Rodrigo Dominguez, left, and Bill Parish of White & Case in Houston. Courtesy photos.

It's been an unusually active April for lateral movement in Texas, as a rash of lawyers made late-month switches.

Many of the recent Texas laterals moved to Texas offices of national firms, which continue to expand in the Lone Star State, including Shearman & Sterling and White & Case.

White & Case expanded its global M&A practice in Houston by adding Rodrigo Dominguez and Bill Parish as partners. Both came from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's Houston office, and they will work with White & Case's global oil and gas industry group and its Latin America interest group.

“The key reasons I made the move are the global platform that White & Case has, the very strong M&A practice and very strong and well-regarded Latin America practice,” Parish said. He does a mix of cross-border work in Latin America and domestic oil and gas deals.

Dominguez's reasons for joining White & Case are similar to those of his longtime colleague.

“Most of my work is cross-border M&A in Latin America. Over the last 20 years, I've dedicated myself and my practice to the region, and White & Case has always been … one of the best in the region,” he said.

Dominguez said the firm's large network of international offices, particularly the locations in Mexico and Brazil, will benefit his clients. He and Parish declined to identify clients.

In a press release, John Reiss, global head of White & Case's global M&A practice, said Dominguez and Parish bring extensive energy and infrastructure experience to the office, which opened in February 2018. He also said Latin America is a strategic priority for the firm.

When asked to comment on the departures, Orrick said in a statement: “We are grateful to Rodrigo and Billy for their contributions to our firm. We wish them the best.”

In another Big Law move, energy financing lawyer Richard Sitton joined Shearman & Sterling as counsel in Houston, coming from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Sitton said he moved because of Shearman's worldwide reputation in finance and the Houston office's highly regarded energy practice. He also noted that he's done finance work for nearly 20 years, and some of the best lawyers on the other side of the table have been Shearman lawyers.

Sitton said he represents lenders in the energy sector, including commercial banks and investment funds, and also upstream, midstream and oil field service borrowers. He declined to identify clients.

Hugh Tucker, head of Shearman's Texas practice, said in a press release that Sitton brings a “stellar track record” as a finance lawyer.

Another move this week involves a lawyer who represented George Clooney and other owners of the premium Casamigos Tequila brand in its $1 billion sale to global spirits giant Diageo plc in 2017.

Larry Waks, a corporate transactional and intellectual property lawyer who worked on the tequila deal, joined Foley Gardere as a partner in the business law department and transactions practice group. He will work out of the firm's Dallas, Austin and New York offices.

He came from Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, working out of its Austin, Dallas and New York offices.

Waks said he joined Foley Gardere because he has been handling very large transactions and needed a firm with a deeper bench. Also, he said, the firm's Mexico City office is also a real plus because he does work in Mexico.

One client is beverage company Novamex, which is based in El Paso and Juarez and has operations in Mexico, he said. In addition to food and beverage companies, he represents clients in the energy, manufacturing, private equity, technology, media and entertainment industries.

Stratton Horres Jr., regional managing partner for Wilson Elser's southwest region, said in a statement that the firm wishes Waks the best in his future endeavors.

Midwest-based Spencer Fane brought on Brian Memory as a partner in its banking and financial services practice group in Plano. Memory had been a partner at Husch Blackwell in Dallas.

Memory, whose clients are in banking, finance and real estate, said he connected immediately with Spencer Fane lawyers he met from the firm. “I just knew that [joining them] would be a game changer for my practice and for the clients I service,” he said.

Paul Sander, managing partner of Spencer Fane's Plano office, said financial services is a core practice at the firm, and Memory's experience—both in private practice and in-house at PlainsCapital Bank—benefits the office. Memory declined to identify clients, but Sander said the firm has a long-standing relationship with UMB Bank, which came into the Texas market about five years ago.

Richard Illmer, managing partner of Husch Blackwell's Dallas office, said in a statement that Memory is a “fine lawyer” who will be missed and the firm wishes him well.

In other late-month Texas musical chairs, a group of three lawyers moved to Katten Muchin Rosenman's Dallas office from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Charles Gibbs joined as a partner in the insolvency and restructuring practice, along with special counsel Eric Seitz, and Mark Lewis Patterson joined as special counsel in the real estate practice.

Three other lawyers left Akin Gump's Houston office to join Kelley Drye & Warren's intellectual property and litigation practices in Houston. David Clonts and Kevin Cadwell joined as partners and Monica Moussighi joined as special counsel.

Construction lawyers in Houston also moved around, including Christopher Farrar, who joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as a partner in Houston, coming from Cokinos Young. And K&L Gates picked up Bart Turner as a partner in its construction and infrastructure practice in Houston. Turner came from Andrews Myers.

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