Corporate Partners Join Latham in Houston

Houston, May 21, 2012 - Latham & Watkins LLP is pleased to announce that Robin Fredrickson and Jeffrey Mun͂oz have joined the firm’s Houston office as partners in the Corporate Department. Together, they bring significant experience handling M&A, finance and related transactions in the oil and gas industry.   

Fredrickson’s practice focuses primarily on M&A and related transactions in the oil and gas industry, with an emphasis in acquisitions and divestitures of upstream and midstream energy assets, formation of joint ventures, partnerships, and limited liability companies. She also has extensive experience in oil and gas transactions outside of an M&A context, including drafting and negotiating exploration and development agreements, participation agreements, drilling program agreements and joint operating agreements.

Mun͂oz’s practice focuses primarily on M&A, finance and related transactions in the oil and gas industry. Like Fredrickson, Munoz handles upstream and midstream matters. In addition, he has significant experience in the formation of joint ventures and royalty trusts.

The addition of Fredrickson and Mun͂oz follows just under a month after another partner with significant oil and gas transactional experience, Michael King, joined the firm. The pair bring the Houston partner total to 16, further increasing capacity for a team that led more than US$7 billion in energy industry M&A transactions at the corporate level and nearly US$1billion at the asset level in March and April alone.

“Robin and Jeff are two of the top lawyers handling corporate and asset-level transactions in the marketplace, and I’m delighted to welcome them to the firm,” said Michael Dillard, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Houston.  “Robin and Jeff provide important depth to our group, with experience in upstream and midstream transactions that will be of incredible value to our team and our clients.”

Mike Darden, Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Oil & Gas Industry Group and a partner in the Houston office, said: “The addition of Robin and Jeff – as well as the addition of Michael King several weeks ago, substantially increases our capacity to serve clients on both domestic and international oil and gas transactions. Robin and Jeff are well known in the Houston legal community for good reason: their collective experience and expertise has been vital to clients and will continue to be so.”

“I’ve been impressed at the significant commitment that Latham & Watkins has demonstrated to the oil and gas industry.  In just two years, the Houston office has shown that it can lead the most complex transactions and handle the biggest strategic deals for clients across the energy value chain.  I’m confident that my clients and my practice will be well-served by joining this team,” said Fredrickson.

Mun͂oz added:  “In addition to its solid footing in the local market, Latham offers a global platform that oil and gas industry clients want and need.  I’m pleased at the opportunity to grow my practice and to work with colleagues in Houston and throughout the firm in a shared vision to build the leading energy industry practice.”

Fredrickson received her JD from the University of Houston Law Center in 1988 (Order of the Coif), where she was an editor of the Houston Law Review. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Texas San Antonio.  Mun͂oz received his JD from Stanford in 1993.  He earned his B.B.A. in Accounting magna cum laude in 1987 from The University of Texas.  Both Fredrickson and Mun͂oz join Latham from Vinson & Elkins.

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 Web site at www.lw.com.