Monica Karuturi, an associate GC at CenterPoint Energy was visiting relatives in India when she first got word that CenterPoint was interested in acquiring Vectren, an Indiana-based utility. Within days she was on a flight to New York City to begin fleshing out the agreement. In the next few months Karuturi’s team put together a $6 billion deal that has been named M&A Transaction of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden has the background on the remarkable, award-winning transaction.
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Buc-ee’s, CenterPoint, Precision Drilling, Peak Completion, LyondellBasell & Superior Energy Win Big at 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday night that Buc-ee’s Deputy General Counsel Tracy Richardson is the winner of the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards’ Business Litigation of the Year.
CenterPoint Energy Associate General Counsel Monica Karuturi and her outside lawyers at Akin Gump and Baker Botts are the winners of the 2019 M&A Transaction of the Year.
More than 300 leaders of Houston corporate legal departments and the most prominent business lawyers in Texas celebrated the annual 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel awards Thursday evening at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston.
We have exclusive coverage of the event and a list of winners in The Texas Lawbook.
Occidental Picks Savvy Cravath Lawyer for Anadarko Counter Offer (alas, no Texans)
Occidental Petroleum didn’t go with a Texas lawyer for its $38 billion counter-bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., whose board already agreed to a $33 billion purchase by Chevron. The company chose Faiza Saeed, presiding partner at Cravath, whose media and entertainment clients have included Time Warner, Disney and DreamWorks. Still, Saeed is no stranger to the energy industry, as Claire Poole reveals.
Carriage’s Mike Elliott & Shook Hardy – Creative Partnering
Legal Counsel Mike Elliott of Carriage Services, a $300 million funeral operations company, has a distinctive approach to litigation: he likes his company to avoid it. To do so he has formed a creative alliance with law firm Shook Hardy Bacon that involves a shared vision of legal needs and something close to absolute professional trust. Their relationship is the sole finalist and thus the winner of the 2019 ACC Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Creative Partnership. Mark Curriden describes that award-winning relationship.
Elizabeth Hawkins – From Contract Lawyer to Senior Legal Advisor for Targa Executives
During the past decade, Elizabeth Hawkins has gone from a part-time contract lawyer at Targa to being a critical legal counselor to the company’s executives. So critical that she is a finalist for Senior Counselor of the Year for a Large Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Keane Group’s Kevin McDonald – Actively involved in Running the Company
Kevin McDonald leads a legal department with four lawyers that last year successfully led the preparation of the Keane Group’s first proxy statement and first annual stockholders meeting. He helped lead legal support for the acquisition and integration of hydraulic fracturing assets of RSI, a new senior term loan credit facility, a $100 million stock repurchase plan and two underwritten secondary offerings of company stock totaling $307 million. And now he’s a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
ConocoPhillips’ Shannon Kinney: Persuasion through Engagement
Shannon Kinney is an exceptional lawyer. But her development of creative ways to interact with stockholders has made her an expert in investor relations. As a result, she is a finalist for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Camille Grammer Vindicated in Assault/ Defamation Case
DALLAS – Reality TV star Camille Grammer won a real-life verdict Wednesday against the ex-boyfriend she says assaulted her in 2013. A federal jury ruled in a civil case that former corporate lawyer Dimitri Charalambopoulos had, in fact, attacked her in Houston at the Hotel ZaZa, and that she had not defamed him by reporting that he had. Natalie Posgate was in the courtroom.
Baker Hughes and Bracewell Fend Off A Patent Challenge
Eleven years ago, Baker Hughes hired an innovation firm to design for them a motor-based safety valve for use in their wells. Once the valve was developed, one of the designers claimed the patent as his own. In-house patent attorney Anthony Matheny and a team from Bracewell used a lot of law and a good deal of finesse to fend off the claim. Now Baker Hughes, Matheny and the Bracewell attorneys are finalists for Business Litigation of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
Kraton’s Jay Simmons: The Success of a Failed English Major
As a young man, Jay Simmons envisioned himself teaching college students about great literature. But when he realized that academia was not for him, Simmons turned to the law. And now he’s a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Mid-size Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden has the story of his remarkable transition.