Bracewell & Giuliani

Bracewell LLP
Headquarters Pennzoil Place
Houston, Texas
No. of offices 10
No. of attorneys 470 (2010)
Major practice areas energy, environmental strategies, financial institutions, financial restructuring, government, litigation, private investment funds, technology, white collar defense
Key people Mark Evans (Managing Partner)
Patrick Oxford (Chair)
Revenue $325 million (2012)
Date founded 1945
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website
bracewellgiuliani.com

Bracewell LLP is an international law firm based in Houston, Texas, that began in 1945. The firm has over 450 lawyers, and has United States offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Hartford, San Antonio, Seattle, Dallas, and Austin, and overseas offices in Dubai,[1] and London. The firm's areas of specialization include energy, environmental strategies, financial institutions, financial restructuring, government, litigation, private investment funds, technology, and white collar defense.[2] Also unique to the firm is the strategic communications team who has more than two decades of experience in government relations, media relations and policy-making.[3]

History

The firm was founded on November 1, 1945, when J. S. Bracewell and his two sons, Searcy and Fentress, joined with Judge Bert H. Tunks to practice together in Houston under the name of Bracewell & Tunks. Searcy Bracewell was then elected to the Texas Senate in 1946, representing Harris County, and ultimately becoming the Majority Leader of the Senate. Fentress Bracewell led the development of the firm. Harry W. Patterson joined the firm in 1951, and was made name partner in 1966 as Bracewell & Patterson prospered from the commercial growth of Houston.[4] National expansion began during the 1970s, followed by international expansion later.

On March 31, 2005, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined the firm as a named partner.[5] Upon this he helped them establish a New York office.[6] Subsequently, Bracewell recruited Mark E. Palmer (formerly with the London firm Linklaters), top restructuring lawyer Evan Flaschen, former federal prosecutor Marc L. Mukasey (son of Judge, U.S. Attorney General, and Giuliani friend Michael Mukasey[7]), former Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation Jeffrey Holmstead, and former U.S. Associate Attorney General Kevin J O'Connor.[8][9][10] The firm would have some overlap in clients with the Giuliani Partners consulting operation, but otherwise be independent.[5] For 2006, Giuliani received a $1 million base salary and a 7½ percent share of the profits realized by the New York office, which share amounted to $200,000.[6] During Giuliani's presidential campaign for 2008, he remained a participating partner but did not do direct client or operational work.[11] Giuliani subsequently returned to work for the firm, splitting time between it and his consulting company Giuliani Partners and focusing on overseas efforts.[12]

Many other noteworthy political figures have worked at the firm, including former U.S. Congressmen Jim Chapman, Edwin Bethune, and Henson Moore, as well as former Governor of Montana and Republican National Committee chair Marc Racicot, former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, current Governor of Texas Greg Abbott, and Texas State Representative Morgan Meyer of the Dallas office.

Client base

Bracewell has for decades represented clients on government relations matters in Washington, D.C., and in Austin, Texas. The firm's clients have included major energy and natural resource concerns, from conventional energy sources to renewable energy such as solar power and wind power.[13] In 2009, Bracewell's energy practice ranked as the largest in the U.S., according to Law360,[14] with 117 dedicated energy attorneys. The firm has acted as counsel in high profile energy transactions including Apache Corp.'s 2010 acquisition of BP assets in Texas, New Mexico, Canada and Egypt,[15] and Kinder Morgan's 2011 IPO, the largest IPO in the energy industry in over a decade.[16]

The firm worked on behalf of geothermal interests (particularly geothermal heating technology) in the most recent federal energy legislation.[17] According to one source, because of its broad-based energy experience, "Bracewell has earned a reputation as one of the most powerful law firms in the energy sector."[18] Bracewell lobbying tactics have variously been noted for bipartisanship[19] and stressing substantive expertise over mere access.[20]

By the late 1990s Bracewell & Patterson was known as the largest recipient of oil-industry lobbying contracts.[21] In March 2007 it was revealed that a lawyer at Bracewell & Giuliani was acting as a lobbyist on behalf of the Houston-based, Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company Citgo before the Texas legislature,[22] with the firm receiving $100,000 to $200,000 in billings[23] after having registered to lobby for Citgo on April 26, 2005, less than a month after Giuliani joined the firm.[24] Citgo had been the focus of boycott efforts[25] due to the Socialist policies of President Hugo Chavez and allegations by the U.S. government that Venezuela had "not cooperated" in the War on Terror.[26] Giuliani's presidential campaign said he did no lobbying for Citgo.[27] As of May 2007, the firm no longer lobbied on behalf of Citgo.

In 2007, the firm represented a Spanish firm, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a subsidiary of the Grupo Ferrovial, in its negotiations to operate a toll road as part of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.[28] The Bracewell & Giuliani website states, "The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road."[29]

Notes

  1. ↑ CNW Group | BRACEWELL & GIULIANI LLP | Bracewell & Giuliani LLP Opens Office in Dubai
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Strategic Communications Practice Group, Bracewell & Giuliani Lawyers
  4. ↑ Houston
  5. 1 2 Healy, Patrick D. (2005-03-30). "Giuliani to Be Partner in Texas Law Firm". The New York Times.
  6. 1 2 Michael J. de la Merced and Peter Edmonston (2008-02-15). "Street Scene: From Candidate to Corporate Lawyer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  7. ↑ William K. Rashbaum (2007-09-29). "White House Says Mukasey Would Skip Giuliani Issues". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ "Kevin J. O’Connor to Join Bracewell and Giuliani in Hartford, Conn.". Securities Docket.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "LawCrossing.com GOP “Golden Boy” Joins Bracewell & Giuliani". JD Journal. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  10. ↑ "Former Top Justice Department Official Joins Firm". Bracewell Guliani. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  11. ↑ Tom Brune (2007-12-05). "Rudy no CEO,POLITICS,CANDIDATE,CAIMPAIGN,PRESIDENTlonger firm CEO". Newsday. Archived from the original on December 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  12. ↑ Santora, Marc (2008-08-16). "How’s Life for Giuliani These Days? Quite Busy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  13. ↑ Federal Government Relations & Advocacy Practice Group, Bracewell & Giuliani Lawyers
  14. ↑ http://www.bracewellgiuliani.com/dir_docs/news_publication/2f72b511-80c4-4c13-a202-3c2679861998_pdfupload.pdf
  15. ↑ http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2010/07/seven-firms-bp-apache.html
  16. ↑ http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/02/bracewell-kinder.html
  17. ↑ Kate Ackley, “Steamed About Energy,” Roll Call, June 18, 2007, at http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Facts&ContentRecord_id=3fb6338e-802a-23ad-4a38-7fc2eda6c8ca&Region_id=&Issue_id=
  18. ↑ Amanda Griscom Little, Giuliani-Come-Lately, Grist magazine, April 8, 2005, at http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2005/04/08/little-giuliani/
  19. ↑ “The new sheriffs in town,” The Hill, April 25, 2007
  20. ↑ Eamon Javers, “Washington Outlook,” Business Week, Feb. 13, 2006, at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_07/c3971054.htm
  21. ↑ Politics of Oil - The Center for Public Integrity
  22. ↑ The New York Times http://web.archive.org/web/20141231111602/http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Giuliani-Lobbying.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ↑ Giuliani’s law firm lobbying for Citgo - Rudy Giuliani News - MSNBC.com
  24. ↑ "Giuliani firm on payroll of Prez Chavez oil company". Daily News (New York). 2007-03-14.
  25. ↑ Citgo Boycott Headquarters
  26. ↑ Venezuela: Terrorism Hub of South America?
  27. ↑ New Header
  28. ↑ NAFTA Superhighway Has Giuliani As Key Player
  29. ↑ http://www.bracewellgiuliani.com/news/newsroom_detail.asp?NewsID=2017&archive=False

External links

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