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.
For Mark Curriden’s full profile of Bo Shi Click Here.
Texas Lawbook: What do you look for in hiring outside counsel?
Bo Shi: Attorneys that are thoughtful, responsive and understand the business. Having a sense of humor doesn’t hurt.
Lawbook: Do you have pet peeves regarding outside counsel?
Shi: Thankfully, it hasn’t happened much at all, but I do get disappointed when outside counsels miss deadlines without giving me a heads-up.
Lawbook: What does outside counsel need to know about you?
Shi: That having been on the other side very recently, I really do feel bad sending those 5 p.m. Friday requests.
Lawbook: How important is diversity in your hiring of outside counsel and how important is it that corporate clients hold their firms to specific diversity standards and fire them if they do not meet those standards?
Shi: Diversity is important to me, both personally and professionally. I’m glad that the outside counsels I work with have staffed a diverse group of attorneys on our matters, and I think we as the client benefit from that range of viewpoints and skills.