Mayer Brown Poaches Another McGuireWoods Partner for Texas Surge

Mayer Brown said it has hired energy and M&A transactions lawyer Edmund Daniels from McGuireWoods as a partner in Houston, continuing its raid on the rival firm as it aims to rapidly expand in Texas.

Daniels arrives at Mayer Brown’s projects and infrastructure and global energy practice after the firm poached six partners from McGuireWoods, including former Houston managing partner Yasser Madriz to expand its energy practice in Texas.

Mayer Brown hired Yasser and his wife, Meghaan Madriz from McGuireWoods in March, along with Miles Indest, and Jason Huebinger to join the litigation and dispute resolution and corporate and securities practices in Houston. It also hired Gregory Krock and Wolfgang McGavran for the Washington, DC office.

Daniels joins his former colleagues at Mayer Brown, he said, because he was “driven by the opportunity to offer” the ability to connect his clients to the firm’s global finance and energy capabilities and “deep expertise” in projects and infrastructure transactions.

“I was particularly impressed with their plans to aggressively grow their footprint in Texas,” Daniels said.

Edmund Daniels

Mayer Brown

Daniels previously was a partner at Haynes Boone and corporate associate at Baker Botts, and held general counsel positions at Panda Power Funds, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and NRG Energy Inc.

Mayer Brown has 65 attorneys based in the US energy capital, including 23 partners, and expects to reach a total of 100-plus lawyers in the next few years, Houston managing partner Neil Wasserstrom said during an interview.

The firm plans to reach that milestone through elevating associates to partner and a lateral hiring strategy to build on its strongest global practices, including energy, projects and infrastructure, insurance, funds and asset management, big ticket disputes, capital markets, financial services, and M&A.

Specific Targets

“We are targeting specific partners who strategically align with our prioritization,” Wasserstrom said. “We are bringing to bear the resources of not just the Houston office but the firm in identifying and hiring these partners who are at other firms.”

Recruiting in Texas has proved “challenging” because not every targeted lateral is on the market, he said. But the firm aims to win over laterals “who may be complacent or unhappy in their current situation” by sharing their business strategy for the Lone Star State.

Mayer Brown created “accelerated growth groups, or AGs, and industry groups” a few years ago to bring together attorneys from their strongest practices around the globe to work together, Wasserstrom said. Hiring a partner in Houston means that person can work on Texas matters or may focus on working for the growth groups elsewhere.

“We may hire somebody who aligns with a growth group that may sit in Houston, but again, because our offices are irrelevant, maybe doing work for other offices or with other offices worldwide or certainly nationally,” he said.

The Houston office “core strengths” include finance, litigation, real estate and energy—which focuses on oil and gas, AI data centers, energy transition and renewables, along with a specialized critical minerals practice,Wasserstrom said.

The Houston office has represented Chevron Corp., EccoPetrol SA, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo & Co.

Houston has one of the most competitive legal markets in the US. Major homegrown firms including Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins have been fighting interlopers hiring energy lawyers to handle oil and gas legal work and the explosion of artificial intelligence data centers. Paul Weiss last week hired Akin Gump energy M&A partner Trent Bridges, the firm’s 10th hire since it launched the Houston office in February. Kirkland & Ellis poached eight lawyers from rival Latham & Watkins including energy dealmaker Chris Peponis in May.

McGuireWoods did not respond to a request for comment.

Among his notable work at McGuireWoods, Daniels advised large public power producers in connection with joint development agreements, real estate transactions, and power supply agreements with data center developers in Texas, Ohio, Maryland and Illinois in 2025 and 2026, he said, though declined to name the clients. He also represented NRG Energy in the sale of its 44% ownership interest in a nuclear facility known as South Texas Project Electric Generating Station to Constellation Energy Corp. for $1.75 billion in 2023.

Mayer Brown, founded in Chicago, opened its Houston office in 1982. The firm has about 1,900 global lawyers who earn $3.2 million in profits per partner, according to Bloomberg Law data. The firm recorded $2.17 billion in total revenue in 2025.