Vinson & Elkins said Monday they’ve added two Kirkland & Ellis partners to their New York and Austin offices in Samuel Francis and Reed Schuster, both of whom specialize in organization, governance and regulatory compliance issues.
V&E also announced a return to the firm by finance partner Caitlin Lawrence after a three-year sojourn at Baker Botts.
Both Francis and Schuster were in Kirkland’s investment funds practice group.
Francis specializes in guidance for global and domestic investment funds, Schuster on oil and gas, real estate and infrastructure.
Lawrence, one of more than 30 former V&E lawyers who’ve returned to the firm over the past five years, specializes in commercial and direct lending and project finance with broad experience in renewable and traditional energy.
“Sam and Reed’s broad skillset and experience, as well as their collaborative approach to practicing law, make them a perfect fit for the firm,” said Vinson & Elkins Partner and Vice Chair Jim Fox. “Hiring lawyers of this caliber will help us continue to build our investment management practice and attract stellar talent.”
“We expect them to work closely with partners across the firm to offer a full spectrum of capabilities — including fund formation, continuation vehicles, regulatory, and secondaries — to our private fund clients,” said Robert Seber, head of the firm’s investment management practice.
Francis graduated summa cum laude from Brooklyn College in 2006, where he studied accounting. He earned his J.D. from Fordham University where he graduated magna cum laude in 2010. He worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett before joining Kirkland as a partner in 2021.
Schuster earned his J.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2011. He worked for two years at Shearman & Sterling in New York before joining Kirkland as an associate in Chicago in 2016. He became a partner in Kirkland’s Austin office in 2020, where he worked most recently on Kirkland teams representing Pearl Energy, CORE Industrial Partners, Blue Sage Capital and North Hudson Resource Partners.
Lawrence received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2013 after graduating magna cum laude in political science from Notre Dame. Her experience in the energy sector encompasses traditional and transitional technologies, including: residential, commercial, and industrial solar; utility and transmission infrastructure; oil and gas exploration and production; midstream systems and terminals, as well as oilfield services, distribution, storage, transportation, manufacturing, and retail.
“Bringing Caitlin back to the firm may be one of the easier decisions we will make this year,” said Vinson & Elkins Partner Dave Wicklund, head of the firm’s Global Finance Practice. “Her experience handling traditional and renewable energy and infrastructure transactions fits perfectly with our Finance practice and also complements our M&A work. It doesn’t hurt that she is also well-regarded across the firm.”
Lawrence said the decision to return to V&E was an easy one for her, as well.
“The depth and breadth of Vinson & Elkins’ global finance practice is hard to match, as is the firm’s client roster in the energy and infrastructure industries,” Lawrence said. “I look forward to rejoining so many friends and colleagues, contributing to the dynamic growth of the firm’s finance capabilities, and working with fantastic clients on complex financing transactions.”