When Mitsubishi entered into a novel multibillion-dollar joint venture agreement with two other energy giants to develop and build a project that captures, transports and stores carbon dioxide, the global giant turned to a rising star in its legal department, Hakim Effiom-Dauw to help it identify and address risks and challenges. The development of Hackberry Carbon Sequestration is only one of several successes for Hakim during the three years with Mitsubishi and one of the reasons ACC’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honor Effiom-Dauw with the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
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Q&A: Hakim Effiom-Dauw of Mitsubishi
One year ago, Mitsubishi Corporation entered into a joint venture agreement with two other energy giants — Sempra Infrastructure and TotalEnergies — to develop and build a project that captures, transports and stores carbon dioxide to help produce cleaner liquefied natural gas for Mitsubishi’s business partner Cameron LNG. Lawyers involved in the monumental multibillion-dollar initiative say Mitsubishi’s point person for all things legal and compliance has been the company’s rising star corporate counsel Hakim Effiom-Dauw.
Lawbook founder Mark Curriden had the opportunity to ask Effiom-Dauw about his rookie year at Mitsubishi and what he looks for when dealing with outside counsel.
Q&A: Rob Ellis of Southwestern Energy
For Premium Subscribers As assistant general counsel of Southwestern Energy, Rob Ellis has notched big victories. None bigger than last October when Ellis and his team of lawyers at Yetter
Litigation Roundup: $105M IP Win Reduced to $3 For Austin Co., SCOTX Clarifies Life Insurance Rules
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a widow asks the Texas Supreme Court to decide that she owns space artifacts that belonged to her astronaut husband, the high court clarifies the contours of when insurers can avoid liability under life insurance policies and a huge win for an Austin company gets undone by a federal judge in Michigan.
Southwestern Energy’s Rob Ellis: ‘An Impressive Mix of Smarts and Emotional Intelligence’
As assistant general counsel of Southwestern Energy, Rob Ellis has notched big victories. None bigger than last October when Ellis and his team of lawyers at Yetter Coleman sued a chemical company whose operations on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River allegedly trespassed and interfered with the underground drilling operations of a Southwestern Energy subsidiary. A three-week trial resulted in a unanimous verdict awarding Ellis’ company $70 million in damages. Citing the huge courtroom victory and his service to the greater Houston community, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston chapter and The Texas Lawbook have awarded Ellis the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (five or fewer lawyers).
Q&A: Averill Conn of Vitol
Averill Conn was working at home in the fall of 2020, as were most of us, due to the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown. Conn received “a cold call from a headhunter” looking to hire an experienced attorney to support Vitol’s power, gas and renewables businesses. She had never taken a job through a recruiter and wasn’t looking to make a move.
She took the call, and Vitol is glad she did.
Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, had a chance to ask her about her experiences, both at Vitol and in-house in general.
Jeff McNabb: Patterson-UTI’s ‘Offensive Coordinator’
Jeff McNabb’s destiny to be a trial lawyer started in the first grade when his teacher conducted an impromptu trial and appointed McNabb to represent a fellow student involved in a playground argument. Now decades later, McNabb is head of litigation for Patterson-UTI Management, where he won two major courtroom victories in 2022 — one against former employees who allegedly took the company’s confidential information and the other involving an insurance coverage dispute for several underlying worksite injuries.
Citing McNabb’s leadership in those cases, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook recognize him as a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
Q&A: Jeff McNabb of Patterson-UTI
Jeff McNabb’s destiny to be a trial lawyer started in the first grade. Decades later, McNabb is head of litigation for Patterson-UTI Management, where he won two major courtroom victories in 2022 — one against former employees who allegedly took the company’s confidential information and the other involving an insurance coverage dispute for several underlying worksite injuries.
Mark Curriden, founder of The Lawbook, asked McNabb to share some of his thoughts about hiring outside counsel and the role of diversity in whatever he requires.
Q&A: Brookfield’s Fred Day
As managing director of investments at Canadian-based Brookfield Asset Management, Fred Day led six major infrastructure deals last year with a combined dollar value of more than $55 billion, including a $5 billion take-private transaction of British home repair services company HomeServ and the acquisition of a majority ownership in Deutsche Telekom’s tower portfolio in Germany and Austria for more than $19 billion.
Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, asked Day about the role of diversity in his rarefied world of dealmaking.
For Brookfield’s Fred Day, ‘No Fire Drills’ Just Multibillion Dollar Deals
As a rookie deal lawyer, Fred Day’s first transaction in 2007 was valued at more than $1 billion. In the 15 years since, Day has handled dozens of M&A and capital markets transactions with combined price tags exceeding $100 billion. No year in his career, however, matches the magnitude of 2022.
As managing director at Brookfield Asset Management, Day led six major infrastructure deals last year with a combined dollar value of more than $55 billion, including a $30 billion “first-of-its-kind” JV with Intel Corp. for a semiconductor fabrication facility in Arizona. As a result, Day is a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.