Mayer Brown has hired a team of six partners from McGuireWoods across Houston and Washington DC to strengthen its energy practice.
The group is led by trial lawyer Yasser Madriz, who was previously managing partner of McGuireWoods’ Houston office, and Meghaan Madriz, who have joined Mayer Brown’s litigation and dispute resolution and corporate and securities practices, respectively.
Also joining Houston’s disputes team are Miles Indest and Jason Huebinger, while Gregory Krock and Wolfgang McGavran have come aboard in Washington DC.
Michael Olsen, co-leader of Mayer Brown’s litigation and dispute resolution practice, said the team would expand the services the firm could offer clients.
“Clients in the energy and infrastructure sectors want counsel with deep trial experience, commercial judgement and the ability to operate across cycles and technologies,” Olsen said. “Yasser, Meghaan and their team bring that combination. Their work in commercial energy disputes, complex labour and employment transactions and structuring and general complex commercial experience will deliver immediate value.”
The team’s hire brings Mayer Brown’s Houston office to 65 lawyers, including 27 partners, and comes amid a hiring spree in the city by Big Law firms.
Last month, Paul Weiss said it had recruited M&A partners Sean Wheeler and Debbie Yee from Kirkland & Ellis to open an office in Houston, the same month Sullivan & Cromwell hired junior Kirkland energy partner Patrick Lingwall for its own Houston launch. Other firms, including Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and White & Case, have also recently hired energy partners in the city.
For his part, Yasser Madriz has joined Mayer Brown after nearly eight years at his former firm and focuses on complex commercial litigation, upstream and commercial energy disputes, and large transactional disputes for clients across the US and Latin America.
Meghaan Madriz, who is married to Yasser, advises clients on complex labour and employment matters across advisory, litigation and transactional work, with particular experience in noncompete and trade secret issues, wage and hour disputes, and employment matters arising in M&A and commercial transactions.
Meanwhile, Krock focuses on energy litigation, and Indest, Huebinger and McGavran bring experience across commercial, energy, infrastructure disputes and appellate matters.
Chicago-founded Mayer Brown opened in Houston back in 1982, becoming one of the first non-Texan firms to move into a market dominated by homegrown firms known for energy work like Vinson & Elkins and Baker Botts.
Neil Wasserstrom, managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Houston office, said the incoming team “reflects the firm’s continued investment in Texas and strengthens our ability to serve clients across a wide range of industries and matters”.
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