Sidley, which represents several major U.S. airlines, is ramping up its aviation crew in Texas with the addition of Dallas partner Bart Biggers.
The veteran airlines attorney will officially join Sidley later this month, where he will co-lead the firm’s aviation practice with Houston partner Kevin Lewis. Biggers previously chaired the corporate, commercial transactions and outsourcing practice group and the airlines industry group at Winstead.
Biggers played a key role in the American Airlines Chapter 11 restructuring, in which he developed the process for the assumption, rejection and renegotiation of contracts in what is widely-viewed as one of the most successful reorganizations in U.S. history.
Clients proved to be the matchmakers for Biggers and Sidley. Dallas office managing partner and firmwide executive committee member Yvette Ostolaza said two of the firm’s clients contacted her about Biggers.
“When you have an existing client that says this is a person we look to, it is an easy decision,” said Ostolaza.
“We’ve passed on wonderful people that did not meet our cultural fit. What’s great about Bart is he has the existing clients, expertise and industry experience we want to go deep on.”
While Biggers was familiar with Lewis and Ostolaza from both partnering with and competing against them, his clients insisted these were people he ought to team up with. Plus, it was an opportunity for him to join an international practice and better serve his clients that fly all over the world.
“The practice area depth and cross-selling ability at Sidley is second-to-none,” Biggers said. “When Kevin [Lewis] and I looked at our ‘route maps’, we had a lot of synergies.
“We want to be the destination for aviation and airline clients.”
Sidley, which has 15 Texas-based attorneys in its aviation group, has been busy helping its airline clients raise cash to weather the turbulence of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which caused bookings and consumer confidence to nosedive.
In April, Lewis and fellow Houston partner Jon Daly co-led the team that assisted the underwriters in three capital markets deals for Southwest Airlines that generated $6 billion. Lewis also aided United Airlines with its $1 billion stock offering that same month. In total, Sidley has helped its airline clients raise more than $15 billion over the past five months, according to Lewis.
“Cash is always king in any difficult time, and now companies look to their cash to build a bridge to the other side of this pandemic,” Lewis noted. “All of the major airlines have indicated they expect to be smaller on the other side than they were in January.
“The winners will be the ones who are able to adapt. With Bart’s addition to our team at Sidley, we expect to play a major role in that adapting and pivoting by our clients.”
Biggers got his start in the industry through a summer clerkship at American Airlines in 1999 while he was still a student at SMU Dedman School of Law. He said he made lifelong relationships early on that eventually led to more business. Two of his three airline clients came from someone leaving one airline to go to another.
“I love it,” Biggers said. “I’ve got jet fuel in my blood and I couldn’t be happier to be in the industry.”