As a young man, Jay Simmons envisioned himself teaching college students about great literature. But when he realized that academia was not for him, Simmons turned to the law. And now he’s a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Mid-size Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden has the story of his remarkable transition.
Shell Oil Exploring and Producing Diversity and Inclusion
Matthew Coward and Belinda Senneway of Shell Oil are keepers of the diversity torch first lit at the energy giant by the legendary Cathy Lamboley. Lamboley retired in 2010, but Coward and Senneway have kept strong the push for diversity at Shell, and are consensus winners of the Diversity Award in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Amber Shushan Brings Mega-Litigation Experience to PetroChina
Early in her career, Amber Shushan was a senior counsel at a law firm representing Transocean, which owned the 2010 BP-operated Macondo Prospect. As a result, she was in a position to glean great knowledge from the plethora of lawsuits and disputes that resulted from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. Now she’s advising global energy giant PetroChina on how to avoid that kind of economic and public relations disaster. She’s also a finalist for Senior Legal Counsel of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
David Houck: The Care and Curiosity of a ‘Lifetime Learner’
David Houck had no interest in the oil and gas industry when he first became a lawyer. Now, more than four decades later, he is considered the dean of the energy bar. ACC Houston and The Texas Lawbook are rewarding his work and lifetime of learning with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Tidewater’s Amelia Xu – A Rookie with a Lot of Big Deal Experience
Amelia Xu is only 30 years old, but as a lawyer she’s already been involved in 14 separate corporate transactions valued at $100 million or more – two of which exceeded $1 billion. Now she’s a nominee for Rookie of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden reports.
Superior Energy’s Blaine Edwards – From Small Claims Court to a $70M Jury Victory
Blaine Edwards began his legal career as a teenager, filing in small claims court to collect unpaid bills for his parents’ petroleum wholesale business. Now he’s being honored as a finalist for Senior Counsel of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden tells his story.
Plains All American’s Lawrence Dreyfuss – A Legend in Texas Oil & Gas Law
In his decades in the legal department for Plains All American Pipeline, Lawrence Dreyfuss worked through 62 completed acquisitions and divestitures with an aggregate value of over $8 billion. He oversaw the legal work for Plains’ capital projects totaling more than $7 billion. He was directly involved or supervised the handling of more than 3,000 legal claims. And during his tenure, Plains’ EBITDA grew from $89.1 million in 1999 to $2.684 billion in 2018. So, it’s no surprise that he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Corporate Counsel Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook. Mark Curriden has his story.
Fermeen Fazal of UniversalPegasus: ‘The Ferminator’
Fermeen Fazal is chief counsel and chief administrative officer for Houston-based UniversalPegasus International. She’s so nice, that colleagues say it’s easy to forget that she can be a very fierce advocate. The company president has nick-named her “The Ferminator.” But she’s approachable, team-oriented and has a history as a very fine litigator. She’s also a finalist for GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Kraton’s Jennie Howard – A Rookie with Securities Experience and a Huge Heart
Jennie Howard’s first day in the legal department at Houston-based Kraton Corp. began with her assignment to a $1.7 billion acquisition. She had to hit the ground running. Three months later, the deal was closed and she got REALLY busy overseeing a wide variety of corporate responsibilities. As a result she’s a finalist for Rookie of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Tim Johnson – A Plane Crash and a Painful Turnaround
When Tim Johnson’s friend and boss – the founder of the company he worked for – died tragically in a plane crash, it was a “punch in the gut.” But things were about to get worse. In the wake of his friend’s death, Johnson uncovered a massive fraud at his company. The skill and determination with which he approached that problem, as well as others that emerged at Peak Completion Technologies, has resulted in his nomination as GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department in Houston’s 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards.
Precision Drilling’s Veronica Foley: ‘A Superstar in All Respects’
Precision Drilling GC Veronica Foley is fluent in Spanish, fluent in French and talented in ways that her colleagues regard her as “a superstar.” From unique legal projects to everyday functions she helps keep the company out in front of issues. And now she is a finalist for GC of the Year for a Mid-sized Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Apache GC Lannie, Bracewell’s Rafte Put Together Complex M&A
When Apache Corp. and Kayne Anderson Acquisition Corp. set up a joint venture to develop West Texas assets, that turned out to be the easy part. But add Apache’s desire to contribute options for long-haul pipelines to the Texas Gulf Coast and things got complicated. Apache’s GC and outside counsel Bracewell solved a trunkful of structural difficulties, leading them to become finalists for the M&A Transaction of the Year in the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards. Claire Poole explains why.
Richard Rosenberg: GC of U.S. Zinc and Public Service Champion
In 2015, when Richard Rosenberg became board president of the 65-year-old Center in Houston, the nonprofit was a mess. It had no cash reserves, a $6 million debt and its deteriorated campuses had been badly punished by Hurricane Harvey. Flash forward the loan is paid, the campuses are flourishing and Rosenberg, GC of Houston’s U.S. Zinc, is sole finalist and worthy winner in the Public Service category of the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards.
Shell’s Kevin Feeney and T&K’s $200M Arbitration Win
One of Kevin Feeney’s first issues when he became Shell Oil senior counsel of upstream litigation was a $200 million arbitration. After a 250,000 document dump and a 17-day hearing, Shell walked away with a take-nothing judgment in their favor. Natalie Posgate profiles the deal, which is a finalist for the 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards Business Litigation of the Year.
Tagtow, Phillips Lead the “Small and Mighty” Legal Team on BMC Sale to KKR
When its private equity owner Bain Capital decided it was time to exit BMC, Pat Tagtow and his colleague, Robin Phillips, knew they had a lot of work ahead of them. By the time they were finished, PE giant KKR had purchased BMC for a reported $8.3 billion. Now they are finalists for the Houston Corporate Counsel Awards M&A transaction of the year. Claire Poole profiles them.
LyondellBasell’s Andrew Gratz – From the Verge of Liquidation to Strategic Acquisition
Andrew Gratz’s first big assignment at LyondellBasell a decade ago was to work on the multinational petrochemical company’s complex bankruptcy. Now, he’s leading the $35 billion corporation’s strategic growth efforts, including last year’s $2.25 billion acquisition of A. Schulman Inc. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Gratz a finalist for the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Senior Counsel of the Year Award for a Large Legal Department. The Lawbook has a complete profile.
TLB Exclusive: Dozens of Texas Law Firms Experience Cyber Incidents/Data Breaches
At least 42 corporate law firms operating in Texas have experienced a “cyber incident” or an actual data breach during the past two years, according to an exclusive new Texas Lawbook survey. But 90% of law firms report that one of the vendors they use has been the victim of a cyber attack. GCs, including those at Match Group and Halliburton, say they are concerned about the safety of client information and law firms, according to the survey, are finally paying attention to cyber threats.
Former BP Associate GC Moves to Vorys in Houston
At BP, Jeff Heller managed the British multinational oil and gas company’s global legal teams responsible for employment and labor law, immigration, data privacy and benefits.
Halliburton GC Robb Voyles – GC of the Year for a Large Legal Department
Robb Voyles faced a mountain of legal issues when he became Halliburton’s GC in 2014. There was a securities class-action lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages, an SEC investigation into alleged misconduct at its operations in Nigeria, a nine-figure tax dispute with its former KBR subsidiary and scores of lawsuits with billions of dollars at stake related to the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion. Voyles successfully disposed of all of those risks to Halliburton’s balance sheet during a time when the industry faced significant financial pressures.
The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth profile of Voyles, who is the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Award’s General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.
Three Texas GCs Offer Advice on Becoming GCs
What does it take to become a corporate general counsel in Texas? The chief legal officers at Toyota, J.C. Penney, Match Group and a leading corporate executive headhunter gave their advice this week to a group of 130 members of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter. The Texas Lawbook was there and has the exclusive details.
Buc-ee’s to Shell Oil – 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists Announced
GCs from Apache, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, CenterPoint, LyondellBasell and 18 other Houston area businesses have been selected as finalists for the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which are hosted by the Houston Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Texas Lawbook. The awards recognize the successes of corporate in-house counsel.