(DALLAS) Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced today that it has expanded its Corporate and Litigation practices with the arrival of five new attorneys in its Dallas office.
Greg Hidalgo is a partner in the Corporate practice. Barrett R. Howell and Brandon N. McCarthy are partners in the Litigation practice, while former federal Judge Jorge A. Solis joined as special counsel. Aaron P. Pinegar is special counsel in the firm's Transactional Tax Planning practice.
"Continuing to grow our Dallas office underscores our ongoing commitment to better serve our clients and meet their business needs in the North Texas region, an economic frontrunner," said Katten Chairman Roger P. Furey. "This new team brings a wealth of knowledge and deep ties to the Dallas business community that will help us continue to boost our profile in Texas and bolster our capabilities in handling a wide range of client matters."
Hidalgo is widely recognized for his experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate matters spanning multiple industries, from private equity and real estate to health care and energy. He uses his prior public financial experience with a Big Four accounting firm when working with clients to achieve their business and financial objectives.
Among other client representations, Hidalgo has represented a private equity-owned long-term acute care hospital system in its sale, a public hospice provider in its acquisition program and eventual $1 billion merger, a public commercial real estate services company in its $2.2 billion merger and a public diversified industrial company in its largest acquisition to date.
Howell focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense, specializing in investigating and litigating complex civil and criminal cases. He has extensive experience conducting internal investigations and defending companies and executives before federal and state agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He has advised clients in whistleblower lawsuits, government investigations and enforcement actions involving allegations of securities and health care fraud, bribery and corruption.
"With this new team of highly skilled attorneys and a well-regarded former federal judge, we are adding top talent that builds on the strength of our office," said Mark S. Solomon, Katten's Dallas managing partner. "Collectively, these exceptionally talented attorneys will help deepen Katten's relationships in Dallas and invigorate our office. We're all very excited to have them here."
McCarthy concentrates his practice on fraud and white collar crime, with strong capabilities and experience handling and defending allegations of health care and securities fraud, conspiracy, embezzlement, financial crimes and public corruption. He has considerable experience as a prosecutor for the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. As an assistant US attorney, he worked on investigations into white collar matters often in conjunction with the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies.
Judge Solis was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and served as a US District Judge for the Northern District of Texas for 25 years before retiring from the bench in 2016 as the district's chief judge.
During his tenure, he presided over several high-profile cases, including deciding that an at-large election system in Irving, Texas illegally diminished the voting power of Hispanic residents. In another matter, Judge Solis sentenced former NFL wide receiver Sam Hurd to prison for his role in a cocaine and marijuana distribution conspiracy and, in a separate case, sentenced five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development to prison after they were convicted on charges of providing financial support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Rounding out the new group in Dallas is Pinegar, who joined as special counsel in the Transactional Tax Planning practice. He has counseled clients with respect to federal income taxes on a wide variety of transactional and planning matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, spin-offs, debt and equity offerings, joint ventures and bankruptcies. These transactions include taxable and tax-free structures and range in size from $30 million to several billion. Pinegar has also counseled clients on a variety of state and local tax issues and has represented clients on a range of controversy matters before the IRS and state taxing authorities.
Hidalgo previously was a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. Howell and McCarthy were partners at Bracewell LLP. Pinegar formerly was a senior associate at Baker Botts LLP.
The latest expansion follows Katten's substantial investment in Texas with the opening of its Dallas office with seven partners in February. The firm also has offices in Houston and Austin.
