Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are pleased to announce finalists for the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards who have done some amazing legal work and demonstrated extraordinary leadership during some definitely unordinary times. Today, we reveal Transaction of the Year finalists.
Two big deals in the oil patch may signify that the recent bump in oil prices is being taken seriously by both sellers and buyers. Pioneer Natural Resources announced a $3.25 billion sale of assets in the Delaware Basin to Continental Resources. Elsewhere Southwestern Energy agreed to buy GEP Haynesville from Blackstone for $1.85 billion. Claire Poole has the details and the names of the lawyers involved.
With oil prices up 40% since spring, it's not surprising that there is modest optimism among O&G industry watchers that producers will see increases in borrowing strength in both the credit and exchange markets. The 14th edition of Haynes and Boone's Borrowing Base Redeterminations Survey predicts as much, but with some surprising differences between producers and bankers. The CDT Roundup has those details, as well as last week's deals.
West Texas Crude, which was barely over $60 per barrel as recently as August, is hovering over $80 this week. The rise has been steady enough and it's certainly stirred the M&A market. But can it be trusted? We have no idea. So our Claire Poole asked a few of her trusted experts.
The transition to a net-zero energy marketplace is an unprecedented investment opportunity for midstream operators and energy infrastructure stakeholders who are willing to rise to the challenge. But there are a number of commercial and legal considerations for stakeholders pursuing CCUS projects.
In the third quarter of 2021 there were 437 M&A transactions involving Texas businesses in deals worth more than $84 billion, according to exclusive data provided to The Texas Lawbook by Dealogic. But that isn't even the good news. The Lawbook has more.
Barnes & Thornburg corporate partner John Willding is a showman. His often two-a-day selfies on Facebook are flashy, funny, political and often risqué. His personality could fill boxcars with an admixture of exuberance, confidence and stylishness. Willding’s zealous support of Donald Trump has caused backlash, but those who know him best say he is an adamant proponent of pro bono, public service and diversity.
Willding's flamboyant personality has also been a key to him developing a highly successful midmarket transactional practice with a particular niche representing entrepreneurs. He’s helped some sell their businesses at exponential multiples of the startup costs.In a deal that received some notice in October 2019, Houston's Kraton Corp. sold off one of its signature polymer businesses, Cariflex, to a Korean concern. This week, Kraton itself was acquired by that same Korean industrial company in the Corporate Deal Tracker Deal of the Week.
After practicing law for 40 years, corporate attorney Chris LaFollette reflects on her career, coming up in Houston and focusing on energy transactions from 1980 to 2020.
The Texas energy economy is in an undeniable era of transition — from oil and gas dominance to sustainability. The Lawbook's Nushin Huq talks to three young lawyers who have been making that transition along with their clients, and what they see coming to Texas' energy future.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
