Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced today that it is expanding with the opening of an office in Dallas — the Firm’s ninth in the United States, second in Texas and 14th worldwide. Kirkland’s Dallas office will be located in Bank of America Plaza, 901 Main Street.
“Kirkland has established a powerful presence in Texas since opening our Houston office in 2014. Our expansion to Dallas makes sense given the increasing work we are handling in the state, and we are excited to bring together top transactional legal talent in the city for this expansion. We look forward to becoming an integral part of the Dallas business community,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, Chairman of the Firm’s Global Management Executive Committee.
Kirkland will welcome some of Dallas’ top transactional lawyers to the new office. After completing their obligations and notice periods at their prior firms, Michael Considine, Kevin Crews and Thomas Laughlin will join the new office as partners.
Mr. Considine represents companies and private equity firms in connection with transformative events, including cross-border M&A, carve-out divestitures, co-investments and joint ventures. He has represented clients in a variety of industries including energy, consumer products, manufacturing, real estate and technology.
Mr. Crews focuses on M&A and private equity transactions, with a particular emphasis on the energy sector. He advises sponsors, portfolio companies and other public and private companies in connection with M&A, dispositions, joint ventures and restructurings, as well as strategic investments and financings involving equity and debt securities.
Mr. Laughlin focuses on private equity investments, energy transactions and M&A, including transactions relating to upstream and midstream oil and gas properties. His clients are private equity investors, their portfolio companies and a variety of other public and private companies.
Lanchi Huynh, Dilen Kumar and Alex Rose will join Mr. Considine, Mr. Crews and Mr. Laughlin as partners in Dallas after completing their obligations and notice periods at their prior firms.
Ms. Huynh focuses on capital markets transactions in the energy space. Her work covers securities offerings, including initial public offerings, by upstream, midstream, oil-field services and related companies.
Mr. Kumar concentrates his practice on representing private equity firms and public and private companies in connection with M&A, divestitures and investment transactions.
Mr. Rose represents public and private companies, as well as private equity firms and their portfolio companies, in complex domestic and cross-border M&A, corporate governance and other general corporate matters across a variety of industries.
Tax partner David Wheat and corporate partner Ryan Gorsche, who joined Kirkland earlier this year, will also work from the Dallas office. Multiple associates have also joined the Firm to support the new Dallas office.
“Mergermarket listed Kirkland as the number one M&A advisor for Texas-based companies in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, which shows how busy we have been,” said Andrew Calder, a partner in Kirkland’s Houston office and a member of the Firm’s Global Management Executive Committee. “We have been working with clients in Dallas for some time and it makes sense for us to have a fixed presence there now. It is a robust market with some incredibly talented lawyers, and this extension of Kirkland to Dallas also allows the Firm to benefit from that significant additional talent pool to service our Dallas and out-of-state clients. Each of the partners and associates that has joined the new office has been carefully selected to fit the Kirkland Texas approach as an entrepreneurial, best-in-class team that will seek to be commercial in finding solutions to client issues.”
The approximately 225 lawyers in Kirkland’s Energy Practice Group have a strong presence in Texas, New York and Washington, D.C., and handle an array of sophisticated energy transactions and advisory engagements. Law360 recognized Kirkland as a 2017 Energy Practice Group of the Year, the second consecutive year that the Firm was recognized in that category.
Kirkland’s first Texas office, in Houston, opened in 2014 to complement and enhance the service provided to existing and prospective clients in Texas, the United States and abroad. Today, the office has approximately 140 lawyers who have experience on sophisticated transactions and litigation and are particularly active in the energy industry.
Mergermarket M&A rankings for 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 showed Kirkland represented Texas-based companies in 82 transactions in 2017 with a combined value of $83 billion. Mergermarket also ranked Kirkland No. 1 in representing Texas-based companies during the first three months of this year with 16 deals totaling $5.5 billion. Visit www.kirkland.com to learn more.
Johnson Downie LLC assisted Kirkland in assembling the initial partners for the Dallas office.
Source: www.kirkland.com
