Kirkland & Ellis announced Monday that former Stonepeak managing director Claire Smyser Campbell has joined the firm as a partner in Houston.
At Stonepeak, Campbell served as legal lead for the Houston deal teams and supported transactions across the alternative investment firm’s New York and London offices. She worked on a number of energy and infrastructure equity investment deals with Kirkland.
Campbell said it was a “very hard” decision to leave the “world-class” people and investing culture at Stonepeak, but ultimately she realized she is a “bit of a deal junkie.”
“I missed being in private practice focusing on deal negotiation and execution,” she added. “Kirkland was a great fit as they work on some of the most complex and interesting deals getting done in the market.”
Campbell identified two key lessons she learned being in-house counsel for a leading fund like Stonepeak: how crucial a counsel’s job is to protecting the underwriter in the upside and downside scenarios and how key it is to be creative and commercial in pushing negotiations across the finish line.
Campbell’s practice focuses on representing private equity funds in all stages of fund activity, with a primary focus on equity investments and related portfolio management, including fund formation matters and co-investments. She has extensive experience in negotiating mergers and acquisitions and structured equity investments for private equity clients in multiple jurisdictions.
“It’s a great time to do M&A in Texas because there is so much activity, especially in the energy space,” Campbell said in an interview with The Lawbook. “The new technologies and innovation around energy transition are driving new opportunities while traditional energy remains a key continuing piece of the puzzle.”
The 2013 University of Texas School of Law graduate started her career at Vinson & Elkins, where she practiced until joining Stonepeak in 2021. During her time at V&E, Campbell advised on transactions for Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Energy Partners, TPG Capital, Lone Star Funds, Quantum Energy Partners and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“We are excited that Claire is joining Kirkland because many of us have worked with her throughout her career and know her stellar work,” Andrew Calder said in a statement. “She will be an asset to our corporate work not only in Texas, but throughout the firm.”