Oil & Gas Partner Joins Latham in Houston

Houston, April 23, 2012 - Latham & Watkins LLP is pleased to announce that Michael R. King has joined the firm as a partner in the Corporate Department of the Houston office. King primarily represents oil and gas companies in upstream transactional matters, particularly in regard to acquisitions and divestitures of oil and gas properties, as well as farm-ins and other joint ventures, operating agreements and related agreements.  He also has extensive midstream experience, including transactions involving midstream joint ventures, gathering agreements, processing agreements and fractionation agreements. He joins from the Houston office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

The addition of King brings the partner total in Houston to 14 and the office attorney headcount to 52, reflecting the steady activity and growth in the firm’s energy industry practice since the Houston office was launched in early 2010 by several founding partners.

King’s experience includes representation of oil and gas companies in acquisitions, joint ventures and projects in the Eagle Ford, Marcellus, Barnett, Haynesville, Fayetteville and Utica Shales in the United States, and international projects in markets such as Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Indonesia and Peru.

Michael Dillard, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Houston, said: “We are excited to welcome Michael to Latham’s energy industry practice, where his broad oil and gas expertise bolsters the top-notch capabilities we are offering clients at every stage of the production cycle – from upstream to midstream and downstream.”

Mike Darden, Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Oil & Gas Industry Group and a partner in the Houston office, said: “Latham serves many of the world’s leading oil and gas exploration and production companies and oil field services companies, as well as leading private equity groups. Michael will help us ensure that these clients benefit from additional breadth and depth of experience and expertise.”

“I am enthused to be joining the dynamic oil and gas industry practice of Latham & Watkins.  I was particularly attracted by the firm’s global platform, which provides opportunities for me to grow my practice and support the firm and its clients,” said King.

King received a JD with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 2000, where he was a member of the Texas Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.  He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Baylor University in 1994.

About Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys in 31 offices, including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York, Orange County, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the firm’s Web site at www.lw.com.