John Klauberg (from left), Charles Vandenburgh and Michael Espinoza of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (Courtesy photos)Morgan Lewis Grabs Utility Deals Group, Including Practice Leader, From Bracewell
Three lawyers, including two partners in New York with decades of experience, are leaving the Texas-based firm.
April 05, 2019 at 11:24 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
A trio of Bracewell partners who work on utility-industry deals, including the co-chair of the firm's power projects practice, have moved to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the new firm announced this week.
John Klauberg and Michael Espinoza join Morgan Lewis in New York, and Charles Vanderburgh joined the firm's office in Hartford, Connecticut, after seven years at Bracewell, where they worked with energy clients on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other transactions. All three attorneys came to Bracewell from Dewey & LeBoeuf in May 2012, as the New York firm was collapsing.
Klauberg, who led the power projects practice group along with Jessica Adkins in Houston, and Vandenburgh are longtime practitioners in the energy deals space who go back decades at Dewey and a predecessor firm, LeBoeuf Lamb, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Espinoza made partner at Bracewell in early 2016 and has worked with Klauberg and Vandenburgh on several deals, according to announcements on their former firm's website.
All come to Morgan Lewis as partners. The firm said “several” associates are anticipated to join the move in New York.
The trio were among the lawyers who advised Great Plains Energy in its $12 billion acquisition of Westar Energy in 2016 and the 2014 sale by Duke Energy of its Midwestern merchant power generation business to Dynergy for $2.8 billion.
The same year, the three attorneys advised Integrys Energy Group on the sale of a Michigan utility to a U.K. investment fund for $298 million. Klauberg also helped Integrys sell 50 solar power projects to TerraForm Power, according to Bracewell's website.
Additionally, Klauberg has represented Puget Sound Energy in several deals to acquire fossil fuel and wind generation sites, and he has worked on deals for Direct Energy Services and Basalt Infrastructure Partners, the Bracewell website says.
The moves come on the heels of departures by other Bracewell partners for Mayer Brown. Fritz Lark, an M&A partner and another Dewey alum, moved on in February; Elena Rubinov, a securities and corporate partner, joined Mayer Brown in March. The pace of departures is still nowhere near the losses of laterals that Bracewell saw around 2015 and 2016, when some 60 partners left, according to the ALM Legal Compass.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Judge Rejects Exxon Mobil's Challenge to $725M Benzene Verdict, Adds $91M in Delay Damages
3 minute read
Exxon Mobil Claims Juror's Online Posts Show Bias Behind $725M Benzene Verdict
4 minute read
ExxonMobil Argues Co-Defendant's Settlement Barred Claims That Yielded $725M Benzene Verdict
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Solana Labs Co-Founder Allegedly Pocketed Ex-Wife’s ‘Millions of Dollars’ of Crypto Gains
- 2What We Heard From Litigation Leaders This Year
- 3What's Next For Johnson & Johnson's Talcum Powder Litigation?
- 4The Legal's Top 5 Pennsylvania Verdicts of 2024
- 5Civility Underscores the Memory of Our Late Gov. Rell
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
