Two of the largest and most profitable law firms in the world – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Kirkland & Ellis – are promoting five lawyers from their Texas offices to equity or share partner.
Three of the newly-minted partners are in corporate transactional practices and one is a litigator.
Kirkland Chairman Jeffrey Hammes, in a memo to the firm’s partners which was obtained by The Texas Lawbook, announced last week that firm leadership has approved 27 of its lawyers to become “share partners.”
Two of the lawyers – Mary Kogut Brawley and Mark Dundon – are based in Kirkland’s Houston office and one of the lawyers – Matt Nadworny – offices in Houston as well as Dallas.
Gibson Dunn promoted 17 of its attorneys to partner, including Krista Hanvey and Andrew LeGrand of Dallas, to equity partner.
Kirkland
Mary Kogut Brawley is a debt finance lawyer who represents private equity and hedge funds, as well as public and privately held companies. She has worked on leveraged buyouts, public offerings and restructurings. Her clients include Apollo Global Management, EIG Energy Partners, Linn Energy and Northern Oil and Gas.
Mark Dundon is a corporate tax law expert whose practice focuses cross-border transactions, M&A activity, tax-free spinoffs and restructurings. His clients have included Warburg Pincus, Varde Partners, Canyon Creek Energy and RimRock Oil and Gas. He is a 2007 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.
Matt Nadworny is an investment funds partner who represents U.S. and international sponsors on forming and operating private investment funds, including buyout, growth equity and debt funds ranging from $200 million to several billion dollars. He has worked with such clients as AEA Investors, Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Co., GI Partners, NGP, Silver Oak Services, Soundcore Capital, TeleSoft and TT Capital.
Gibson Dunn
Krista P. Hanvey specializes in executive compensation and employee benefits, including employee stock purchase plans, business severance issues and non-compete agreements. A 2006 graduate of the University of Texas with a bachelors degree in government, Hanvey has advised companies involved in several large corporate transactions on their executive compensation structures, including MetroPCS’s $32 billion combination with T-Mobile and Salesforce.com’s proposed $2.5 billion acquisition of ExactTarget.
The lone litigator of the group is Andrew LeGrand, whose practice focuses on class actions and other high-stakes commercial disputes. He has successfully defended corporate clients against claims of fraud, breach of contract, products liability, consumer protection violations, and antitrust violations. LeGrand has been heavily involved in Gibson Dunn’s successful defense of Dallas-based Trinity Industries.