© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden – (September 29) – A single legal industry development may not signal a trend, but it is raising eyebrows.
Prominent Houston tax and project finance lawyer Don Looper has officially opened the doors to his new law firm: Looper Goodwine & Ballew.
While scores of lawyers leave large law firms to start their own shops, nearly all of them are litigators.
Looper has six lawyers in Houston and four lawyers in New Orleans. The firm plans to add two or three more lawyers before the end of 2014 and then double in size by the end of next year.
“When I left my old firm, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted it to be significant,” says Looper, who is a 1979 graduate of the Houston Law Center. “Then, you and I had a conversation and you gave me the idea about a transactional boutique.
“We wanted to create an alternative to the large corporate law firms with their more expensive fee structures,” he says. “We believe there is a middle market, especially in the energy sector, that seeks high quality legal work but at a less expensive price.
“We have the experience and sophistication to do the deals the larger firms are handling,” he says.
Looper and J. Wayne Ballew Jr., a 2005 graduate of the South Texas College of Law, formed the firm earlier this year. Last week, the firm added four more lawyers, including experienced oil and gas attorney Paul Goodwine, from New Orleans-based Slattery, Marino & Roberts.
The new firm already has a slew of clients, including Houston oil and gas companies Cima Energy, EnVen Energy Ventures and Bennu Oil and Gas. In fact, Looper is leading a terminal project in Colombia involving a U.S.-based private equity firm. And Looper says the firm also has signed two clients from Australia.
Looper says Ballew, who is a petroleum engineer, and Goodwine, who specializes in offshore oil and gas transactions, bring together the experience that many oil and gas companies seek.
Goodwine says he and Looper met while working on a transaction and realized they had “complementary philosophies regarding the practice of law and serving clients. Together we bring many strengths and years of diverse experience.”
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