doing the most deals for Texas companies during the first half of 2017. Twenty-three of the top 30 law firms advised on more transactions than they did one year earlier. Four law firms did fewer deals than they did in H1 2016. Eight firms doubled the number of transactions they handled and 21 of the 30 firms doing the most deals are based outside of Texas. The Lawbook has all the details.

Gibson Dunn, Jones Day Advise on $170M Propane Deal

By Natalie Posgate – (July 24) – Houston-based American Midstream Partners said Monday that it will sell its propane marketing and services business to Netherlands-based SHV Energy NV for $170 million in cash.

Baker Botts, Locke Lord Advise on $450M Quanta-Stronghold Deal

By Natalie Posgate – (July 21) – A cluster of Houston-based lawyers from Baker Botts and Locke Lord said Friday that they closed Quanta Services’ $450 million acquisition of Stronghold Specialty, a La Porte-based services provider for clients in the refining and petrochemical industries.

Houston Attorneys from Kirkland, Bracewell Counsel on $5.3B Hydro One-Avista Combo

By Claire Poole – (July 20) – Several Texas attorneys were involved in the big utility merger announced late Wednesday in which Canada’s Hydro One Ltd. is acquiring Avista Corp. of Spokane, Wash., for $5.3 billion. The Lawbook has the details on legal teams and an analyst’s outlook on the deal going through.

V&E Works on TPG Affiliate’s $220M IPO

By Natalie Posgate – (July 20) – A group of lawyers from Vinson & Elkins said Thursday that they worked on the initial public offering for one of TPG’s commercial real estate finance outposts, which began trading today under the New York Stock Exchange.

Updated – Dallas Appeals Court: ‘No Partnership between Enterprise and ETP’

By Mark Curriden – (July 19) – The Dallas Court of Appeals has reversed the 2014 landmark Texas jury verdict that legally established a business version of common law marriage and a $535 million judgment against Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners in favor of Energy Transfer Partners.

Baker Botts, V&E and Gibson Dunn Advise on $1.3B Select-Rockwater Merger

By Natalie Posgate – (July 19) – Under the agreement, Select will issue 37.95 million shares of common stock in exchange for all outstanding shares of Rockwater common stock. The Texas Lawbook has the details on the deal teams, the firms’ history with the companies, and info on both GCs here.

Patent suits dwindle as new era dawns in EDTX

By Jeff Bounds – (July 18) – A Supreme Court ruling helped steer more plaintiffs to places like Delaware, though experts believe East Texas’ efficient justices will maintain the district’s popularity as a place to settle patent spats. The Texas Lawbook has the stats.

Reese Gordon Marketos Scores $10.4M Patent Defense Verdict for WatchGuard

By Natalie Posgate – (July 18) – A federal jury in Sherman tossed claims late Friday by Denver-based Evicam that an Allen-based competitor had violated two of its patents related to the technology in law enforcement video surveillance equipment.

Mergermarket Expert: TX M&A Market in ‘Real Danger of Developing Congestion or Heartburn’

By Mark Curriden – (July 18) – The Texas market has seen 15 consecutive quarters with about 200 or more deals. “Before the third quarter of 2013, 200 deals was the high water mark. Since then, 200 deals has been the floor,” says Mergermarket M&A analyst Chad Watt. “We’ve had so many deals completed [during the past couple years] that the market may need a period to digest it all. “There’s a real danger of developing M&A congestion or heartburn.”

Mergermarket: Texas M&A Flat but Solid in H1 2017

By Claire Poole – HOUSTON (July 17) – Merger and acquisition activity among Texas-based businesses remained healthy during the first half of 2017, but far from the exuberant pace of dealmaking in 2014. Deal count has been flat, but deal value is up significantly over 2016, fueled by steady oil and gas M&A and Whole Foods’ sale to Amazon. The Texas Lawbook has the exclusive data from Mergermarket, along with a list of the 30 biggest deals during the first six months of 2017.

Experts: Texas M&A Activity Unpredictable for H2 2017

By Claire Poole – HOUSTON (July 17) – How will M&A activity shape up in the second half of the year? The Texas Lawbook interviewed nearly a dozen of the leading corporate and private equity lawyers in the state to gauge their view on the M&A market for the first half of 2017 and what they forecast for the remainder of the year. This is their analysis.

Power Market and Associations in Mexico: Synergies in Energies

By Claudio Rodriguez Galán and Katherine L. Coleman of Thompson & Knight – (July 17) – Synergies, alliances and collaborative arrangements are likely to become the name of the game in Mexico’s power market as a result of new market rules, facts and business structure for the power, transmission and renewable sectors in Mexico.

Cybersecurity suits low, but Dallas lawyers find cyber consulting in high demand

Report: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire to bid for Oncor

Shkreli lawyer recalls ‘Cowboy’ VC’s con past in cross examination

Previous More Stories > > >

‘Wake Up the Pope’ – The Historic Jury Verdict Against a Priestly Pedophile that Shook the Catholic Church

By Bruce Tomaso – (July 19) – Twenty years ago this month, an extraordinary trial took place in a Dallas County court. It pitted 10 young men and the family of another against the Dallas Catholic Diocese. The issue was serial sexual abuse by Rudy Kos, a priest and pedophile whose transgressions had been ignored for years. The resulting verdict of $119 million was a record for its time; but the dramatic 14-week trial helped expose to international scrutiny the clear and present danger of a pedophile population within the priesthood that had been protected for decades, both by the church bureaucracy and the public trust. This special Texas Lawbook report by Bruce Tomaso tells the story of the trial of Rudy Kos, a remarkable and historic tale of courtroom justice.

Editor’s warning: Article contains sexually explicit content.

Sylvia Demarest: A Gift of Disturbing Data

By Bruce Tomaso – (July 19) – Dallas lawyer Sylvian Demarest could have spent another lifetime representing the victims of pedophile priests. Instead, she decided to bequeath her years of research on the matter to help protect future generations of potential victims.

From Rudy Kos Comes a Call: “Let’s Talk After All”

By Bruce Tomaso – (July 19) – For months, accused pedophile priest Rudy Kos had evaded reporter Brooks Egerton. But the night before his vacation trek to New Mexico comes a call: Rudy Kos wanted to talk. And talk he did.

>Previous Lawyers and Firms > > >

Andy Calder
Michael Dillard
Keith Fullenweider
Hillary Holmes
Jeffrey Schlegel
David Stringer
Chad Watt

Andrews Kurth Kenyon
Gibson Dunn
Jones Day
Kirkland
Latham
Mergermarket
V&E
Weil

Previous Laterals & Successes > > >

The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker reports M&A activity and securities offerings handled by lawyers based in Texas, even if those transactions involve non-Texas-based companies. The Corporate Deal Tracker ranks matters by deal/offering count primarily and value secondarily. The data includes the announcement date, the names of the companies involved and the lawyers and their law firms. These charts are up to date as of December 31, 2016.

Please contact us if you see any information that is inaccurate or missing.

Click on each Chart to see a full listing:

V&E and Latham Take Lion’s Share of 2016 Offering Work

By Natalie Posgate – (May 11) – Though the type of securities offerings that companies issued differed from 2015 to 2016, the Texas law firms and lawyers behind the offerings stayed pretty close to the same, according to new data from The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. To no one’s surprise, most lawyers ranked at the top are all Houstonians. But one Dallasite broke the mold on the issuer’s side.

This article names the individuals dominating securities work and has a breakdown of how each firm’s capital markets work in 2016 compared to the previous year. (Spoiler alert: two firms handled 65 percent of all securities offerings in the 2016 database).

Corp. Deal Tracker: TX Capital Markets Lawyers Got off the Sidelines in 2016

By Natalie Posgate – (May 3) – Capital markets lawyers mostly sat on the sidelines through the better part of the recent energy slump, watching their M&A partners at least get some deals done. New data from the Corporate Deal Tracker, however, shows CapM practitioners are back in the starting lineup and busier than ever (particularly for the S-1 process) as oil companies rebound in a stabilizing commodity environment. They may even score more three-pointers as IPOs make a comeback. The Texas Lawbook has the details.

Corporate Deal Tracker: Mid-Sized, Private Deals Take the Cake in Deal Volume

By Natalie Posgate – (April 13) – This latest installment in the 2016 Corporate Deal Tracker series breaks down the value range that most Texas-based lawyers’ M&A work fell under. It also reveals which law firms did the most small deals, mid-sized deals, and bonus: who did the most deals with confidential values.