Polsinelli welcomes Dallas attorney John T. Duncan III as a shareholder in the firm’s strong national Real Estate Finance Practice. Duncan concentrates his practice on all aspects of commercial real estate finance and capital markets transactions involving commercial real estate assets located across the United States, with a particular emphasis on representing CMBS special servicers and other lenders in connection with restructuring complex commercial mortgage loans.

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Sidley Austin LLP announced today that eight lawyers will be joining the firm as partners in the Dallas office later this month. Six will be joining the firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice, and two will become members of Sidley’s Private Equity practice. The practices of the lawyers in this group are national in scope and focus on providing sophisticated services for leading corporations and private equity sponsors. The group is moving to Sidley from Weil, Gotshal & Manges and includes Yvette Ostolaza and Angela Fontana, both of whom co-chaired national practice groups at their prior firm. The additional new partners are Penny Reid, Vance Beagles, Angela Zambrano, Kelly Dybala, Yolanda Cornejo Garcia and Michelle Hartmann.

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Thomas F. Allen, Jr., has joined the Dallas Office of global law firm Jones Day as a partner in the Issues & Appeals Practice. Formerly a partner at Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P., he has extensive experience representing clients before the Supreme Court of Texas, intermediate Texas courts of appeals, and federal courts of appeals.

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Michael Saslaw, one of the leading corporate lawyers in Dallas, has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner.

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Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP advised Diamondback Energy, Inc. in its definitive agreement with IBEX Mineral Resources LLC and Beehive Partners LLC to purchase mineral interests underlying approximately 15,000 gross (12,500 net) acres in Midland County for approximately $440 million, subject to certain adjustments. The proposed transaction is expected to close by the end of September 2013, subject to completion of due diligence and satisfaction of closing conditions. Diamondback intends to finance the acquisition with debt and cash on hand.

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International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges is representing Houston-based oil and gas producer Apache Corporation in the sale of a 33 percent stake in its Egyptian oil and gas business to China’s Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (Sinopec). Apache’s Egyptian production in 2012 totaled an average of 100,000 barrels of oil and 354 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, while providing employment for about 9,000 people in Egypt, where the company has two decades of industry experience. In announcing the transaction on August 29, 2013, Apache pointed to the Sinopec deal as the first step in a global strategic partnership between the two companies to pursue joint upstream oil and gas projects. The deal is expected to close in Q4.

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New Orleans-based Phelps and Dunbar, a firm with a 150+ year history in the South, has expanded into Dallas.  The move continues the pattern of expansion the firm has established over the past 30 years and is the 11th office location.

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Phelps Dunbar LLP announces the opening of a new firm office in Dallas/Fort Worth on July 16, 2013, established with six attorneys formerly of long-standing Texas firm Cantey Hanger LLP.   This is Phelps Dunbar’s second location in Texas after Houston and 11th office overall.

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The law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP is pleased to announce the expansion of its Trial Practice Group. Patrick F. McManemin joins Thompson & Knight as a Partner, and J. Thomas Gilbert, Michael Tristan, and John P. Vacalis join as Counsel.

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Polsinelli welcomes experienced attorney Gemma L. Descoteaux to the firm’s Dallas office as a shareholder where she will concentrate her practice on corporate matters, including acquisitions, divestitures, strategic alliances and joint ventures, technology and outsourcing arrangements and other sophisticated commercial transactions in a wide variety of industries. Prior to joining Polsinelli, Descoteaux worked for several major technology firms, including Texas Instruments.

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