Jason Bennett has seen price shocks from Baker Botts offices around the globe, including from Moscow in 1998, when oil plunged to $10 a barrel.
Back then, when ailing companies saw bankruptcy as the only way out, there wasn’t much question they’d go to Bennett’s firm or other Texas born-and-raised partnerships to represent them.
In those days, Bennett’s firm and a handful of other Texas partnerships reigned supreme back home in Houston. This time, Big Law’s energy industry establishment is competing with national firms that weren’t in Houston during the last plunge. For what they may lack in long-term relationships, ...