Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Derrick Mitchell, who helped build Bracewell's public finance practice over a dozen years, has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in Houston, adding a public finance practice to that office.

“They saw the need to expand the public finance practice in Texas, so they asked me to join them to help in that effort. They asked me to do what I've done at Bracewell,” Mitchell said.

Woody Vaughan, a partner in Atlanta who heads the firm's national public finance team, said Mitchell's hiring is notable because it expands the practice offerings at Florida-based Holland & Knight's Houston office, which opened in 2015.

“Derrick is well-known in Houston and throughout the state, serving as bond counsel on some of the most notable municipal financings,” Vaughan wrote in a statement announcing Mitchell's hiring.

Brad Hancock, executive partner of the Houston office, said he's known Mitchell for nearly 20 years and his “fine reputation and personal character” are a good fit for the expanding Houston office.

Mitchell joined Bracewell in 2007, and moved to Holland & Knight on Jan. 2. In 2012, when Mitchell had been doing most of the firm's public finance work, 14 partners and over a dozen associates from Vinson & Elkins joined Bracewell's public finance practice.

Mitchell is bond counsel and disclosure counsel for tax-exempt financings for cities, counties, state agencies and independent school districts. He also represents investment banking firms as underwriter's counsel in bond and interest-rate swap transactions.

Mitchell declined to identify his clients, but said he represents cities, counties and school districts in the Houston area. He said Texas is second only to New York in terms of public finance activity, because the state is growing and needs infrastructure.

The new Holland & Knight partner said he has known Hancock for about 15 years through the Houston Young Lawyers Association, and that relationship was a factor in his decision to move to Holland & Knight.

“We talked a couple years ago, but I wasn't quite ready to make the move,” he said, noting that even though he was at Bracewell for a dozen years, he could not pass up the opportunity at Holland & Knight.

In addition to his law firm work, Mitchell is a member of the board of regents of Texas Southern University in Houston and served as its chairman for two years.

Bracewell provided this statement about Mitchell's departure: “We wish Derrick well and thank him for his contributions to the firm.”

Further Reading:

Bracewell Partner Elected Chair of TSU Board of Regents

Group of V&E Lawyers Moving to Bracewell

Holland & Knight Opens Houston Office