Houston deal pro David Peterman has left Paul Hastings for Gray Reed, the firm announced on Tuesday.
Peterman, who led the M&A and securities practice group at Norton Rose Fulbright earlier in his career, says he has been thinking about making this kind of move for a number of years.
“There is so much demand for quality legal services at a more affordable rate. I found myself where I didn’t have the rate structure for my clients that I wanted,” said Peterman, who has practiced at NRF, Baker Botts and Paul Hastings over the past five years.
“I wasn’t in a position to best assist some of my clients and joining Gray Reed is the answer to that.”
Peterman says he has known Gray Reed managing partner Cary Gray for more than 35 years and he has been impressed with what Gray and the firm have built. The two met in 1985 at Reynolds, Allen & Cook, where Peterman was fresh out of the University of Texas School of Law and Gray was a second-year associate.
Over his 35-year career, Peterman has developed a diverse client list including major corporations, small and middle-market companies, private equity funds, family-owned businesses and investors. Two of his regular clients include Houston private equity energy fund Lime Rock Partners and Paul Hobby-backed Genesis Park.
In 2019, Peterman assisted Hobby and Genesis Park in its sale of Texas Monthly to Houston billionaire Randa Duncan Williams for an undisclosed amount.
That same year, he was part of the Baker Botts deal team that aided Murphy Oil in its $1.375 billion acquisition of oil and gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico from LLOG Exploration Offshore and LLOG Bluewater Holdings.
Peterman says while there is a lot of uncertainty in the economy, particularly in the energy industry, there is also a lot of pent-up demand.
“The energy business is all about survival. This is a pretty tough cycle but the survivors have pivoted and adapted in the past and they will do it again,” he noted. “What you tend to see in downturns is consolidation and a lot of startups and innovation.”