© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(June 26) – Houston-based Millennial Energy Partners has hired, as you might expect, a millennial to be the independent, privately-held oil and gas investment firm’s first general counsel.
Millennial, which was founded in 2013, announced Monday that Clay Brett, a 30-year-old lawyer at Willkie Farr, will lead the company’s corporate legal department.
Brett has represented Millennial, which is a non-operating investor, in a dozen or so transactions, including several fundraisers through private placements and a handful of joint ventures.
“I’ve known these guys for three years and I think it is a great time for me to step into the business world,” Brett told The Texas Lawbook in an interview. “There is so much for me to learn on the technical side of the business. Being able to interface with geologists and engineers and have substantive conversations with them is very important.
“Millennial has a team of young and hungry leaders, and I wanted to be part of it,” he says.
Brett’s mentor, Willkie Farr partner Michael De Voe Piazza, was close business and personal friends with Millennial co-founder and managing partner Drew Scoggins.
Born in El Paso, Brett grew up in Ohio and received his law degree at Vanderbilt in 2011.
Bracewell hired Brett as an associate in 2011. He joined a group of lawyers that jumped to Willkie Farr’s Houston operation in 2014. He has represented Chesapeake, Apache, Kinder Morgan, ConocoPhillips and numerous investment banks in transactional matters during his six-year legal career.
The first public project that Brett handled for Millennial was a June 2014 private placement creating a $30 million fund that focused on investing in production acquisitions and organic leasing opportunities.
In its press release announcing Brett’s hiring, Millennial officials cited his “track record of successfully executing equity, debt, structured finance and asset-level transactions.” Company leaders say that Brett “has been a trusted advisor to the premier acquisition and investment platforms focused on unconventional exploration and development.”
Brett compares his move in-house to a baseball game.
“Outside counsel gets involved in definitive agreements, which surface in the sixth inning of a game,” he says. “As general counsel, I am much closer to the role of starting pitcher because I will be involved in strategic discussions and future acquisitions from the start.”
Millennial has secured more than $300 million in private equity capital and is “investing in oil and gas assets through seven discreet investment vehicles,” according to the company’s website.
Brett says Millennial is focusing on joint venture opportunities in the Oklahoma Stack Play, which is located northwest of Oklahoma City in Canadian and King counties primarily.
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