Vinson & Elkins Transfers Partners, Prepares to Expand
Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins, buoyed by profits from oil clients, is reorganizing and beefing up its offices in New York and abroad.
Seven partners will move to New York to focus on capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, the American Lawyer reports. Other partners will move to Tokyo, London and Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The firm will also be hiring lateral lawyers. “We continue to be very opportunistic, particularly in the New York and London markets,” managing partner Joe Dilg told the legal publication.
At one time, Vinson & Elkins faced shareholder litigation following the collapse of Enron, one of its biggest clients. Since then, the law firm paid $30 million to settle Enron creditor claims and was dismissed from the shareholder suit. The firm’s revenue of $596.1 million last year represented an increase of 12 percent.
New York bankruptcy partner Denis Cronin and his five-lawyer firm are recent lateral hires. “I think now that the Enron shadow is behind Vinson & Elkins, the firm feels it’s better able to adopt a strategic plan that allows for substantial growth,” Cronin told the American Lawyer. “The New York office will grow substantially, probably double or more, over the next three to five years.”
