By almost any measure, 2021 ended as a pretty good year. But of all the high spots, the most notable is the return of the IPO. Last year, there were more initial public offerings than from 2016 through 2019 combined. More on that and the final deals of the year in the CDT Roundup.
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2021 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists Revealed
They led multibillion-dollar deals and won billion-dollar disputes. They are young lawyers who made their mark and seasoned leaders whose companies benefited from their wisdom. They used technology and good ole fashioned legal smarts to change the corporate law profession and how companies do business. They are the finalists for the 2021 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognizes the hard work and successes of the corporate in-house legal community in North Texas. The Texas Lawbook has the names.
SEC Asst. Director Jumps to Holland & Knight
Former SEC Assistant Regional Director for Enforcement Scott Mascianica, who was involved in cases against Nikola Motor Corporation, Akazoo and Breitling Energy, said he moved his practice to Holland & Knight because last year’s merger with Thompson & Knight gives its partners a larger national platform to represent clients and because the firm is growing its white-collar defense and international investigations practice.
Top Commercial Litigation in 2021
When we turned the page on 2020, the promise was to get 2020 behind us, if nothing else. For trial lawyers that meant getting back to the courtroom. Not all did, but the significant cases and significant verdicts involving Texas lawyers showed a promising horizon: Not so cloudy, even perhaps for the lawyer starting his case by pleading he was not a cat.
EP Energy’s Jace Locke’s ‘Pretty Insane Time’
For 162 days in 2020, EP Energy General Counsel Jace Locke was in bankruptcy hell. In early March, Locke and lawyers at Weil convinced a bankruptcy judge to approve a highly contentious and complex multibillion-dollar plan to exit Chapter 11. Then Covid hit. The world went into lockdown. Saudi Arabia and Russia were in a feud that flooded the world with oil. Commodity prices plunged. The bankruptcy deal: Dead. All in 11 days.
Locke and Weil went “back to the drawing board.” There were negotiations and concessions. Cuts were made, losses were accepted and new funds were committed. A publicly traded oil company once worth billions was taken private. Restructuring successful. Locke and Weil are now finalists for the Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year.
Q&A: Jace Locke
In a special Q&A for Texas Lawbook premium subscribers, Mark Curriden visited with Locke, a finalist for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year, about what he learned from the Chapter 11 process, life changing experiences and pet peeves in hiring outside counsel.
Susman Godfrey Names Vineet Bhatia New Co-Managing Partner
Susman Godfrey’s newly elected co-managing partner, Vineet Bhatia, said Tuesday that 2021 was the most profitable year in the 42-year history of the Houston-based litigation powerhouse and that the law firm needs to hire more lawyers to keep up with client demand. Susman Godfrey announced Tuesday that long-time managing partner Neal Manne is stepping down as co-leader of the law firm Jan. 15 and that Houston partner Bhatia is his successor, along with current co-managing partner Kalpana Srinivasan in Los Angeles.
The Top 10 M&A Deals of 2021
If for nothing else, 2021 is going to be remembered as the year business wrenched itself out of the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic, or at least learned to live with it. So regardless of the numbers the simple return to a normal business climate is something to celebrate. Here are 10 M&A deals from the year just passed that the CDT Roundup thinks are significant, regardless of size.
LyondellBasell’s Andrew Gratz is a ‘Force of Nature’ in $2B M&A Deal
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, LyondellBasell Associate GC Andrew Gratz learned that South Africa-based Sasol wanted to sell 50% of an ethane and polyethylene operation in Louisiana for $2 billion, but there was a time crunch. Gratz, his in-house legal team and lawyers at Kirkland worked 16-hour days to accommodate the time differences between Houston and South Africa. Due diligence and negotiations over the JV’s management and marketing took place virtually. Plus, it was difficult to build trust when negotiating teams are not face-to-face. But lawyers say Gratz was a force of nature that kept dealmakers moving forward and getting the transaction done. Thus, Gratz and Kirkland are finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year.
Q&A: Andrew Gratz
Premium-Only Content Andy Gratz oversees the vast legal work required at LyondellBasell, the petrochemical giant. The Lawbook’s Mark Curriden interviewed him about his approach to the job, how his work in government relations helped shape that approach and his expectations of those who work with and for him.