McGuireWoods Opens New Office in Dallas - the Firm's 3rd in Texas - With Arrival of New Partners

RICHMOND, Va., March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- McGuireWoods LLP is opening a new office in Dallas, expanding the international law firm's depth of services available in Texas and the southwestern United States.

The Dallas office joins McGuireWoods' Texas offices in Houston and Austin, strengthening the firm's strategic position in this critical U.S. market. Our new partners and additional lawyers who will soon arrive bring with them rich experience from longstanding private equity practices. They form a foundation in Dallas around which McGuireWoods will expand swiftly into other corporate and litigation areas.

The first partners to join McGuireWoods in Dallas from Patton Boggs LLP are Jon Finger, Akash Sethi, J. Kevin Boardman, David McLean, Darren W. Collins and Robert C. Hilton.

"We've wanted to be in Dallas for a long time," said McGuireWoods Chairman Richard Cullen in announcing the Dallas office opening Monday. "So we are delighted that this opportunity came along."

Tom Cabaniss, the firm's managing partner, said the Dallas office is expected to grow rapidly.

"The addition of this talented and entrepreneurial group is just the start of what we plan to accomplish in this important and vibrant region. McGuireWoods intends for the office to satisfy a full range of client needs, including debt and equity finance, intellectual property, litigation, fund formation, mergers and acquisitions and other general corporate services," Cabaniss said.

McLean, Boardman, Sethi and Finger have joined McGuireWoods' private equity teams.

"We are thrilled that this dynamic and energetic group of attorneys has decided to join us. Their reputation and experience in private equity, mezzanine finance, junior capital, fund formation, venture capital and regulatory matters will add to the depth and breadth of McGuireWoods' private equity practice. We are looking forward to working with them to service our clients," Geoff Cockrell, Chris Nesbit, and Robert Rakison, the co-chairs of the firm's private equity industry team, said in a joint statement.

"Texas is important nationally and internationally. Dallas is a critical market for corporate finance and private equity in Texas. This substantially enhances McGuireWoods' finance, energy, private equity and other practice groups and industry teams," added Rakison, a partner in McGuireWoods' London office.

Collins and Hilton both concentrate their practices on intellectual property.

"We are very excited about Darren and Robert joining us. Not only will they expand and add depth for our practice, but they will be able to serve our clients nationwide and especially in Texas and the Southwest," said Brian Riopelle, chairman of McGuireWoods' Intellectual Property Litigation-Patents Department.

McGuireWoods LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 900 lawyers in 18 U.S. locations and European offices in London and Brussels. The firm opened its Houston and Austin offices in January 2011, the most recent additions to the McGuireWoods family before the Dallas office was established.

For more information, visit www.mcguirewoods.com.

Biographies of the new partners are available at: http://www.mcguirewoods.com/People.aspx

SOURCE McGuireWoods LLP