For the second time in less than a week, a top corporate partner in Willkie Farr’s Houston office is joining a competitor.
Michael De Voe Piazza, a highly successful dealmaker who specializes in private equity and energy transactions, is joining the Houston office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher today as co-head of the firm’s PE practice.
Piazza, who served as co-managing partner of Willkie’s Houston office and co-leader of the firm’s energy practice, is the preferred legal advisor for PE firms with “Oak” in their names. During the past three years, he represented Oak Street Real Estate Capital, Post Oak Energy Capital and Oaktree Capital Management ― the three are unrelated ― in a half-dozen deals valued at more than $2 billion.
On Friday, The Texas Lawbook reported that Willkie’s other co-managing partner, private equity specialist Bruce Herzog, left the New York-based firm for Latham & Watkins’ Houston office.
Combined, Piazza and Herzog worked on 43 M&A deals since January 2021, according to The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker database, which documents transactions handled by lawyers in Texas.
Texas leaders for Gibson Dunn targeted Piazza as a potential lateral hire years ago. At 44, Piazza falls into the coveted category of corporate lawyers being recruited ― those that have several years of partnership and business development on their résumé but still two decades or more of practice left in their careers.
“We have known and admired Michael for many years and have pursued him relentlessly for the past year or so,” said Gibson Dunn partner Rob Little in Dallas. “Since opening an office in Houston five years ago, we have been seeking a leading partner in the private equity arena to round out our offering in Houston and contribute in a leading way to our firmwide private equity growth initiatives. We have focused our recruiting efforts on Michael in this area and are thrilled to have him on the team.”
Piazza said he has worked across the table from Gibson Dunn lawyers on multiple transactions.
“I’ve been impressed with Gibson’s commitment to Texas and the Texas business market as the ‘Third Coast,’ and Gibson is now making a commitment to growing its private equity practice,” he said. “This is a dynamic time in the Texas legal industry, and Gibson is committed to significant growth in Houston.”
Michael P. Darden, the partner-in-charge of Gibson Dunn’s Houston office, said Piazza’s “natural leadership skills, deal proficiency and stellar reputation” in the Houston business community attracted the firm to him.
Piazza moved to Texas when he joined Bracewell in 2008 after graduating from Georgetown Law Center. The Houston-based firm promoted him to partner in 2014.
In November 2014, Willkie Farr opened its office in Houston and announced that Herzog had joined from Vinson & Elkins and Piazza from Bracewell.
Piazza said he had a “great seven-and-a-half years at Willkie, where I still have a lot of friends.”
The Corporate Deal Tracker database shows that Piazza led or co-led 24 M&A transactions in 2021, including Oak Street Capital’s $1.6 billion acquisition of Blue Owl Capital, Laredo Petroleum’s $715 million purchase of Sabalo Energy and Black Knight Energy’s $500 million sale to Kayne Anderson.
“Michael [has] a proven track record of executing significant and sophisticated transactions, including in the energy industry, [and he] will substantially bolster our corporate practice in Houston and lead to valuable synergies with our existing energy practices,” Little said. Willkie Farr has 47 lawyers in Houston and more than 850 attorneys in 13 offices worldwide. Gibson Dunn has 117 lawyers in its Dallas and Houston offices among more than 1,600 worldwide.