David Oelman > Vinson & Elkins LLP > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile
Vinson & Elkins LLP Offices

Texas Tower
845 Texas Avenue, Suite 4700
Houston, Texas 77002
United States
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David Oelman

Work Department
Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions
Position
Partner
Career
David Palmer Oelman co-heads V&E’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets practice group and he is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.
David is one of the country’s preeminent IPO practitioners, having worked on more IPOs in the last three decades than all but a small handful of lawyers practicing in the U.S. across all industries. He has worked with issuers and underwriters across a broad spectrum of industries. David continues to counsel clients after completing their IPOs, and is experienced in corporate governance matters, follow-on public offerings, private placements of equity and debt, mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and private equity investments. As David sees it, his three decade career has included three main components:
Midstream and Infrastructure
In the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, he advised on the initial public offerings of numerous midstream businesses, including for the predecessors of Kinder Morgan Inc., Energy Transfer, Plains All American Pipeline and dozens of others. This work has continued as midstream and other businesses have grown, including LNG and LNG-to-power companies.
Shale Revolution
Starting with his representation of Continental Resources on its IPO in 2007, David has been fortunate to represent a number of the pioneers of the “Shale Revolution” and over the past decade has worked with numerous upstream, downstream, and OFS businesses launched in its wake.
Energy Evolution
As David enters the next phase of his career, he looks forward to building energy evolution as traditional and renewable energy are combined most efficiently, and responsibly meet the world’s energy needs.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
Vinson & Elkins LLP continues to be a leader in energy, particularly upstream and midstream oil and gas, and infrastructure offerings, while remaining prominent in real estate and REITs, transportation and technology. The capital markets team is making a further impression in green bonds and sustainability-linked debt offerings. Given its strength in oil and gas, much of the firm’s capital markets team sits in Houston, with David Stone , David Oelman and Douglas McWilliams standing out, along with Sarah Morgan and Michael Telle .
United States > Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
Vinson & Elkins LLP is a leader in oil and gas equity offerings, along with issuances stemming from the broader energy sector, including energy transition. It has further expertise in financial services, manufacturing, real estate and REITS, telecoms, transport and technology, among other sectors. Along with a large portfolio of issuer clients, it frequently advises major investment banks as underwriters. It is also noted for representing private equity clients and their portfolio companies. It continues to see further growth in energy transition and renewables sector offerings. Douglas McWilliams and Sarah Morgan lead the capital markets team, which includes Ramey Layne , David Oelman and Mark Kelly. All named individuals are based in Houston.
Lawyer Rankings
- Capital markets: debt offerings United States > Finance
- Capital markets: equity offerings United States > Finance
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Government > Government relations
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Finance > Project finance
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Government > Government contracts
- Tax > International tax
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Industry focus > Sport
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Real estate > Land use/zoning
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism