Orrick’s Houston Growth Spurt

This week, Orrick added yet another partner to its nascent but rapidly growing Houston office, which is now up to 42 attorneys having only opened in January.

Gabriel Salinas, joined from Mayer Brown as a partner in Orrick’s M&A and private equity practice and Latin America team. He represents clients in cross-border transactions as well as energy and infrastructure sector and is dual-licensed in the U.S. and Mexico.

In an interview, Orrick chairman Mitch Zuklie said he views Houston as a gateway to Latin America, especially Mexico.

“We’re bullish about Mexico,” Zuklie said.

The office was in the works for three years before the firm launched in January with 20 attorneys, he added. In 2015 alone, Zuklie said he made a dozen trips to Houston to help see the idea to fruition.

“Houston is a critically important market for a bunch of international players and we’ve seen in the first six months, there’s been a lot of work with our lawyers in Houston and our lawyers in other offices,” he said.

The firm has already represented clients for projects in Mexico including the first privately owned refined products pipeline in the country, a petrochemical plant and a wind farm.

Even though the vast majority of clients serviced out of its Houston office are energy companies, the firm also does intellectual property work and represents a number of municipalities, according to Zuklie. Its three focus areas as a firm are technology, energy and infrastructure and finance, he said.

In the coming months, the firm will move its Houston office to a new location. Orrick has no particular size goals in mind, but plans to continue growing with a near term growth focus on private equity, Zuklie said.