Bracewell Elects Seven New Partners

HOUSTON, Jan. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bracewell LLP is pleased to announce the election of seven lawyers to the firm's partnership, effective January 1, 2019. Bracewell's 2019 partner class includes four women and three men from industry and practice groups across four offices. The newly elected partners are Molly E. Butkus, Lytch T. Gutmann, Stephen J. Hug, Steven J. Lorch, Joshua T. McNulty, Britt Cass Steckman and Staci M. Wilson.

"I'm excited to welcome this talented group to Bracewell's partnership," said Bracewell Managing Partner Gregory M. Bopp. "Each is an accomplished practitioner whose commitment to the legal profession, community involvement and client service represents the best of our firm's culture."

Meet Bracewell's 2019 Partner Class

Molly E. Butkus, Houston – Butkus represents clients in upstream oil and gas acquisitions, divestitures, exchanges, service agreements and other operational matters. She also advises on transactions in the water supply, disposal and infrastructure space, as well as transactions in the midstream energy sector. Butkus has played leading roles on transactions for longstanding firm clients, including Noble Energy, Sabalo Energy, Three Rivers, Waste Management and many of Denham Capital's portfolio companies. For the last five years, she has been a volunteer with the Houston Bar Association's Campaign for the Homeless Committee. In 2018, Thomson Reuters recognized Butkus as a Texas Superlawyer Rising Star. She received her J.D. with honors from The University of Texas School of Law and her B.A., also with honors, from the University of Kansas.

Lytch T. Gutmann, Houston – Gutmann focuses on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint venture formations and general corporate matters, most notably in the midstream and upstream sectors. She also handles private equity transactions and has a thorough understanding of the capitalization process for such transactions. Gutmann has served as lead counsel or co-lead on strategic transactions for Concho Resources, Denham Capital, Kinder Morgan, La Caisse, Plains All American Pipeline and Vopak. She has also represented special committees of the boards of directors of Tallgrass Energy, Western Refining and other master limited partnerships (MLPs). Gutmann serves on the Houston Associates Committee and helps organize the associates' annual rodeo event. She graduated cum laude from South Texas College of Law Houston and received a B.A. from Hollins University.

Stephen J. Hug, Washington, DC – Hug spent the first three years of his legal career in the Office of General Counsel at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He draws on this experience in representing clients before FERC in proceedings related to centralized energy and capacity markets, electric transmissions and interconnection matters, market-based rates, mergers and acquisitions, and other matters. Hug is a member of the board of directors of Gearin' Up Bicycles, a nonprofit located in Washington, DC focused on creating career development opportunities for under-served communities. Hug graduated cum laude with a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law, and cum laude with an L.L.B. from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Steven J. Lorch, New York – Lorch advises publicly held companies and private clients on the US tax aspects of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint venture formations and financings in the energy and infrastructure sectors. In 2018, he was part of the Bracewell teams that represented Apache in connection with Kayne Anderson's investment in Apache's Alpine High midstream assets through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC); Matlin in its SPAC acquisition of U.S. Well Services; and Advanced Power in its equity and debt financing of the South Field Energy project in Columbiana County, Ohio. He also maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes advising nonprofit organizations on issues related to their federal tax-exempt status. Lorch graduated summa cum laude from Sewanee: The University of the South, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa member, and cum laude from Rutgers School of Law, where he was the managing editor of the Rutgers Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

Joshua T. McNulty, Dallas – McNulty represents financial institutions on transactional, regulatory and corporate governance matters. He has extensive experience counseling financial institutions with respect to mergers and other business combinations. McNulty recently led the firm's representation of Allegiance Bancshares in the $358 million acquisition of Post Oak Bancshares — the largest Texas bank deal that closed in 2018. He also has significant experience advising clients on federal and state financial regulations, as well as interfacing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve, the Consumer Financial Project Bureau (CFPB) and various state financial regulatory bodies. IFLR1000 recognized McNulty as a 2018 Rising Star in Banking, and Thomson Reuters honored him as a Texas Superlawyer Rising Star in 2018. McNulty graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from the University of Arizona and cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Britt Cass Steckman, Washington, DC – Steckman is a trial lawyer who works on civil and white collar defense matters. She represents companies and individuals in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and other government investigations related to municipal securities/municipal advisor regulation, broker-dealer regulation, securities fraud, credit ratings, racketeering, and False Claims Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations. She also represents clients in all stages of civil litigation and arbitration. Steckman is a member of Bracewell's Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Thomson Reuters has recognized her as a Washington, DC Superlawyer Rising Star for the last three years (2016–2018). Steckman graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. from Georgetown University and cum laude with a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was an editor on the tax law journal.

Staci M. Wilson, Houston – Wilson represents clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters. Her practice includes work on cases involving claims for breach of contract, construction defects, all areas of intellectual property law, products liability and commercial torts. Wilson serves on the firm's Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She is active in the Houston Bar Association, where she currently co-chairs the Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession Committee and is a member of the AIDS Outreach Committee and the Teach Texas Committee. She also serves on the University of Houston Law School Young Alumni Committee. In 2018, Wilson was recognized by the University of Houston Law Center as a Rising Star. Wilson earned a B.S. with honors from Texas A&M University and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center.

About Bracewell LLP
Bracewell is a leading law and government relations firm primarily serving the energy, infrastructure, finance and technology sectors throughout the world. Our industry focus results in comprehensive state-of-the-art knowledge of the commercial, legal and governmental challenges faced by our clients and enables us to provide innovative solutions to facilitate transactions and resolve disputes.

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