Texas Transaction Trailblazers: Michael Piazza Led in Deals, Shamus Crosby in Dollars

Driven by a mix of private equity interest, family office investments and strategic consolidations across multiple sectors, dealmaking was strong in 2024, particularly in Texas, revealing resilience even as the year closed amid tightening credit and unexpected headwinds. Two lawyers stood out in that Texas M&A landscape, each making their mark in distinct ways: Gibson Dunn’s Michael Piazza and Simpson Thacher’s Shamus Crosby.

March 13, 2025 Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: Texas Lawbook Expanding Coverage of Top Law Firms and Lawyers with Quarterly Deal Rankings

We’re expanding our popular CDT M&A rankings from twice a year to a new quarterly format. Beginning next month, our CDT rankings for law firms and lawyers (M&A and capital markets) will be published four times annually, offering Lawbook subscribers a more frequent and detailed look at the lawyers leading and advising on deals in the Lone Star State. Plus, the CDT Roundup looks at last week's transactions.

March 10, 2025 Nick Peck & Allen Pusey

Dykema Adds Seven Lawyers in Houston

In a major move to shore up its Texas transactional practice, Dykema announced Monday that it is doubling the headcount of its Houston office with the lateral addition of five attorneys from Kane Russell Coleman Logan and two from Hirsch & Westheimer.

March 10, 2025 Allen Pusey

Egan Nelson Adds Veteran Corporate Transaction Partner from A&O Shearman

Dallas' Egan Nelson announced Thursday that it has added Dallas-based attorney R. Scott Cohen as a partner within its practice after Cohen spent the past five years at A&O Shearman.

March 7, 2025 Nick Peck

Akin Recruits Houston Energy Transactions Partner

Charlie Ofner has moved his energy and infrastructure transactions practice to Akin from White & Case. Ofner helped lead a $231 million deal in January.

March 6, 2025 Brooks Igo

CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 9 Firms, 75 Lawyers, $3.1B

Last November and December, Houston-based Coterra Energy spent nearly $4 billion in a series of major investments in the Permian Basin. Last week, the company announced that it may be reopening its activity in the Marcellus, which it all but abandoned in August. Also last week gas prices dropped precipitously. Tom Jorden, the company's CEO explained to analysts why Coterra is banking on increased demand and the flexibility to make — or not make — capital commitments. The CDT Roundup looks at his remarks, along with last week's transactions.

March 3, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

Bracewell, Arnold & Porter Snag Partners from King & Spalding

Houston trial attorney Abby Parsons was hired away by Arnold & Porter, while finance partner Susan Ormand Berry lateraled to Bracewell.

February 27, 2025 Allen Pusey

M&A Newsmaker: Katten’s David Washburn and the Anatomy of a Deal

David Washburn always felt "hardwired" to become a lawyer despite his father and others trying to sway him down different paths while growing up. "In what I now understand to be my dad's attempt to induce me to take another path, he gave me a copy of Gray's Anatomy when I started high school. The book bored me to tears," he said, noting it as a moment that further pushed him to pursue law. 

February 27, 2025 Nick Peck