© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
For nearly two decades, Kay Bailey Hutchison and her husband Ray worked 1,200 miles apart – her in Washington, DC as a U.S. senator and him as a municipal bond lawyer in Dallas.
Starting this week, the distance between their offices is measured by feet instead of miles.
Sen. Hutchison, who recently retired from the senate after more than 19 years, is joining the national law firm Bracewell & Giuliani as senior counsel where she will advise clients in banking, energy, telecommunications and transportation sectors.
“As I was thinking about what I’ve wanted to do, I decided I wanted an association with a law firm and Bracewell is the perfect fit,” says Sen. Hutchison, who spoke exclusively with The Texas Lawbook and The Dallas Morning News.
“Bracewell is a large firm but it has a small firm culture that I really like and it’s very entrepreneurial,” she says. “I wanted a Texas-based law firm with a significant Washington, D.C. practice because my expertise is in the federal regulatory area.”
A 1967 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Sen. Hutchison served in the Texas Legislature from 1972 to 1976. She also served as vice president and general counsel at Republic Bank before she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993.
Bracewell Managing Partner Mark Evans says the firm’s decision to pursue Sen. Hutchison “came together very quickly.”
Evans, who offices in Houston, officially introduced Sen. Hutchison to the firm Monday morning during his weekly conference call with all 470 Bracewell lawyers in the firm’s 10 offices.
Instead of being assigned to a specific practice, he says that the senator will “‘freelance a bit’ working with lawyers in several practice areas, including the firm’s policy resolution group, energy, and banking.”
“Many of the issues she’s worked on over the years impact so many of our clients,” Evans says. “She knows so many top business leaders and she knows the top decision makers in all 254 counties in Texas, which could be very helpful to our current clients.”
Sen. Hutchison says she has known many Bracewell lawyers over the years. She and firm chairman Patrick Oxford carpooled when they attended UT Law together. Oxford later served as the senator’s campaign manager in several of her election efforts.
And, of course, she has gotten to know additional Bracewell lawyers since her husband, Ray Hutchison, joined the firm about a year ago.
Ray Hutchison, also a senior counsel in Bracewell’s Dallas office, is widely regarded as one of the nation’s premier public finance and municipal bond lawyers, having handled the legal work involving the creation and development of DFW Airport, Cowboys Stadium, the Ballpark in Arlington, the American Airlines Center and the new Baylor University football stadium.
Evans said the couple is the third husband and wife lawyer team at the firm.
“A few years ago, we had a no nepotism policy, but we realized we were losing a lot of very good people, so we got rid of it,” he says.
Sen. Hutchison says she will not be going to court or trying cases. Neither will she be doing any political lobbying.
“I don’t want to directly talk with my former senate colleagues [about client matters],” she says. “I want to focus on advising clients on the regulatory process, legislative attitudes and the likelihood of government action.
“I will not be lobbying,” she says.
Landing Sen. Hutchison is viewed by nearly all legal observers as a coup for Houston-based Bracewell. As a U.S. senator, she has extensive contacts with high-ranking executives at scores of large Texas corporations. All of them are much sought after clients for Bracewell and their competitors, according to legal insiders.
“Initially, bringing former Senator Hutchison aboard will place the spotlight squarely on the firm in a mostly positive light,” says Mike Androvett of Androvett Legal Media.
“Then the hard work follows in orienting a former U.S. senator to the art of client service and client relations and the firm making the case to its clients and prospective clients that the lawyer Hutchison provides value they can’t find anywhere else,” says Androvett, a lawyer and former journalist who advises more than a dozen law firms on marketing, media communications and business development matters.
Beto Cardenas, a counsel at Vinson & Elkins and former general counsel for Sen. Hutchison, says she will be a great role model for the firm’s younger partners and associates.
“As her general counsel, she challenged me to think, question, and find solutions. She made me a better lawyer,” says Cardenas. “For Kay, quality is never compromised because quite frankly, a second best work product isn’t good enough for anyone.”
Kelly Noblin of Newhouse Noblin, a Texas legal headhunting firm, says the addition of Sen. Hutchison will help Bracewell externally and internally.
“She brings her considerable contacts and boundless energy to the firm,” says Noblin. “Likewise, Bracewell’s attorneys have the legal expertise and personal integrity to turn those contacts into loyal clients. This appears to be a very smart collaboration and one that will likely accelerate Bracewell’s stature as a significant player in the lateral partner market.”
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