Austin corporate partner and Locke Lord executive committee member Michelle Earley has joined O’Melveny.
With the move, Earley, who co-chaired Locke Lord’s capital-markets practice and diversity and inclusion committee, is reuniting with former colleagues Whit Roberts, Jack Jacobsen, Jason Schumacher, Will Becker and Chrissy Metcalf. The Dallas corporate team departed Locke Lord for O’Melveny in January.
“Michelle is an outstanding lawyer with an abiding commitment to our values of excellence, leadership, and citizenship,” O’Melveny chair Bradley Butwin said in a statement.
“Her experience guiding public companies through major transactions and market disclosures, and advising them on corporate governance, will be a great advantage to our clients. She also brings the valuable perspective of a diverse female partner and DE&I leader, helping us all think more inclusively.”
Earley and Roberts co-led a Locke Lord deal team in December that advised Solutions by Text, a Dallas-based text-messaging platform designed for consumer financial institutions, on a $35 million fund raising led by Edison Partners.
In 2020, Earley worked with Becker on a $2.35 billion refinancing for Lamar Advertising. She also represented the Baton Rouge, La.-based company on a $400 million at-the-market offering and a $400 million Rule 144A offering of senior notes.
Earley was also on the Becker-led team that guided Dallas-based real estate and hotel manager Ashford Inc. on its combination with Remington Holdings in 2019. (Note: Last week Becker and Roberts steered Remington through a combination with Chesapeake Hospitality.)
In addition to her practice and diversity-and-inclusion leadership efforts, Earley serves on the board of visitors of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; the executive committees of both the Austin Area Research Organization and the Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center; and the board of directors of the Austin Ed Fund. Earley is a Texas A&M graduate who earned her law degree from Yale.
O’Melveny’s Texas headcount is up to 44 lawyers since breaking into the state last summer. And the firm, which represents American Airlines, AT&T, Exxon Mobil and Charles Schwab, is not close to being done growing, Butwin told The Texas Lawbook in an interview earlier this year.
“This wasn’t going to be a case of dipping our toe in the water and claiming victory,” Butwin said. “We didn’t wait 20 years [the last time the firm opened a domestic office] to be lukewarm.”