Willkie’s Houston office loses another private equity partner as Orrick snaps up David Aaronson. Aaronson often worked with Mike Piazza, who left Willkie earlier this year for Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
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Q&A: Bo Shi
Premium-Only Content: Bo Shi shares insights for outside counsel and empathizes with those 5 p.m. Friday requests.
Rookie Crescent Energy GC Bo Shi is ‘Premier Example of Immediate Value’
Bo Shi had a crazy 2021. He started the year as a lawyer at Vinson & Elkins representing trading platform TradeZero Holding in a $556 million SPAC merger. Independence Energy hired Shi as GC in October where he spent three intense months in the company’s $5.7 billion M&A deal with Contango Oil & Gas.
Nine weeks later, the transaction closed, a publicly traded company called Crescent Energy was created and Shi was named its GC. But there were no holiday breaks. Instead, he handled a $200 million securities offering and engineered an $815 million acquisition. The result: Shi is a finalist for the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 12 Firms, 108 Lawyers, $10.5B
While recent commodity prices might suggest a favorable climate for M&A energy transactions, they aren’t really happening. O&G deals were down in value by 41 percent during the first quarter of 2022. Deals worth $1 billion or more were down nearly 60 percent, according to GlobalData. The CDT Roundup spells out details, along with names of the lawyers behind last week’s transactions.
Dallas Company’s Patent-Infringement Suit Against Twitter Moving Toward Trial
U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey, reversing a decision he made in 2016, refuses to dismiss the suit over what the plaintiff, VidStream, says is at least $600 million in unpaid patent royalties.
Nationwide Permit 12 in the Crosshairs (Again), and Texas Energy and Infrastructure Projects Hang in the Balance
The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric companies, recently warned that environmentalists’ challenge to a Clean Water Act dredge-and-fill general permit for oil and gas pipelines is not just a threat to efficient permitting for those projects but could hinder the validity of similar permits for other sectors.
The court’s holding in the underlying case challenging the nationwide permit has the potential to significantly impact energy sector projects in Texas.
Q&A: Travis Torrence
Premium-Only Content: Travis Torrence discusses his career mentors, what he looks for in hiring outside counsel and how law firms can improve retaining diverse talent.
Shell’s Travis Torrence ‘Brings His Authentic Self to the Table’
Travis Torrence was in high school when his aunt, a school teacher-turned-political activist, sued her local government under the Voting Rights Act challenging the “at-large” election system. “She won,” Torrence said. “That was the first time I noticed the law being used to effectuate societal change — change that for that community was historic. I remember thinking that the law was the key to justice, fairness, equity and equality.”
Torrence, the great-great grandson of a slave who is now the leader of Shell USA’s global litigation bankruptcy and credit team, fearlessly tackles diversity, equity and inclusion. He is a pioneer on issues of the diversity pipeline and programs that support the LGBTQ community. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Torrence as one of two finalists for the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.
Willkie Reinforces Houston PE Depth
On a day the firm also saw a partner leave for Gibson Dunn, Willkie added a Houston partner who has served as general counsel for two different private equity firms.
Ten Business and Tax Issues for Businesses Moving to Texas
Businesses and workers are moving to Texas in droves. This article outlines the unique state and local tax environment into which they are venturing.