White & Case Officially Opens in Houston, Wants 50-Lawyer Office

© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.

By Mark Curriden

(Feb. 13) – Jay Cuclis joined Vinson & Elkins in 1982 as a young lawyer right out of law school.

Over more than three decades, Cuclis became one of the world’s leading experts on international oil and gas transactions, representing energy companies from China to India to Texas in billion-dollar deals. He pioneered offices in Moscow and Hong Kong.

But after 36 years at V&E, Cuclis is leading a team of four lawyers to start the Houston office of White & Case, a global corporate law firm with more than 2,100 lawyers in 43 offices. The goal is to grow the office to about 50 lawyers over the next two years.

“I was not in the market to leave – I didn’t even have an updated résumé,” Cuclis said in an interview with The Texas Lawbook. “White & Case approached me and the firm has a global footprint in oil and gas practice that was attractive to me. The more I heard, the more I liked.”

Two Andrews Kurth Kenyon energy transactional partners in Houston – Christopher Richardson and Charlie Ofner – are joining Cuclis. In addition, White & Case is relocating Saul Daniel, a White & Case partner who has practiced in London and Abu Dhabi, to Houston.

The firm is temporarily subleasing office space in Allen Center, but plans to sign its own lease later this year.

White & Case has been interested in entering the Texas market for several years.

“Oil and gas has been a central business practice as part of our global energy platform,” says Dave Koschik, who heads White & Case’s strategic growth efforts in the U.S. “The stars aligned at the moment to have an on-the-ground presence in Houston. It is the right idea whose time has come for us.

“There have been a lot of changes in the Texas market and we have watched it from afar,” Koschik says. “We believe there is room in the market for us.”

Koschik says White & Case plans to employ an inside-out strategy and an inside-out strategy in Houston.

“Texas energy companies doing deals in Africa or Asia can know that White & Case has been in these jurisdictions for decades and doing deals there for years,” he says. “And we also have an outside-in strategy for global companies wanting to do deals with Texas companies. We now have great lawyers on the ground in Houston for them.”

Koschik says White & Case lawyers have known Cuclis for many years and have worked across the table from him in several M&A transactions.

“A couple of my major clients were already White & Case clients,” Cuclis says. “I joined Thursday and I’ve already billed hours for a couple mutual clients.”

Cuclis and Koschik say they plan to aggressively seek lateral hires that fit into the firm’s strategy for growth.

“We know we need a critical mass to make a difference,” Koschik says. “Our goal is to have at least 15 partners and 50 total lawyers across the core transactional practices of corporate, finance and projects.”

© 2018 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.

If you see any inaccuracy in any article in The Texas Lawbook, please contact us. Our goal is content that is 100% true and accurate. Thank you.