Simpson Thacher & Bartlett will open an office in Houston in June or July, staffed by attorneys including Robert R. Rabalais, who will leave Vinson & Elkins to join the New York City-based firm. Rabalais, a partner in V&E in Houston, says he expects to leave V&E later this month but declines further comment on his move. In a press release, Simpson Thacher says Rabalais will join as a partner in the banking and credit practice group. Energy work is fueling Simpson Thacher’s entree into Houston. “The time was right, given our increased client activity in that market, as well as our bullish prospects,” says David Lieberman, a Simpson Thacher partner in New York City who heads the firm’s energy and infrastructure practice group. “A number of our most significant clients have a presence on the ground in Houston,” he says. The firm has done work in Houston for financial institution and private equity clients including JPMorgan Chase, The Blackstone Group, GSO Capital Partners, First Reserve Corp. and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., he says. The Houston office will open with eight to 10 lawyers; Lieberman says some will be lateral hires, such as Rabalais, and others will transfer from within the firm. He says he will head the Houston office from Houston and New York City. Additionally, partners William Curbow, Wilson Neely, Gary Sellers and Andrew Smith will split time between NYC and Houston. In addition to New York, Simpson Thacher has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Joseph Dilg, managing partner of V&E, says the firm wishes Rabalais well on his pending move to Simpson Thacher. “He’s been part of a very strong and deep energy and finance team,” Dilg says. “The team remains strong.”
Biking for Dollars
Plaintiffs lawyer Steve Susman , a partner in Susman Godfrey in Houston and New York, says he was chagrined when he realized he was supposed to be raising money for last weekend’s BP MS 150 ride and had only contributed his own $350 donation. Susman and about 12,000 other riders planned to bicycle 180 miles, starting in Houston on April 16 and ending in Austin on April 17 (after Texas Lawyer’s presstime) to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. An image of athermometer on the event’s website depicts how much money each team and each individual has raised for MS, Susman says adding, “it was embarrassing.” So he sent an e-mail on April 12 to his clients in Houston and New York, encouraging them to make small donations to MS in honor of the firm’s team, Swift Justice. “Within three hours I was, like, cooking,” he says. By 5 p.m. on April 14, Susman was listed on the BP MS 150 website as one of the event’s largest individual fundraisers with $10,678 in donations. Susman says he trained for the event for the past six weeks in New York City. “I’ve been riding around Central Park, riding over the Brooklyn Bridge and around Prospect Park,” he says. This is his second year riding in the fundraiser. “If you’re in fairly good shape, what you’re really training for is your rear end,” he says. “You have to make sure you can sit for six hours on something the size of a fist.” Susman Godfrey team captain J. Hoke “Trey” Peacock , a partner in Houston, says the team’s goal is to raise $60,000. By 5 p.m. April 14, the team had raised $56,579, according to the MS 150 website. The 38 team members include 20 firm lawyers, staff and family members, he says. Peacock says Swift Justice might have had the widest age range of team riders, with Steve, who is 70, and Peacock’s son, Jake, who is 15. “We have a 55-year age span on our team,” he says.
