K&L Gates Boosts Power Practice with Two-Lawyer Houston Addition

Houston - The Houston office of global law firm K&L Gates LLP welcomes partner Robert H. George and counsel Edmundo de la Fuente to its power practice. Both lawyers join K&L Gates from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, where George served as the Houston office’s managing partner.

George has more than 20 years of experience as a corporate transactional lawyer, focusing his U.S. and cross-border practice on the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects, trading of financial products and energy commodities, and mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and structured finance, including prepayments and securitizations of financial and other income generating assets. This also includes experience in structuring and negotiating cross-border projects and transactions in emerging markets, particularly on large projects in Mexico, South America, and Central America.

With more than a dozen years of experience as a corporate, real estate, and project development lawyer, de la Fuente also concentrates his practice on domestic and cross-border transactions, including energy mergers and acquisitions, financings, and joint ventures, as well as general corporate transactions and corporate governance. He has represented energy sector clients in direct negotiations with project development and project financing in the United States and throughout Latin America.

“With Robert’s and Edmundo’s addition, our Houston office and our national and global energy practices take great steps forward,” said Michael T. Murphy, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Houston office. “We are happy that they have made K&L Gates their new home.”

K&L Gates’ power practice is one of four practice groups — along with oil, gas & resources; construction & infrastructure; and maritime — that make up the firm’s globally integrated, more than 400-lawyer strong energy, infrastructure and resources practice area. The power practice comprises more than 130 lawyers across the firm’s global platform who advise clients in electric utility and renewable energy projects and businesses around the world, including on national and international utility-scale energy storage transactions, corporate energy sourcing projects, joint ventures, debt and equity offerings, project development, project finance, and more.

“We are excited to add these two high-caliber energy transaction lawyers to our Houston office,” stated David Benson, a global leader for the firm’s energy, infrastructure and resources practice area. “Robert and Edmundo strengthen K&L Gates’ growing Texas and energy transactions practice and are a significant addition to our expanding power and other energy and infrastructure projects capability based in Texas. We look forward to them building their practices and integrating into the firm’s platform.”

The arrival of George and de la Fuente is the latest in a series of lawyer additions — more than 20 — across the firm’s energy, infrastructure and resources practice area over the past year. These additions have spanned the firm’s integrated platform, with the new lawyers adding to the firm’s existing strengths in Texas, Washington, D.C., New York, Seoul, Taiwan, Melbourne, Milan, and London. They join a formidable and growing team in these and other jurisdictions across the globe.