Four Vinson & Elkins Attorneys Receive 2022 Texas Legal Awards

Morgan, a partner in Vinson & Elkins’ Houston office, co-heads the firm’s mergers & acquisitions and capital markets practice group and is a member of the firm’s partnership admissions committee.  She is an experienced securities lawyer who focuses on capital-raising transactions for clients in the energy industry and other sectors. Morgan represents public companies, private companies, investment banks, management teams and private equity in all forms of capital-raising transactions, including IPOs, registered offerings of debt and equity securities, private placements of debt and equity securities, preferred equity investments, at-the-market continuous offering programs (ATMs), tender offers, exchange offers and private debt exchanges.

She was recently selected to the “25 Influential Women in Energy” list by Oil & Gas Investor and has been referred to by clients as a “fierce advocate for her clients.”

Morgan is among 10 Texas attorneys named in the category, which honors deal-makers who achieve their clients’ goals and ensure both sides sign on the dotted lines.

Dobbins, a partner and member of the firm’s environmental & natural resources practice group in Houston, focuses on complex regulatory counseling, remedial issues, environmental litigation, navigating the energy transition and environmental transactional matters. Dobbins both defends and pursues environmental indemnification claims on behalf of clients, and also has experience responding to industrial incidents. In addition, Dobbins has extensive experience advising clients on the resolution of environmental liabilities identified in the course of transactions, having successfully negotiated the environmental terms of hundreds of transactions over the past decade.

Serving as a deputy practice group leader in the firm’s energy transactions and projects practice group in the Houston office, Patterson focuses exclusively in the energy and infrastructure industries across a broad spectrum of sectors, including upstream and midstream oil and gas and renewable power. In particular, she represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures and project development transactions.

Smith is a commercial litigator in the firm’s Houston office who focuses on business, petrochemical and energy disputes. He represents clients in a wide array of disputes, including complex contract disputes, shareholder disputes, disputes arising out of fiduciary duties, property tax valuations, and condemnation actions. Smith is a versatile advocate, having represented clients in various forums: state court, federal court, domestic arbitration, and international arbitration.

Most recently, Smith was part of a team of Vinson & Elkins trial attorneys who secured an approximately $94 million jury verdict for Huntsman Corporation, a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals, in connection with Huntsman’s long-running court battle against Praxair/Linde.

Dobbins, Patterson and Smith are among 27 Texas attorneys recognized as “On the Rise,” which honors lawyers under the age of 40 who have wielded influence in their practice areas in Texas and beyond.