Cliff W. Vrielink will join Sidley Austin LLP as a partner in the recently opened Houston office. Prior to joining Sidley, Mr. Vrielink was a partner at Vinson & Elkins, where his practice focused on mergers, acquisitions and private equity.
“Cliff is one of the leading private equity lawyers for energy-related transactions and investments,” said Larry A. Barden, the member of Sidley’s Management Committee who is a liaison to the Houston office. “His substantial experience in representing private equity firms, energy-related companies, investment banks and other institutions in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and investments in all sectors of the energy industry will complement and enhance both our global energy and M&A practices.”
Mr. Vrielink has a broad range of experience in the energy industry. He has represented public and private clients in forming shale joint ventures as well as buying and selling oil and gas properties, power generation facilities, natural gas, crude oil and CO2 pipelines, refineries, gas storage assets, oilfield service companies and energy trading businesses. He also has significant experience outside the energy industry, including work in the steel, chemical, shipping and manufacturing industries.
“For nearly 150 years, Sidley has represented this nation’s leading corporations and financial institutions. Its worldwide reach and leading practices in the financial centers of the world set it apart from others in the energy industry,” Mr. Vrielink said. “I am excited to join such a great firm and its Houston partners to help expand Sidley’s presence in Houston and in the energy industry worldwide.”
Mr. Vrielink earned a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993 and a B.A. from the University of Texas’s Plan II honors program in 1990. He has been recognized in each ranking of Legal Media Group’s (Euromoney’s) “Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Energy and Natural Resource Lawyers” since 2007, has been recognized in M&A in the Legal 500 and has been selected as a “Texas Rising Star” by Texas Monthly.
In February, Sidley opened its 18th office in Houston, Texas, which represents a significant expansion of the firm’s service to energy-based clients. Since opening, the office has grown from an initial seven lawyers to 20 including the addition of Mr. Vrielink. The lawyers in Houston work closely with firm colleagues around the globe, including the energy regulatory and environmental practices in the Washington, D.C. office.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s premier full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 18 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. This year, Sidley celebrates 30 years in Asia. Repeating its performance in the inaugural 2010 survey, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2011/12 U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey. Sidley was also named the U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” in both Corporate Law and Securities Regulation in the 2011/12 survey (the first year of such designations). BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only three firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and as number one in three of those years.
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