Shearman & Sterling has opened its second Texas office, bringing in six partners to Houston in a strategic bid to bolster its oil and gas transactions and projects work.
Senior partner David Beveridge has been keen to cultivate Shearman’s corporate presence in the US since he took the role at at the beginning of March. The firm’s Austin office opened a few weeks ago, with a seven-partner team saddled up from Texan firm Andrews Kurth Kenyon.
The new Houston team will be led by partner Hugh Tucker, who specialises in transactions in the oil, gas, chemical and energy industries. He joins Shearman from Baker Botts, alongside energy projects and transactions partner Coleson Bruce. At Baker Botts, Tucker was chairman of the oil and gas and projects practice.
Private equity partner Sarah McLean, the only woman in the team, will assist Tucker as deputy head. McLean and tax partner Todd Lowther both arrive at Shearman from Thompson & Knight.
The rest of the team include Baker Botts project development and finance partner Jeremy Kennedy, and energy and M&A partner Omar Samji, who was previously at Jones Day.
Shearman’s latest two offerings follow a trend for firms based outside of Texas to plant roots in the Lonestar state, in order carry out energy work. Shearman will be shoulder-to-shoulder with New York-based White & Case, which opened a four-strong office in Houston in February, led by partner James Cuclis, who came over from Vinson & Elkins. Cuclis hopes to expand the office to 15 partners and 50 lawyers.
At the beginning of March, Shearman’s US financials revealed that its revenue had risen from $912m to $917.5m in 2017, while PEP grew from just under $2.2m to $2.3m. The firm did not disclose figures for London, despite reporting its results in 2016. It hasn’t quite reached the £1bn revenue mark.
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