Prominent Houston tax litigator Richard Husseini of Baker Botts is joining Kirkland & Ellis, The Texas Lawbook has learned from sources.
Husseini is Baker Botts’ firmwide chair of the tax department, a member of the firm’s executive committee and the firmwide chair of Baker Botts’ tax litigation practice group.
Asked to confirm the move, Husseini declined to comment.
According to sources, Husseini was considered for firmwide managing partner two years ago during the partnership vote that ultimately elected corporate transactional partner John Martin, the firm’s first non-Texas-based partner, to lead the firm instead.
Husseini is leaving Baker Botts, which is the fourth-largest law firm by revenue in Texas, to join Kirkland, which became No. 1 in Texas revenue for 2020, according to The Texas Lawbook 50. Last year, lawyers from Kirkland in Texas brought $527.8 million in revenue and Baker Botts lawyers reported $336.3 million.
A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Husseini has spent his entire 30-year legal career at Baker Botts — with the exception of a one-year stint clerking for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit right after law school.
Husseini’s practice is focused on tax planning and tax controversy, the latter of which entails Husseini advocating on behalf of large companies and high-net-worth individuals in IRS administrative, arbitration and federal court proceedings.
He represented Pennzoil Company on its tax liability for the settlement proceeds that resulted from the company’s historic litigation against Texaco in the 1980s. He has represented many other energy companies in tax controversy and litigation matters.
Husseini’s practice also entails working on some transactional tax matters. Husseini handled tax matters for Halliburton’s $35 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes, which was terminated; Chesapeake Energy’s spinoff of Seventy Seven Energy; and Mariner Energy’s merger with Apache.
Husseini’s move signifies a ramped up hiring effort in Kirkland’s Texas operations. This week, the firm announced that Erin Nealy Cox, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, is joining Kirkland’s Dallas office on Sept. 1. According to other sources, Kirkland has already given Nealy Cox clearance to begin recruiting lawyers to build the firm’s white collar and internal investigations practice in Texas.