Faith & Perseverance Helped Sidley Partner Close His Biggest and Most Important International Deal

© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.By Patricia Baldwin (HOUSTON) Sept. 8 – Cliff Vrielink has represented some of the world’s leading energy companies – Royal Dutch Shell, Natural Gas Partners, Dynegy and Spectra Energy, to name a few – in highly complex cross-border transactions valued in the billions of dollars. The Houston corporate lawyer helped one of the world’s largest oil companies sell its downstream assets in Colombia, Uruguay and Paraguay to Petroleo Brasileiro in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He advised BP Alternative Energy in a South Dakota project that will create one of the world’s largest wind farms. And he helped Mumbai-based Reliance Industries in a $1.7 billion joint venture with Atlas Energy involving gas interests in the Marcellus Shale in 2010. But in 2011, the Houston-based Sidley Austin law partner undertook a cross-border deal that challenged his legal skills, frustrated his negotiating capabilities and even tested his faith. For four years, Vrielink and his wife, Ayse, tried to adopt two children from Haiti. A legal process that should have taken weeks or months became years. The couple spent tens-of-thousands of dollars. They took nearly a dozen trips to Haiti. They hired lawyers in Haiti and…