Willkie Farr & Gallagher announced Tuesday that it has hired two Texas-based partners, Jon Platt and Larry Hall, to its Dallas office, which was formed last year.
The duo joins from Baker Botts after each spent significant time working within the firm’s transactional practices there.
“Larry and Jon are exceptional, very well-respected attorneys, both of whom we have known for many years. They each bring deep PE, M&A and transactional experience that will prove a valuable addition to our team’s capabilities. We are excited to welcome these talented lawyers to Willkie’s growing Texas platform,” Holt Foster, Managing Partner of Willkie’s Dallas office, said in a news release.
Platt, the longer-tenured Baker Botts attorney of the two, spent over 15 years at the firm before joining Willkie. He spent the first half of his career as a corporate associate at the firm before being named a partner in January 2018.
While there, he primarily advised energy, infrastructure, and technology-focused public and private businesses, PE funds and their portfolio companies in various transaction types. Before joining Baker Botts, Platt was a Weil, Gotshal & Manges summer associate. He obtained his BBA in accounting from Texas Tech University in 2006 and his J.D. from Texas Tech’s law school in 2009.
Hall spent over eight years at Baker Botts, primarily working on energy-focused deals for its transactional-focused practices.
Before joining Baker Botts, he worked as a partner at Thompson & Knight for seven years, and before that, he began his legal career at Conner & Winters, where he worked for over 19 years. He obtained his BBA in accounting from the University of Oklahoma in 1987 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1990.
Platt and Hall will specifically join Willkie’s corporate and financial services department and its PE and energy practice groups, where Willkie will look to leverage the duo’s deep transactional experience to enhance its capabilities in Texas further.
“Larry and I are thrilled to join Willkie and its growing Dallas office at such an exciting time. This was a unique opportunity to join Willkie’s exceptional M&A and PE platforms, and we are very well positioned to support our clients’ needs across a wide variety of PE and energy transactions. Willkie and its Dallas office have great momentum, and we look forward to partnering with the collaborative team in Dallas and across the firm in the continued growth of the PE and energy practices across Texas,” Platt said in the release.