Tag Archives: energy

No Cool Down Seen in Hot Pennsylvania Energy Market

Posted on May 16, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Last October we reported on the growth of law firms in western Pennsylvania drawn to the area as the result of energy work in the Marcellus Shale.  A number of firms, including Fulbright & Jaworski and Texas energy boutique Burleson, opened offices in the area around Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh’s largest firms have also been growing their energy practices, as the expansion in this region shows no signs of letting up.  As Drew Singer wrote in February of this year in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Firms that already had oil and gas practices are making them bigger. Firms that didn’t have a practice are rushing to create one. Small firms and solo practitioners are also catching up, hoping to represent landowners as Big Law allies with the gas companies.

Recent “newcomer” activity includes:

  • On May 1, Charleston, West Virginia-based Jackson Kelly, acquired the Indiana, Pennsylvania law firm of Gormly Gormly & Yuhas which has represented clients in the oil and gas industry including those involved in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays.  The Gormly lawyers will relocate to the firm’s Pittsburgh office, which it opened in 2004.  In addition, Jackson Kelly announced that the firm will be opening a new office in Canton, Ohio in support of the firm’s growing energy practice and has plans to add another dozen or so lawyers in the Pittsburgh and Canton offices this quarter.
  • Marking Saul Ewing’s expansion into western Pennsylvania, the firm opened a new office in Pittsburgh on May 1 with four attorneys from the local office of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. Their practices include corporate finance, business counseling, tax and mergers and acquisitions.  Saul Ewing’s managing partner David S. Antzis said in an interview with The Legal Intelligencer, “We view the Pittsburgh market as, economically, one that’s been really picking up.”  He added that the energy industry and in particular the Marcellus Shale work has contributed to that growth.
  • San Francisco’s Gordon & Rees opened a new office in Pittsburgh in March staffed by seven litigators from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. The office initially will focus on commercial litigation, construction, health care and some ancillary practices.  While Marcellus play work was not a motivating factor for entering the western Pennsylvania market, the firm “hopes to eventually capitalize on the energy rush as well,” according to a recent article in the Pittsburgh Business Times.
  • Houston-based energy boutique Sadler Law opened an office in the Canonsburg area southwest of Pittsburgh in December of last year.  The firm specializes in representing energy companies in transactions, litigation and the preparation of oil and gas title opinions.

Pittsburgh’s largest firms, notes the Post-Gazette, are recruiting lawyers from across the country to grow their energy practices.  At K&L Gates, “the oil and gas team has expanded over the past five years from three or four lawyers to about 45” and at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, the firm “has added more than 20 lawyers to its oil and gas team in the past two years, said Sean Moran, co-chair of the firm’s Energy Section and Oil & Gas Practice Group.”

As all this activity makes abundantly clear, energy work continues to be a major driver of strategic direction at law firms.  Firms continue to see value in having a presence in the Pittsburgh regional area and are eager to seize opportunities to serve clients there.

Posted by Marianne Purzycki

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For Canadian M&A in 2012, Press Pause

Posted on January 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Law reporter Jeff Gray recently interviewed a number of Canada’s leading M&A lawyers to gauge the pulse of Canadian deal-making in 2012.  The pulse is not exactly pounding right now.  Uncertainty caused by the slow pace of the U.S. economic recovery and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is causing clients to take a “wait-and-see” approach.  While law firms indicate that they will be busy with deals this year, they also acknowledge that, like last year – which started out strong in the first half – the atmosphere can change rapidly.  

Interest in Canadian energy and natural resource assets remains strong, however, and Chinese companies in particular are still on the hunt for acquisitions.  Shlomi Feiner, of Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, interviewed for the article, felt that China would keep driving Canada’s M&A activity, but the pace could be slower than in the past few years.  Still, Feiner remains optimistic:

We have been busy but [there are] many different balls in the air between Europe, the U.S. recovery, what the Asian markets are doing, what the Asian economies are doing.  We’re obviously hopeful it will be a very busy year. But it’s hard to tell. As we’ve seen from last year, things can change very quickly.

Gray also notes that Chinese state-owned enterprises have become more assertive in recent years and are now looking to acquire whole (and often huge) companies, whereas in the past, Chinese buyers would have only sought minority stakes or small companies.  A good example is China’s Sinopec, which last fall agreed to buy Canadian oil and gas explorer Daylight Energy Ltd for US$2.1 billion, a deal that highlights China’s quest to secure the energy resources it needs to feed its booming economy.

Mining is another bright spot that is expected to be a strong source of deals. Neill May of Goodmans LLP reports that there is a “lot of talk in the business . . . about impending mining mergers.  Commodity prices are still relatively high and rising, giving the industry’s global titans big cash reserves.”

Yet, no one is expecting 2012 to be a banner year in M&A.  As Richard Clark at Stikeman Elliott LLP sees it, “I would say it’s going to be slow and steady, almost like the economy.  I’m certainly not expecting a boom year. … We’ll manage to do okay.”

Posted by Marianne Purzycki

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“Energized” in Western Pennsylvania

Posted on October 7, 2011 by | 3 Comments

It is not unusual for firms to take advantage of growth opportunities in a particular market by the opening of a branch office.  And while much news is often generated by office openings in major U.S. and international markets, occasionally there is a stand out local market that perhaps doesn’t garner as much as attention as it should.  A good example is the area southwest of Pittsburgh around Canonsburg, which is home to a growing number of firms drawn by energy work in the Marcellus Shale, an enormous natural gas reserve that lies beneath an area spanning from West Virginia through central and western Pennsylvania to southern New York.

As the focal point of the largest shale gas “play” in the United States, and with the advent of large-scale drilling in central and western Pennsylvania, a number of firms with a significant presence in the energy industry have opened offices in the region. From large global players like Fulbright & Jaworski to boutiques like Houston, Texas-based Burleson, firms are eager to take advantage of what has been called “this century’s gold rush.”

Recent examples include:

  • In September, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney opened an office in the Southpointe area of Canonsburg, to be closer to clients centrally located in the area.
  • Burleson, which has operated a Southpointe office since September 2009, now has 30 attorneys based there.
  • Fulbright & Jaworski opened a six-lawyer office in the Southpointe Energy Complex headed by partner Ken Komoroski, an expert in shale gas, in April 2011.
  • Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, in 2010, acquired the energy practice group of Culbertson, Weiss, Schetroma and Schug (based in Meadville, PA), and also opened a new office in Southpointe.

Recent developments in drilling technology have opened up considerable gas reserves that were previously unavailable to drillers, and with the United States keen on reducing its dependence on imported petroleum, it comes as no surprise that firms see opportunities to serve energy clients in the region.

Posted by Marianne Purzycki

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