Mayer Brown Hires Six Partners From McGuireWoods for Houston, DC

Mayer Brown said it hired six partners from McGuireWoods, including former Houston managing partner Yasser Madriz, to strengthen its energy practice in Texas.

Madriz, a trial lawyer with clients in the US and Latin America, will join Mayer Brown’s litigation and dispute resolution practice in Houston. He leaves McGuireWoods after nearly eight years with the firm.

Mayer Brown is also adding Houston attorneys Meghaan Madriz, who is married to Yasser, Miles Indest, and Jason Huebinger to join the litigation and dispute resolution and corporate and securities practices in Houston. It also tapped Gregory Krock and Wolfgang McGavran for the Washington, DC office.

Big Law firms have been on hiring sprees in Houston. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Steptoe LLC, and White & Case have recently hired energy partners in the nation’s fourth largest city. Paul Weiss and Sullivan & Cromwell last month announced they would open offices there.

McGuireWoods said in a statement it was grateful for the lawyers’ contributions in their time at the firm “and we wish them well.”

The Texas lateral hiring market has also been active. Paul Weiss, Sullivan & Cromwell and Latham & Watkins have poached partners from Kirkland & Ellis to launches offices statewide. King & Spalding nabbed 12 litigation partners this year from Winston & Strawn, with most of the hires going to Dallas.

“To have a platform that has the international reach of Mayer Brown and one that recognizes the importance of Texas is unique,” Yasser Madriz said in an interview. “Mayer Brown has been in Houston for four decades, and they want to have a long-standing commitment to Texas, which we found very appealing.”

Yasser Madriz

The Mayer Brown additions reflect “the firm’s continued investment in Texas and strengthens our ability to serve clients across a wide range of industries and matters,” Neil Wasserstrom, the managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Houston office, said in a statement.

Mayer Brown, founded in Chicago, opened its Houston office in 1982, becoming one of the first non-Texas firms to move into the competitive market already bustling with homegrown energy firms such as Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins. The firm said it has 64 attorneys in Houston, including 24 partners.