Mike Blankenship > Winston & Strawn LLP > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile

Winston & Strawn LLP has continued its prominence in SPAC IPOs and business combinations, advising a huge client base of SPACs and also advising on equity offerings for corporate issuers. New York-based David Sakowitz  leads the capital markets team, which includes Houston-based SPAC specialist Mike Blankenship. Jason Osborn is another key partner in New York. Carol Anne Huff has left the firm.

Fielding a ‘nimble’ transactional team that is ‘responsive to client needs’, Winston & Strawn LLP‘s team is ‘well integrated with every other major practice area required to conduct transactions in this space’. With expertise across conventional and renewable energy assets, the group regularly advises on M&A, joint bidding and ventures, financings and development work, with energy storage products increasingly becoming a key feature of the firm’s workload. Rich Shutran and Mike Pikiel helm the practice, with the former noted for the scale of his renewables and energy transition offering and the latter for his financing expertise. Jonathan Birenbaum is widely lauded by clients for his dealmaking capabilities, with the New York-based partner frequently engaged with a broad array of transaction structures and assets. Jason Lewis advises energy investors on M&A, project finance and project development matters. Managing partner for the firm’s Houston office Mike Blankenship also co-leads the team and is singled out for his securities and financing proficiency.

The renewable energy team at Winston & Strawn LLP is ‘well connected‘ and ‘very plugged into the sector‘, continuing to handle standout transactions from across the renewable and alternative energy sphere. A standout recent matter has seen the team representing MUFG investing in a battery energy storage project in California, which is among the first transactions taking advantage of the transferability provision in the Inflation Reduction Act. Rich Shutran (New York), Mike Blankenship (Houston), and Mike Pikiel (New York) jointly coordinate the department, with Shutran being the dedicated energy sector specialist. For renewable energy project finance, Laurae Rossi in Los Angeles is a key contact, as is more junior partner Hao Huang, who works closely with Rossi. Of counsels Danielle Young and Anne Gibbons add further depth in Los Angeles, while in New York, Jonathan Birenbaum is a senior figure with involvement in the renewables sector.

Winston & Strawn LLP continues to operate across the entire oil and gas value chain, where it notably advises a deep roster of midstream clients on a number of transactions and financing matters related to crude oil gathering, natural gas gathering and processing, and LNG projects. In the upstream space, the team is also consistently assisting with acquisitions and dispositions, joint development, exploration and participation agreements. The firm’s energy and infrastructure industry group is jointly spearheaded by corporate finance and securities law expert Mike Blankenship in Houston and New York-based Mike Pikiel and Rich Shutran. From Dallas, Rodney Moore and Larry Murphy regularly handle a range of M&A, joint venture, and financing transactions in both the traditional upstream and midstream sectors and in the evolving transitional energy space, areas in which Houston-based Chris Ferazzi is also well-versed. Isaac Griesbaum left the firm to move in-house in September 2023.

The Houston-based team at Winston & Strawn LLP continues to handle a wide range of cases, including breach of contract, class actions, and enforcement actions. The firm’s energy and infrastructure industry group is jointly led by Mike Pikiel and Rich Shutran, both based in New York, and Houston’s Mike Blankenship, while Denise Scofield chairs the firm’s litigation department, consistently representing energy clients in complex litigation, internal investigations and other commercial and environmental matters. Further key contacts within the team are oil and gas litigation expert Paula Hinton and Casey Berger, whose focus is on securities, antitrust, consumer fraud and class actions. Counsel Brandon Duke is noted for assisting oil and gas clients with a variety of transactional disputes, contractual indemnities, and industry standard compliance. All practitioners are based in Houston unless otherwise stated.

Winston & Strawn LLP has a fast-growing Latin America practice, primarily in New York and Miami, but with additional expertise in Houston. The team there is largely known for energy transactions and projects, along with disputes. The group represents a number of Latin American energy companies with Mike Blankenship noted for energy transactions across the Americas, as is Chris Ferazzi.  Paula Hinton is an experienced figure in oil and gas disputes, and Michael Murphy is another litigator with experience in Latin America cases.