© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(Jan. 28) – Haynes and Boone, in an effort attract business from independent oil and gas companies based in the Midwest and better serve its current clients, has opened an office in Denver.
Tim Powers, the firm’s managing partner, said a Denver office has been under consideration for a few years, but the discussion heated up last year after it identified the right people, Anne Weber and Alan Talesnick, to lay the foundation of the office.
“Houston is the global center for oil and gas, but Denver is the second most important market in the energy industry,” said Powers. “[Having an office in Denver] will increase our ability to serve our clients in the industry.”
Firm leaders also view Denver as the gateway to cross-border deal opportunities with Canada.
“Even though oil prices are falling, we are looking at the long term,” said Powers, who likened the firm’s move to Denver to when Haynes and Boone opened its New York office to capitalize on the potential of its real estate market.
Weber, who served as the managing attorney of a firm she started in 2003, has significant expertise in midstream and pipeline work. She has also served as the assistant general counsel at Duke Energy Field Services, now known as DCP Midstream, and Echo Bay Mines, now part of Kinross Gold.
Weber and Talesnick, formerly of Squire Patton Boggs, will be joined by Houston-based Haynes and Boone lawyers with Denver connections – Robert Thibault and Patrick Hughes, who will serve as the office’s administrative partner. Brian Graham, an associate at Weber’s firm, is the fifth attorney in the new office.
Haynes and Boone becomes the second-largest Texas-based firm to open an outpost in Denver. Norton Rose Fulbright moved to the Rocky Mountain region in 2006 and a handful of other Texas-based firms have followed suit in recent years, including Houston energy firm Burleson LLP most recently in 2011.
Powers says having a physical presence in the city helps Haynes and Boone position itself to better serve Denver-based public companies such as firm client Whitewave, a consumer packaged food and beverage company.
In the near-term, Powers says the goal is to grow the office to 15 lawyers by the end of the year. He said twice that many lawyers would be needed long-term to best serve the needs of the vibrant business community there, but he added that the firm is in no rush.
Powers told The Texas Lawbook that no other new offices are on the drawing board for the immediate future, but that the firm is sticking to its 2020 plan of growth that it began pursuing in 2005.
Domestically, he said the firm plans to boost its presence this year in New York, Washington, D.C. and Palo Alto and remain strong in its home base of Dallas.
“We would love to break into the top five in Houston,” he added.
Internationally, he says the firm wants to build on the momentum of recent moves to bolster cross-border work in Shanghai and to continue growing in Mexico City to take advantage of the Mexican energy reforms.
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