Bracewell LLP is pleased to welcome the return of Dale D. Smith as a partner in the Houston office. Smith, who was previously at Bracewell from 2001-2011, joins from Locke Lord LLP.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dale back to the firm,” said Mark C. Evans, Bracewell managing partner. “We have one of the leading energy finance practices in the country, and Dale adds additional depth to our strong team of excellent partners and associates.”

“Dale is widely-regarded as an outstanding lawyer with tremendous experience in energy finance and midstream transactions,” said Gregory M. Bopp, head of Bracewell’s lateral recruiting committee and incoming managing partner. “I’m very pleased Dale is returning to Bracewell.”

Smith’s practice focuses on energy finance and upstream and midstream commercial transactions. His finance experience includes the representation of lenders and borrowers in all types of secured and unsecured credit transactions, including asset-based financings, acquisition and project financings, syndicated and structured financings, borrowing base facilities, letter of credit facilities, working capital facilities, workouts, restructurings, and DIP and bankruptcy exit financings. Smith has experience representing clients in the negotiation and drafting of commodity purchase agreements, gas gathering and processing agreements and crude gathering, transportation, interconnection and storage agreements.

Bracewell represents many of the world’s largest lending institutions, funds, financial sponsors and corporate borrowers on billions of dollars of finance transactions each year. Chambers USA 2016 recognizes Bracewell’s Band 1 rated bank and finance practice as the “the leading practice in Texas with a deep bench of talented banking and finance lawyers.”

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