A group of 10 attorneys have left Alston & Bird to launch their own law firm focused on serving energy industry clients.
Rob Vartabedian, Conrad Hester, Nick Davis, Alix Allison, Gaye Lentz, Connor Bourland, Meaghan Nowell, Christian Sweeney, Rory Smith, and Georgina St. Johns are now part of a litigation boutique that will stay in the same offices they occupied with Alston & Bird in Fort Worth. There are plans to open a Dallas office and at least one other office, though Vartabedian declined on Friday to name the location.
Vartabedian, an energy litigator, was with Alston & Bird for about three-and-a-half years. His clients include Centralia Permian and Blackbeard Operating. In November, Vartabedian successfully defended on appeal a summary judgment win for Blackbeard involving a $180 million mineral rights deal.
“In the oil and gas industry, with the consolidation that has occurred over the last few years, conflicts are becoming a larger and larger problem,” he said of the reason for launching a new firm. “It became too difficult to navigate at a large, international firm.”
The new firm is, for now, called Vartabedian & Hester, though Vartabedian told The Lawbook that will be changing Feb. 2 when a new name partner who has not yet announced his departure from Alston & Bird will join the group.
Vartabedian earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and history from Texas Tech University in 2002 and is a 2005 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Hester leaves Alston & Bird after about three-and-a-half years as well. He was also a partner in the firm’s oil and gas litigation group. He is a 2005 graduate of Abilene Christian University and earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2008.
Vartabedian and Hester have been working together since 2008. Prior to their tenure at Alston & Bird, they practiced at Thompson & Knight and Brown & Fortunato before that.
Davis, too, leaves Alston & Bird after about three-and-a-half-years as a partner in its oil and gas litigation group. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and is a 2011 graduate of the Duke University School of Law.
Allison was a senior associate at Alston & Bird. She is a 2011 graduate of Angelo State University and a 2014 graduate of Texas Tech University School of law.
Lentz was counsel at Alston & Bird, where she worked for the past three years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law.
Bourland was a senior associate in Alston & Bird’s litigation and trial practice group and spent three-and-a-half years at the firm. He hold’s a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated in 2015 and attended law school there as well, graduating in 2018.
Nowell was a senior associate at Alston & Bird and had been with the firm a little more than three years. She is a 2012 graduate of Baylor University and a 2016 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.
Sweeney was an associate in the firm’s litigation and trial practice group for the past two-and-a-half years. He interned for Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett and is a 2020 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Smith was an associate at Alston & Bird and member of its litigation and trial practice group. A former professional golfer, he attended Southern Methodist University where he played gold and majored in biology and psychology and earned his law degree from Texas A&M.
St. Johns was a litigation associate at Alston & Bird and had been with the firm five months. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California Los Angeles and is a 2020 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law.