By Janet Elliott
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Cliff Vrielink, a prominent energy and private equity lawyer has become the ninth partner in Sidley Austin’s new Houston office, three months after the firm opened the office with seven partners lured from Texas law firms.
“When Sidley first announced who they were opening with, I took notice. This is a pretty neat team,” he said.
After 20 years at Vinson & Elkins with no interest in changing firms, Vrielink said he began to study developments in the Texas legal market. That led to his decision that a firm with Sidley’s global reach would be a good match for his sophisticated investment clients.
Twenty years ago when Vrielink started putting together energy deals, it was common for money to be raised locally. As the energy business became more global and capital intensive, funding sources from many different counties have become involved.
Sidley’s “outstanding fund formation practice” centered in its Chicago and New York offices will be an asset, Vrielink said.
“Now I can offer my clients access to that kind of skill-set and help clients work through these transactions,” he said.
Vrielink has helped clients buy and sell shale joint ventures, oil and gas properties, power generation facilities, pipelines, refineries, gas storage assets, oilfield service companies and energy trading businesses. He also has assisted clients with fund formations and has advised privately held companies in connection with significant equity investments.
One example is his representation of United Engines Holding, an Oklahoma-based manufacturer and service provider, in its $270 million sale to Kirby Corporation, a marine transportation company.
Houston’s status as a critical center for the energy industry and home to numerous Fortune 500 companies were cited by Sidley’s leaders in announcing the new office in February.
The firm opened with five transactional lawyers and two litigators from top Texas firms, including V&E, Baker Botts and Locke Lord.
One of those was Jim Rice, an energy transaction lawyer who moved from Akin, Gump. Rice said the firm now has nine partners (environmental practice lawyer Christopher L. Bell moved from the Washington D.C. office) and 13 associates.
“We are really pleased that we could attract a partner of Cliff’s stature,” Rice said.
Vrielink’s expertise will complement that of Mark Metts, who also has a private equity practice in Sidley’s Houston office.
“You really can’t have too much of that because private equity firms are by definition involved in the business of sourcing and executing transactions. They are great clients for law firms,” said Rice.
The Houston office is still in the early stages of anticipated growth.
“The firms that we will continue to compete for business with have substantially larger offices in Houston,” Rice said. “While at 22 we’re credible, we’re not at the scale that we think we need to be to compete across the board for any significant energy transactions.”
Rice said he could foresee the office doubling in size over the next two to four years, and then doubling again. A potential model is the firm’s Los Angeles office, which has more than 100 lawyers.
“The work we’re going after is large, significant transactions for well-capitalized institutions or corporations,” Rice said. “They expect to see breadth and depth in terms of skills as well as human resources available.”
Sidley Austin is the sixth largest law firm in the U.S. with about 1,700 lawyers practicing in 18 U.S. and international cities. It has an office in Dallas with 24 lawyers.
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