Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Former administrative judge Casey Bell has joined Balch & Bingham. Bell specializes in the nexus between electrical utilities and Texas regulatory authorities. Bell joins after a little more than a year at Troutman Pepper.
Denny Lee, an energy and infrastructure transactions partner, has joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in Houston from Latham & Watkins. He will focus his practice on advising public and private companies, private equity sponsors, financial advisors and boards on complex US and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, carve-outs, joint ventures, take-private transactions and corporate finance matters across the energy and infrastructure sectors.
Bill Nelson has joined Latham & Watkins in Houston after seven and a half years at A&O Shearman, including more than two years as the managing partner in the firm’s Houston office.
A little less than two years after joining Winston, Kevin Brophy and Ming Lei are on the move again; this time to Bracewell as partners in the oil and gas transactions group in Houston.
Dilen Kumar has joined Akin in Dallas as a corporate partner. He will focus his practice on private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, investment strategies and corporate governance matters.
Real estate partner Consuella “Connie” Simmons Taylor has joined Seyfarth Shaw in Houston from Baker Botts. Taylor, who most recently served as firmwide chair of Baker Botts’ real estate & construction practice, will focus her practice on commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, leasing and development.
Edmund “Eddy” Daniels has joined Mayer Brown in Houston from McGuireWoods. The power and energy partner will focus his practice on power, energy and infrastructure transactions, including project development, acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures and commercial agreements for energy and infrastructure assets.
David Aaronson is joining McGuireWoods as a partner in Houston as the firm continues to expand its energy M&A and finance practices.
Shayne Henry, a commercial litigation partner, has joined Latham & Watkins in Austin after six years at Kirkland & Ellis across town. He will focus his practice on commercial and intellectual property disputes in state and federal courts, as well as domestic and international arbitration.
Two Texas law firms this week have joined a half-dozen national law firms in announcing associate compensation increases of $10,000 for new and more junior lawyers and $20,000 salary jumps for more senior associates.
The pay hikes will raise compensation for first-year associates to $235,000, fourth-year lawyers to $320,000, and the base salary for eighth-year associates — the year before being up for partnership — to $445,000. With annual bonuses, many corporate law firms will pay their most senior and successful associates nearly $600,000 annually.
After more than three years on the client-side with Pattern Energy, a Houston alternative energy provider, Sarah Ridel has agreed to join Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the firm with where she began her career.
Allison K. Perry has joined Bracewell’s tax department as a partner in the Houston office. The move marks a return to Bracewell for Perry after serving at Shell in-house as the energy giant’s U.S. lead employment tax counsel.
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