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Norton Rose Fulbright announced on Thursday that it has expanded its business practice group by hiring veteran Dallas corporate finance partner Chip Gage. With more than 30 years of experience representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, he joins Norton Rose after spending nearly nine years at Winston & Strawn.
Dallas private equity veteran Nate Christensen has rejoined Weil as a partner, strengthening the firm's dealmaking expertise in sectors including energy, infrastructure and real estate. With over 20 years of experience, Christensen is the 15th partner nationwide to return to Weil since early 2023, following his roles at Norton Rose Fulbright, Foley & Lardner, HN Capital Partners and Hunt Consolidated. The arrival follows other strategic lateral hires in Texas for the firm and Christensen chatted with The Texas Lawbook about the move, the market and more.
Skadden’s Houston M&A group recently welcomed veteran oil and gas partners Emery Choi and Mingda Zhao, reuniting them with prominent Texas dealmaker Steve Gill. Together, Choi and Zhao bring years of experience steering energy sector clients through high-stakes M&A, joint ventures and cross-border investments. Their record includes leading transactions such as billion-dollar-plus deals for Continental Resources, Marathon Oil and Occidental Petroleum. The duo recently shared with The Texas Lawbook their insights on today’s energy M&A landscape, shifting capital trends and the evolving deal dynamics shaping the current market.
Holland & Knight has bolstered its healthcare transactions practice with the addition of Christina McNamara, a veteran attorney who spent 17 years at King & Spalding in Houston. Known for her experience advising hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and clinical labs, McNamara strengthens the firm’s growing healthcare and life sciences group. Her hiring follows the recent arrival of fellow King & Spalding healthcare alum Juliet McBride, underscoring the firm’s Texas expansion in serving the sector.
Barnes & Thornburg has expanded its Dallas office by hiring Jeff Connor as counsel, tapping his expertise in investment management, private equity and compliance. Indiana’s largest law firm with 23 offices nationwide, Barnes & Thornburg entered the Texas market in 2015.
Harvest Midstream is making a $1 billion bet on the Rockies, agreeing to acquire natural gas gathering and processing assets from Ohio-based MPLX. The deal expands Houston-based Harvest’s footprint in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado with 1,500 miles of pipelines and 845 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity, underscoring the private midstream company’s push for scale in natural gas. A Texas team from Kirkland & Ellis advised Harvest on the transaction.
In what has proven to be an increasingly uneven deal environment week-over-week this year, there’s been a steady stream of billion-dollar transactions to kick off the third quarter. Good news, right? Sure, but the devil is in the details. Even with lingering uncertainties around interest rates and geopolitical tensions (both kinetic and trade), Texas lawyers were part of nine major deals exceeding $1 billion since the beginning of July. The transactions span multiple sectors, from energy infrastructure to data centers, highlighting the state's continued appeal as a hub for transformative corporate combos and tie-ups. The Lawbook recently asked Texas dealmakers with extensive experience handling billion-dollar transactions to share their perspectives on the current M&A environment, including their assessment of the first half of the year, the third quarter so far and their outlook moving forward.
Thompson Coburn has hired Steven Smith as a partner in its Dallas real estate practice, the firm announced in a news release.
Weil has bolstered its Texas presence by bringing back Jeff Homrig to the firm, this time as its Co-Head of its new IP, Technology & Science Litigation practice.
Sorrels Law has hired veteran trial lawyer Gregory D. Brown in its Houston office, the firm announced.
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