Akin Gump and Sidley Austin announced their promotions to partner recently and both prominent corporate law firms elevated two Texas attorneys to its partner ranks.
Houston is home to three of the newly-promoted Texans, while one is based in Dallas. All four have corporate transactional practices.
Akin Gump
Stephen M. Boone, Jr. and Christopher Erik Centrich are members of an 11-attorney new partners class at Akin Gump.
Boone, Jr. represents developers, exploration and production companies, private equity funds, purchasers and sellers in upstream and midstream oil and gas transactions. In September, he was on the team that advised Diamondback Energy on a $620 million financing. Boone, Jr. received his law degree from Baylor and offices in Houston.
Centrich, a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, focuses his practice in Houston on mergers and acquisitions, public and private securities offerings and private equity financings, corporate finance transactions and securities law compliance.
Sidley Austin
Sidley minted a total of 30 attorneys to partner firmwide.
Banks Bruce concentrates his corporate finance practice on handling private equity-backed and acquisition financings and oil and gas financings for both midstream and upstream clients. He is based in the firm’s Dallas office.
Zackary Pullin is a Houston tax expert. He has represented clients in a variety of tax matters, including complex partnership transactions, debt and equity offerings, restructurings, investment fund formations, IPOs and on tax litigation. This past summer, Pullin helped advise Morgan Stanley Energy Partners on its majority equity investment in Fort Worth-based Presidio Petroleum.