Large Texas law firms, with their unmatched expertise in the energy sector, have been expanding in London. Texas Lawyer looked at this trend and quoted Haynes and Boone, LLP Managing Partner Tim Powers in an article about Texas firms’ London offices.
Here is an excerpt of the article, which also was published this week in The American Lawyer:
Haynes and Boone, which opened its London office in 2016, recently hired a prominent London-based oil and gas and renewables partner from Addleshaw Goddard. Baker Botts, whose client list in London includes a number of major energy companies, hired two Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partners earlier this year—one who is an energy transaction specialist. And Locke Lord has added about half a dozen attorneys in London over the last 18 months, including international arbitration partner Paul Neufeld, who has done work for clients in the energy industry. And Vinson & Elkins, which handles a variety of specializations from London, including disputes, international arbitration, energy transactions and projects, and mergers and acquisitions, is also in expansion mode.
Energy is the “original tie” for all of the Texas firms with London offices, said Timothy Powers, managing partner of Dallas-based Haynes and Boone. “All of us have reasonably similar reasons for why London is an important market for us, and it does start with the energy sector.”
But energy has given way to other opportunities in London for the Big-Tex firms.
Haynes and Boone, for example, hired a four-lawyer international arbitration and disputes team from Hunton Andrews Kurth in June. And just in the past two years, the firm’s London office has doubled in size—to 31 lawyers. Haynes and Boone is now looking for larger office space in London, Powers said.
It is imperative that the firm has lawyers in London because so much of its global business is transacted under English law, Powers noted, adding that this is the case for all of the practice areas the firm focuses on—energy, technology, financial services and private equity.
To read the full article, click here.