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White & Case, Katten Muchin to Open TX Outposts; DLA Piper Expands; AKK and V&E Partners Jump

January 22, 2018 Mark Curriden

By Mark Curriden and Brooks Igo

Major League Baseball free agency has been slow to dead so far this off season, but free agency in the Texas legal market is about to heat up big-time.

The Texas Lawbook has learned that:

    • New York corporate law firm White & Case plans to open an office in Houston in the next few weeks;
    • Three prominent Vinson & Elkins partners in New York are jumping to Baker Botts;
    • Partners from Andrews Kurth Kenyon are planning to depart the firm’s Dallas office to join DLA Piper’s Texas outpost;
    • Other Dallas partners from AKK are leaving the firm to expand Katten Muchin’s presence in Texas; and
  • AKK’s merger discussions with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams are close to being finalized.

White & Case

There have been rumors for years that White & Case wanted to open a Texas office, but it had not found the right opportunity. It appears that it will finally happen in February.

Multiple sources confirm that V&E corporate partner Jay Cuclis, who offices in Houston and Hong Kong, is leaving the firm to help start White & Case’s first office in Texas.

A 1981 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Cuclis is co-chair of V&E’s energy transactional and projects practice group. He has led more than 10 billion-dollar-plus M&A deals. His clients include Anadarko Petroleum, India-based Reliance Industries, Santos Limited and Apollo Global Management.

White & Case has more than 1,900 lawyers in 40 offices worldwide and revenues of $1.6 billion in 2016, according to the American Lawyer.

Cuclis, 60, is widely considered to be an expert on energy M&A and joint ventures involving Asian-based companies and funds.

Neither Cuclis nor V&E replied to requests for comment.

AKK Partners to Katten Muchin

The Texas Lawbook has learned from multiple sources that more than 10 lawyers from the Dallas office of Andrews Kurth Kenyon are taking their practices to Katten Muchin Rosenman, a Chicago-based firm that has outposts in Austin, Houston and Irving.

AKK corporate partner Mark Solomon, who serves as the firm’s managing partner of the Dallas office, and M&A partner Peter Bogdanow are leading the move to Katten Muchin.

Legal industry insiders say that several corporate law firms have tried to recruit Solomon and Bogdanow, who represent several high-profile clients, including Highlander Partners and General Motors.

Katten Muchin has more than 600 lawyers in 14 offices, including 12 attorneys in Houston, four lawyers in Austin and one in Irving.

AKK Partners to DLA

Global mega-firm DLA Piper is expected to announce in the next two weeks that more than a dozen AKK lawyers are joining the firm’s Dallas office.

Multiple legal industry insiders have told The Lawbook that prominent AKK labor and employment partner Marc Katz and commercial litigation partner Rob Hoffman are leading a team of AKK lawyers that will more than quadruple DLA Piper’s headcount in Dallas.

DLA Piper currently has six lawyers in Dallas and 27 attorneys in Houston.

Neither Katz nor Hoffman replied to requests for interviews.

But the firm issued the following written statement in response to an inquiry from The Texas Lawbook: “DLA Piper is committed to expanding the firm’s presence in Dallas, and the addition of Marc Katz and the team expected to join him will be an important part of that strategy. We look forward to their contributions and to additional growth in the near future.”

Founded in the United Kingdom, DLA Piper has 4,000 lawyers in 80 offices around the world. The American Lawyer reported its 2016 revenue at $2.48 billion.

Katz has represented several professional sports franchises and the private equity fund Highland Capital in various employment and contract-related matters. Several corporate law firm leaders say that the hiring of Katz and Hoffman is a coup for DLA Piper, because both lawyers have a strong book of business and are likely to be able to recruit partners at other firms to join them.

AKK + Hunton

The Lawbook has learned that the departures from AKK to DLA Piper and Katten Muchin have had minimal impact on the ongoing merger discussions between Virginia-based Hunton & Williams and Houston-based AKK.

Lawyers familiar with the two firms say the merger talks are at a critical stage, that a name change has been debated and that the two firms could put their proposed union to a vote of the partners in February.

The Hunton and AKK leaders have known about the departures of the Dallas partners since the end of December.

V&E to Baker Botts

Mike Rosenwasser, widely viewed as one of the creators of the master limited partnership business structure for corporations, is moving his New York-based law practice from V&E to Baker Botts.

A 1971 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Rosenwasser has represented dozens of major companies and private equity funds in more than 200 public financings and M&A transactions. His clients include Spectra Energy, the Carlyle Group, Buckeye Partners and PetroLogistics.

Rossenwasser, who is 71, and two other V&E partners – Michael Swidler and Adorys Velazquez – are expected to join the New York office of Baker Botts in the next two months. The three lawyers and V&E are reportedly negotiating the exact date of their departure, as required in the terms the lawyers signed in the partnership agreement.

Officials at V&E and Baker Botts declined to comment.

Mark Curriden

Mark Curriden is a lawyer/journalist and founder of The Texas Lawbook. In addition, he is a contributing legal correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

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