CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 10 Firms, 101 Lawyers, $7B

Bryan Loocke, managing partner of Vinson & Elkins’ Houston office, is an unlikely M&A lawyer. The 45-year-old was born in the historically farming community of Wharton, Texas (hometown of broadcast journalist Dan Rather and playwright Horton Foote). His father was in the agricultural business, his mother a kindergarten teacher.

But after graduating summa cum laude from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Loocke went on to UT Law, spent his formulative years at Bracewell, where he made partner, and arrived at V&E in 2015. Both of his younger sisters, too, became attorneys, one a former V&E alum (Lindsay is now deputy general counsel at Kinetik Holdings Inc.).