Bracewell recently expanded its energy team in Texas with the addition of John Zabaneh as a partner in Houston.
Zabaneh joined the firm from Alcon, where he was the lead commercial counsel to its U.S. surgical business. Over the last decade he has worked in the legal departments at Gavilan Resources, Chesapeake Energy and Noble Energy.
As the lead transactional counsel at Noble, Zabaneh routinely engaged Bracewell. He advised on transactions totaling more than $15 billion during his five-year tenure there.
Zabaneh said he always found the Bracewell attorneys he worked with to be “highly skilled, professional and collegial.
“Bracewell is an industry-leading platform in the energy space when it comes to depth of legal experience, technical knowledge and full-suite client service,” he said. “Given these strong ties, I was delighted by the opportunity to rejoin the ranks of private practice and contribute to Bracewell’s continued success.”
Over his career, which started at Baker Botts in 2007, Zabaneh has handled transactions in most major U.S. resource plays for clients ranging from majors to large independents and private equity portfolio companies.
“John is a highly accomplished lawyer who knows the upstream and midstream transactional space from all angles. His diverse experience enables him to advise clients on conventional energy projects, as well as renewables, carbon capture and other energy transition initiatives,” James McAnelly III, co-chair of Bracewell’s oil and gas practice, said in a statement.
Though Zabaneh expects inflation and restrictive monetary policy to be a headwind to deal activity in the months and years ahead, he believes the market dynamics seen in recent years – dramatic shift in capital flow, extreme commodity price volatility and sustained supply and demand imbalance – will continue to create significant long-term investment opportunities.