Gibson Dunn’s Houston office adds six energy partners from Baker Botts
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has added six energy partners, all formerly of Baker Botts LLP, as founders of the firm's newly opened Houston office.
The new partners are Gerry Spedale, Hillary Holmes, Tull Florey, Shalla Prichard, and James Chenoweth, all based in Houston; and Doug Rayburn, based in Dallas and Houston. They join Houston-based oil and gas transactional partners Mike Darden, formerly with Latham & Watkins; and Justin Stolte, formerly with Latham & Watkins and Apache Corp.
The team is responsible for upstream, midstream, and downstream energy and oil field services transactions, including debt and equity capital markets; public and private mergers and acquisitions; master limited partnerships (MLPs), YieldCos and Up-Cs; international and domestic oil and gas ventures; energy infrastructure projects; asset acquisitions and divestitures; joint ventures; energy finance and restructuring; private equity; and oil and gas and partnership tax matters.
Energy capital markets partners
Spedale focuses his practice on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and corporate governance matters for companies in the energy industry, including MLPs. He has experience representing issuers and investment banks in both public and private debt and equity offerings, including initial public offerings, convertible note offerings, and offerings of preferred securities. He also has experience in public and private company acquisitions and dispositions and board committee representations.
Holmes is a capital markets lawyer whose practice focuses on securities offerings and US Securities and Exchange Commission and governance counseling for MLPs and corporations in the energy industry. She represents public companies, private companies, MLPs, and investment banks in all forms of capital raising transactions, including IPOs, registered offerings of debt and equity securities, private placements of debt and equity securities, and spin-offs. She also advises boards of directors, conflicts committees, and financial advisors of energy companies in complex transactions.
Rayburn focuses his capital markets practice on the representation of underwriters and issuers in public offerings private placements, including IPOs, high-yield offerings, investment grade and convertible note offerings, offerings by MLPs, and offerings of preferred and hybrid securities. He also has experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate governance, and general corporate matters.
Energy M&A and finance partners
Florey has experience advising energy companies in corporate and securities law, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and governance matters. His clients have included companies engaged in oil field services, oil and gas exploration and production, oil field equipment manufacturing, midstream, and seismic activities. Florey previously served as chair of the Houston corporate department at Baker Botts.
Prichard counsels borrowers, private equity investors, financial institutions, and other institutional investors in senior and subordinated debt, acquisition financings, joint-venture financings, MLP finance matters, development capital, asset-based lending, and other forms of debt and equity financing. She represents clients within the energy industry spanning the oil and gas downstream, midstream, and upstream sectors, including clients in the oil and gas, chemical, pipeline, and offshore drilling industries.
Tax partner
Chenoweth is a federal income tax lawyer specializing in MLPs and oil and gas upstream and midstream transactions. He has experience in tax-efficient structuring of MLP IPOs and follow-on offerings, and providing tax advice in connection with energy M&A and A&D, especially advising energy companies and private equity regarding funding, formation, and acquisition and disposing of upstream and midstream assets and development joint ventures.
Oil and gas partners
Darden joined the firm from Latham & Watkins, where he served as global chair of the oil and gas transactions practice and global co-chair of the oil and gas industry team. His practice focuses on international and domestic oil and gas ventures, energy infrastructure projects, asset acquisitions and divestitures, and energy-based financings. Before joining Latham in 2010, Darden was a partner at Baker Botts. Prior to that, he served in legal or commercial capacities at a number of companies.
Stolte joined the firm from Apache Corp., where he carried out upstream and midstream oil and gas transactions—including deal origination, due diligence, negotiation, closing, and post-transaction integration—in a business-commercial role for the business development group. His practice at Gibson Dunn focuses on acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures involving oil and gas assets.
Before joining Apache in 2014, he was an oil and gas transactional attorney at Latham & Watkins and Baker Botts; and, prior to attending law school, he was a petroleum engineer for ChevronTexaco in the Permian basin.