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Phillips 66’s Vanessa Sutherland & Michael Voutsinas — The New World of Legal Operations

Energy company legal departments have a lot on their agendas in 2026, including ever-changing tariffs, turmoil in the Middle East, constant reversals in federal regulatory schemes, threats of cybersecurity and intellectual property theft and constantly rising hourly rates from outside counsel. As companies struggle to manage or keep up, Phillips 66 GC Vanessa Sutherland and Legal Ops Director Michael Voutsinas have taken a different approach: It has dramatically upgraded its entire legal operations team that deals with effective financial management of legal work, employee performance management, technology adoption and usage, outside vendor management, information governance, e-discovery and data analytics to optimize legal services delivery. The reforms have resulted in several internal and external successes.

“It has become more critical for staff functions to be both a good corporate steward of capital and a partner that generates value,” Sutherland said. ACC Houston and The Texas Lawbook have named Phillips 66 as the recipients of the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Legal Innovation.

Laura Tyson’s Responsibilities at EMG ‘Extend Far Beyond a Traditional GC’

The evening before Thanksgiving last year, Energy and Minerals Group General Counsel Laura Tyson was working to close a $1.5 billion transaction when she learned that an investor had filed a lawsuit in Delaware to pause the deal. The litigation didn’t just threaten a transaction, it threatened the future of the company. Despite facing enormous challenges and extraordinarily tight deadlines, Tyson identified and hired a new legal team and put together their legal response to force the litigation into confidential arbitration only five days later.

EMG and Tyson won the litigation and closed the major continuation vehicle transaction. She is also the winner of the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

Collaboration, Coaching and Exxon’s Winning Securities Class Action Defense

In the counsel of many, there is wisdom.

That is a paraphrase of an Old Testament quote that I used in the opening of the securities class action we tried to a jury earlier this month in Judge Ed Kinkeade’s court in Dallas. It applied to our securities class action defense, which was rooted in the good faith efforts of the hard-working people of ExxonMobil. But it also applied to the trial team that won the case, a combination of firms and lawyers that came together to produce a winning result in a very rare circumstance where unexpected events intervened.

Houston Maritime Litigation Partner Moves to SBSB

Andrew Robbins, a maritime litigation partner, has joined Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea & BenMaier in Houston from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. Robbins will focus his practice on maritime law, including complex litigation involving vessel collisions, cargo disputes, wrongful deaths, environmental incidents and aviation matters. 

Houston Employee Benefits Partner Returns to Norton Rose

Matthew Grunert, an employee benefits and executive compensation partner, has rejoined Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston from Bracewell. Grunert advises public and private companies, private equity sponsors and boards of directors on the benefits and executive compensation aspects of corporate transactions.

The Next Generation of Trial Lawyers MUST Use Pro Bono Work to Gain Courtroom Experience

The paradox of modern complex litigation is that the cases we dream of trying almost never get tried — and the smaller cases that once trained generations of trial lawyers are rarely handled at large firms anymore. As a result, I recommend resisting the urge to ask, “Where should I go?” Try asking, “What else can I do?” That question has one uncomfortable but effective answer — take responsibility for building your own trial experience.

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