Three Texas attorneys who specialize in M&A-related matters made moves this week to competing law firms in Houston.
White & Case announced Monday that onetime Orrick partners Rodrigo Dominguez and Bill Parish joined the firm as partners. And on Tuesday, Shearman & Sterling said it had pulled Richard Sitton away from Simpson Thacher & Bartett as counsel.
Dominguez, who spent three years at Orrick after practicing at Morgan Lewis & Bockius and King & Spalding, represents clients in U.S. and international M&A, joint ventures and strategic alliances and corporate matters in regulated and non-regulated industries. He also counsels on real estate matters and has experience representing multinationals in government contracting processes throughout Latin America.
Parish, who also spent time at Morgan Lewis, counsels clients on complex business transactions, including M&A, private equity investments, partnerships and joint ventures, energy transactions and projects, real estate and general corporate matters. He also has experience in energy transactions and cross-border transactions across Latin America and, like Dominguez, is fluent in Spanish.
White & Case opened its Houston office in February 2018 with four lawyers and is now up to 32.
Its additions include Steve Tredennick from Paul Hastings; David Strickland from King & Spalding; Ryan Hopkins, a former in-house attorney at Linde Engineering North America Inc. who previously practiced at K&S; Byron Romain, who led the North American oil and gas acquisition and divestiture practice at Simpson; and Chad McCormick, who led the tax effort at Kirkland & Ellis.
Shearman new-hire Sitton has experience in energy financing, which the firm said complements the Houston team’s work on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and project-related work across the oil and gas spectrum. He focuses on debt transactions in the oil and gas industry, representing corporate borrowers, commercial banks, mezzanine lenders and institutional investors.
Hugh Tucker, head of Shearman’s Texas practice, said in a statement that the South Texas College of Law graduate also brings senior-level experience working at an oilfield service company, where he led M&A efforts.
Shearman opened an office in Houston with six partners in May of last year, its second in Texas after opening its Austin outpost in March 2018. In December, partners Bill Nelson and Kristina Trauger from Haynes and Boone joined the Houston office, establishing its capital markets practice.
The firm now has 21 attorneys in Houston and 15 in Austin and is thought to be considering opening a Dallas office.
Other law firms are expected to enter the Dallas market, including Reed Smith and Latham & Watkins. And speculation is growing that Davis Polk & Wardwell is planning a Houston office.