Haynes Boone

Having arrived in 2016 Haynes Boone is a relatively new entrant to the London legal market, but nonetheless it has shown in short order that it has a lot to offer. From a practice area perspective, it combines its global pedigree in mining work (showing off its Texas roots) with London-specific expertise in both funds and capital markets. More broadly, it offers a unique combination of a high-growth environment with fairly manageable work-life balance. Let’s start on the practice area side of things. Like many Texas-based law firms, Haynes Boone established its reputation representing clients involved in the prosperous oil-fields of the Southern American states. Oil work specifically (and mining work more generally) from a legal perspective is challenging insofar as it pairs an intense regulatory environment with traditional project financing challenges. In essence, lawyers working in this area are tasked with ensuring projects of unimaginable scale and complexity are both squeaky clean from a compliance perspective, but also that they are viable enough to attract funding. Regarding the London office in particular the firm has leveraged this Texas-born energy DNA to dominate the specialized niche of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). A prime example of this is the work of Glenn Kassinger, a partner in the London office whose practice serves as a bridge between complex engineering procurement and high-stakes maritime finance. Kassinger has been instrumental in representing Golar LNG, a pioneer in the midstream LNG space, particularly regarding their groundbreaking Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) projects. Kassinger’s focus in supporting Golar (and other similar firms) has been in perfecting the documentation relating to operating these massive facilities as well as in extensive project ‘de-risking’ so as to appease lenders. However, the firm is keen to stress that they do more than just mining work. In respect of the London office, they have shown this to be true by branching outside of traditional firm specialties. The first way that the firm has done this is through a focus on fund finance spearheaded by heavyweights like Ellen McGinnis, who co-chairs the firm’s Fund Finance Practice Group. A true pioneer in the sector, McGinnis was instrumental in developing the legal frameworks for subscription credit facilities. She maintains great influence in the private equity funding space today. Working alongside her is Emily Fuller, a key partner in the London Finance Group, whose practice epitomises this modern, diversified approach. Fuller specialises in advising both lenders and private equity fund managers, with particularly important clients being Shikuma Capital and Barna Partners. Another emerging specialty for the London office is equity capital markets (especially AIM listings). Equity capital markets work is that which relates to getting businesses listed on stock exchanges, so as to raise funds. Over the past three years, the traditional view of UK capital markets has been negative, as there has been a general contraction in demand for listings from businesses. However, it seems that Haynes Boone has been one of the first firms to capitalize on a re-ignition of demand. Just as we have started to see some major UK listings, the firm has been involved in many of the news-grabbing headlines (including the dual-listing of Texas-based REIT Fermi). But headlines don’t even paint the full picture, as the firm was involved in 15 IPOs over the past year alone. How have they managed this? Well, the answer lies broadly in an opportunistic acquisition of four former Memery Crystal partners in 2025. This savvy move capitalised both on the financial struggles of their former firm, but also a general lack of interest in the market, given the perception that the IPO market was weak. In seeing past the cyclical noise, Haynes Boone may have struck a very fine bargain indeed. We have seen how Haynes Boone’s tripartite approach in London has built a fairly diversified, stable offering in less than a decade in the City, but practice development alone is only part of this story. Rather, the firm has prided itself on pairing rapid UK growth with a respectful and balanced culture when it comes to work-life balance. In particular, billable hours targets are (it is rumoured) somewhat flexible. Moreover, there is a potential for increased hybrid working allowances for fee-earners with families. This is somewhat unusual for a US firm in London, and particularly for one which has expanded so aggressively. But the results are being reaped in terms of employee satisfaction, as the firm enjoys a very low year-on-year turnover. Ultimately, if you are a junior interested in oil, gas, or mining generally and are seeking a respectful working culture, Haynes Boone could surprise you (in a good way!)