Latham Named 2023 Texas Powerhouse
Latham & Watkins has been honored by Law360 as a 2023 Texas Powerhouse firm for guiding numerous complex and high-value transactions and major litigation wins for clients in the state.
“We are probably the first successful non-Texas firm to open in Texas and thrive,” Timothy Fenn, Managing Partner of Latham’s Houston Office, said in the interview with Law360.
The recognition comes as Latham continues to rapidly grow its capabilities in Texas, expanding by more than 20 percent in the state over the last year. Our Austin team has diversified, expanding its capabilities across the technology, life sciences, and emerging companies sectors, while in Houston the team has added strength in our private equity and project development and finance teams further fortifying our energy and infrastructure base.
“It all goes back to the core prospect of being there for the client and being able to offer world-class services from a local source.” Samer Zabaneh, Managing Partner of Latham’s Austin office, told Law360.
The published profile highlights a variety of transformative deals across industries led by Latham’s Lone Star team, including advising Magellan Midstream Partners in its US$18.8 billion merger with ONEOK, TXO Partners, L.P. in its IPO, and OpticalTel’s Investment by Antin Infrastructure Partners. Latham also worked with some of the state’s most exciting emerging companies, representing Atmosphere in its Series D funding at a US$1 billion valuation and SourceDay in its US$31 million Series C round.
Latham’s litigation prowess is also recognized as Texas-based teams led several high-profile wins in federal and state court, including a victory for Austin-based Oracle in a long-running copyright dispute against Hewlett Packard Enterprises, a successful defense of Oracle Chairman and cofounder Larry Ellison and CEO Safra Catz in a stockholder derivative suit challenging Oracle’s US$9.4 billion acquisition of NetSuite, and a granted permanent injunction against the US Department of the Navy after a Latham team pointed out flaws in its price evaluation scheme that led it to exclude SLS Federal Services from a US$5 billion global contingency construction contract.
Law360 noted Latham’s reputation for the scope and impact of the firm’s pro bono work, especially on behalf of voters’ rights in Texas. After learning of egregious voter intimidation and harassment in Beaumont at a polling place where 90 percent of the voters are Black, a rapid-response Latham team, together with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, prepared and filed a federal lawsuit and motion for temporary restraining order. After an evidentiary hearing beginning just hours before Election Day, the judge granted in critical part Latham’s request for a restraining order, issuing an emergency order prohibiting the harassing and intimidating behavior by election judges, clerks, workers, volunteers, and watchers at the polling location.
“For us, it's always about doing the most critical work in the most critical areas,” said Nick Dhesi, Deputy Managing Partner for Latham’s Houston office, in the interview with Law360. “Texas lends itself to both.”