Latham & Watkins announced on Monday that Houston energy and infrastructure deal partner Trina Chandler has lateraled over from Vinson & Elkins.
Chandler, who practiced at V&E for more than 25 years, represents private equity firms, infrastructure funds, major energy and utility companies and financial investors in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private investments. Tim Fenn, managing partner of Latham’s Houston office and a former V&E colleague of Chandler’s, believes Latham is adding “one of the top M&A and private equity attorneys in this space.”
The signing of Chandler comes the same month Latham recruited partners from DLA Piper and Wilson Sonsini to open an Austin office and one week after the firm lost Houston partner Chris Bennett to Simpson Thacher. Chandler is the firm’s third lateral partner hire in Houston this year, joining Ravi Purohit and James Garrett.
“Three important factors drew me to Latham – the incredible strength and momentum of the firm’s global platform, the firm’s reputation for excellence and client service, including its top ranked practices in private equity and M&A and in power, renewables, global energy and infrastructure, and the extreme commitment to collaboration throughout the firm,” Chandler said in a statement.
New York private equity firm Riverstone Holdings is a longtime client of Chandler’s.
In 2019, she represented Riverstone on Onyx’s $224 million power plant purchase from Engie. She also advised the private equity firm in its 2014 deal with PPL to create Talen Energy and then again in 2016 in its eventual $5.2 billion acquisition of Talen.