WASHINGTON, D.C. and AUSTIN, TX, March 30, 2020 – Baker Botts L.L.P., a leading international law firm, has announced today that Elaine Walsh has been named Partner-in-Charge of the Washington, D.C. office, and Gavin Villareal has been named Partner-in-Charge of the Austin office.

Ms. Walsh is succeeding Paul Cuomo, and Mr. Villareal is succeeding Mollie Duckworth. Mr. Cuomo, a partner in the Antitrust Department, Ms. Duckworth, Deputy Chair of the Corporate Department, and Christa Brown-Sanford, Deputy Chair of the Intellectual Property Department, have each been elected to the firm’s Executive Committee.

“I am delighted that Elaine and Gavin have agreed to assume these important leadership roles in these key markets,” said John Martin, Managing Partner of Baker Botts. “Both Elaine and Gavin have proven themselves to be tremendous leaders who are highly respected by their peers and care deeply about the communities they serve. They are ideally suited to help us maintain the momentum we have achieved in Washington and Austin.”

Ms. Walsh is the Global Projects Department Chair for the New York and Washington offices and the Firmwide Chair for Baker Botts’ Power and Renewables Practice. She counsels power producers, utilities, wholesale and retail marketers, and private equity and institutional investors regarding acquisitions, generation, infrastructure, and clean energy project development, and energy trading and marketing transactions. Ms. Walsh is ranked in Band 1 in both Chambers Global and Chambers USA.

Mr. Villareal serves as the Litigation Chair of the Austin office and represents clients in a wide variety of complex business-related disputes in state and federal trial and appellate courts, as well as before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. In 2019, he won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court victory as lead counsel in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media. He has held leadership positions in numerous professional and community organizations, including the ABA, Austin Bar Foundation, and the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin.  He currently serves on the board of directors for Austin PBS and is a member of the President’s Council of Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

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