Winston & Strawn announced Wednesday the addition of two energy transactions lawyers to their Houston office: Kevin Brophy and Ming Lei.
Brophy and Lei were partners at McDermott Will & Emery. Both joined McDermott in 2021.
Brophy advises on upstream and midstream sectors, regularly working with family offices, private equity sponsors, and both portfolio and public companies. A graduate of Jesuit College Preparatory in Dallas, Brophy earned his JD at the South Texas College of Law in Houston and an LLM at the University of Florida in taxation. Before joining McDermott, Brophy was general counsel and a senior managing director at Kayne Anderson Energy Funds, where he worked for 14 years.
Lei, who earned her JD at Duke University School of Law, advises on a wide range of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments and complex commercial contracts.
Kevin Brophy
Having earned her undergraduate degree at Wuhan University, Lei has extensive experience advising China-based companies on their investments, corporate governance and regulatory compliance activities in the U.S. Her portfolio also includes extensive work in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including E&P, marine terminalling and storage, midstream pipeline and energy transition. Before joining McDermott she worked at Hunton Andrews Kurth (née Andrews Kurth Kenyon) for six years.
Ming Lei
Brophy and Lei worked extensively together at McDermott. In May, they led McDermott’s representation of Bayou Midstream, a portfolio company of EIV Capital, on the sale of its Bayou’s operating subsidiaries to Bridger Pipeline. And in January, the pair advised Ellipsis U.S. Onshore Holdings, a portfolio company of Houston-based Westlawn Group, on its acquisition of assets in three different basins in three different states. The two also counseled EIV on its investment last year in Penrose Midstream Partners.
In a joint statement, Kevin and Ming said, “Winston’s transactions team has a first-class reputation. We are excited to join the firm’s growing Houston office and look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues to advance Winston’s oil and gas practice in Texas and beyond.”
Added Mike Blankenship, managing partner in Winston’s Houston office: “Kevin and Ming’s extensive experience executing all manner of sophisticated transactions for energy and infrastructure clients combined with their strong networks in the energy sector enhance Winston’s position in Texas as one of the strongest firms for handling these transactions. Their complementary skills will help expand our work with private equity firms and other companies operating in the energy sector.”
“Winston & Strawn is committed to growing its transactions capabilities within the oil and gas sector. The addition of Kevin and Ming adds significant private equity and M&A capabilities to our Houston office and reaffirms our leadership in the energy industry,” said Transactions Department Co-Chairs Timothy Kincaid and Brad Vaiana.