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Mark Chavez, GC of Ocean Point Terminals, Creates Success from an Environmental Mess in a Caribbean Paradise

When Mark Chavez was brought on board as general counsel at Ocean Point Terminals in June 2021, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Its major client, a refinery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, had been shut down by the EPA after a series of environmental incidents and was barreling towards bankruptcy. With the two companies bound together in service agreements that threatened both, all he had to do was negotiate a divorce with the other company, fend off four class-action lawsuits, defend dozens of other lawsuits, arrange more than $100 million in bridge financing and new capital, help re-permit the refinery and salvage the company’s relationship with its island neighbors.

He did it; pretty much all of it. And as a result, Mark Chavez is a finalist for GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department (five or less lawyers) in the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Texas Employment Lawyers Talk FTC’s Proposed Noncompete Ban

The Texas Lawbook recently spoke to labor and employment lawyers in Texas about the proposal and what it would mean for both their employer clients and the litigation landscape statewide should the rule go into effect. The comment period, which was extended for an additional month because of the number of comments received, closed April 19 and garnered 26,814 responses.

Q&A: Mark Chavez, GC Ocean Point Terminals

When Mark Chavez was brought on board as general counsel at Ocean Point Terminals in June 2021, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Its major client, a refinery on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, had been shut down by the EPA after a series of environmental incidents and was barreling towards bankruptcy. As a result of his work during a critical time in Ocean Point’s history, Chavez has been named a finalist in the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards as GC of the Year for a Small Legal Department (five or less lawyers).



Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, had a chance to discuss with Chavez some of his remarkable life experiences, the challenges of 2022 and what he expects from outside counsel when he seeks their help.

Q&A: Marilyn Moore Basso of TPC Group

For Premium Subscribers Executives at petrochemical processor TPC Group woke the morning of Nov. 27, 2019, to tragic news. Its refinery in Port Neches, Texas, had experienced a major explosion

Marilyn Moore Basso’s ‘Drive and Intelligence Put Her in the Top Tier of GCs’

TPC General Counsel Marilyn Moore Basso has faced some challenges the past couple of years. The petrochemical processor experienced a major explosion at its refinery in Port Neches. Next came the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by an unforeseen economic recession and a plunge in commodity prices. In February 2021, there was Winter Storm Uri, which brought subzero temperatures to Texas.

In June 2022, TPC Group filed for Chapter 11. Marilyn and her small legal team at TPC steered the company through a full restructuring in just six months. Her leadership and efforts on these matters have earned her the recognition of being named a finalist for the 2023 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 18 Firms, 135 Lawyers, $3.7B

If oil and gas producers (and their lenders, and their investors) seem ill-at-ease these days, it’s not imaginary. Haynes Boone’s Spring 2023 survey of the O&G deal community suggests they are pessimistic about the near-term availability of capital and are looking at a variety of sources to maintain growth and profitability — sources that increasingly include their own cash flow. This week’s CDT Roundup has the specifics of the survey, which included 96 top executives from the industry and the banks that lend to them. And, as usual, there are the names of the Texas firms and lawyers behind the 23 deals reported last week.

Mitsubishi’s Hakim Effiom-Dauw – ‘An Extraordinary Deal Lawyer’ Who Sets the Standard for Young In-house Lawyers

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.

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.

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