Haynes and Boone has added power to its energy practice, hiring Edmund “Eddy” Daniels as a partner in Dallas and Houston.

Daniels joined Haynes and Boone on July 8, coming from Panda Power Funds, a private equity firm in Dallas focused on development, acquisition and operation of energy projects in the United States.

But Daniels, who started his career at Baker Botts, formerly worked in-house for Texas energy companies including Reliant Energy and NRG Energy, and also as a lawyer for UBS Warburg Energy and later JP Morgan Chase as general counsel for the North American power and gas groups and commodities principals investments group.

Daniels said he hopes his diversity of experience makes him valuable to Haynes and Boone clients. He said he decided to return to his private practice roots because Panda has largely completed its work on several power generation projects, and he was looking for a new challenge. He was general counsel and chief compliance officer at Panda.

Daniels spent most of his career in Houston but moved to Dallas in 2013 to join the private equity firm, and split his time between the two Texas cities while at Haynes and Boone.

At Panda, and earlier at NRG, Daniels focused on energy asset and commodity transactions, including joint ventures to build power generation plants and gas pipelines. At JP Morgan Chase, he led a team of lawyers who advised the firm on structured commodity transactions, according to his new firm.

Daniels said he considered a number of firms, but decided Haynes and Boone—of which has done work for Panda—has an energy practice with a good client base and lawyers handling sophisticated deals.

Because he's worked in-house for 19 years, Daniels said he did not bring clients to the firm, but added that he knows many lawyers and executives in the energy sector.

Jeff Nichols, a co-chair of Haynes and Boone's energy practice group, said in a statement that Daniels' experience as a long-time consumer of legal services helps him understand how to deliver value to clients.

“Eddy brings in-depth power experience to Haynes and Boone, having worked at the highest levels at companies that produce and trade energy worldwide,” Nichols wrote.