After a short stint at Blank Rome, restructuring lawyer James Grogan has returned to Paul Hastings as a partner in Houston, adding to a string of bankruptcy and restructuring moves among large law firms in Texas, where low energy prices are compounding the nation's COVID-19-related economic downturn.

Grogan, who rejoined Paul Hastings on Wednesday in the finance and restructuring practice, was of counsel at Paul Hastings from 2009 through September 2018 in Houston and New York, until he joined Blank Rome as a partner in Houston to build a restructuring practice there.

With the economy suffering and energy companies in need of restructuring counsel, Grogan said it is a good time to return to Paul Hastings, pointing to the firm's "really strong" transactions practice in Houston and its close ties to the energy industry.

"It provides for a lot of synergies, not only because energy has been a key focus of distress for the last few years, but also because a lot of the cases I work on tend to be transacational- oriented. They involve capital markets transactions and asset sales," he said.

The energy industry is facing continuing distress, he said, but other industries are also suffering, such as hospitality, entertainment and airlines, which means demand for bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers.

Firms with Texas energy practices have focused on hiring restructuring lawyers for a while, but that effort intensified last fall, as energy prices had declined over the course of the year. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude has been below $30 for the last month.

Grogan said he plans to add a couple associates in the near term and eventually build a larger restructuring practice in Houston. He said he wasn't looking to leave Blank Rome, but he got a call from Paul Hastings, and "that's how it happened."

Paul Hastings is looking to expand its global finance and restructuring practice because of the "uncertainty and volatility" facing clients today, firm chairman Seth Zachary said in a press release.

Grogan isn't the first restructuring hire for Paul Hastings this year. In February, the firm added former Los Angeles Winston & Strawn partner Justin Rawlins, who had been chairman of that firm's national restructuring practice, along with Philip Ratner in New York.

Grogan declined to identify clients, but according to recent bankruptcy filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, he represents creditor PNC Bank in the Pioneer Energy Services Corp. Chapter 11, and interested party Air Products and Chemicals in the McDermott International Chapter 11.

A spokesperson for Blank Rome provided this statement on Grogan's departure: "James is an outstanding individual and we wish him all the best in the future." She wrote that the firm maintains a restructuring practice in Houston, as part of the firm's practice serving clients across the country.

On Monday, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld hired Kirkland & Ellis debt finance and special situations lawyer Chad Nichols as a corporate partner in Houston.

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