Office Overview
The Austin office of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. opened in 1979 with two lawyers. Since then it has expanded to over 90 lawyers. The Austin office's primary areas of practice are administrative and environmental law, appellate, business transactions, health care, intellectual property, labor and employment, legislative affairs, litigation, public finance and taxation. The firm places a high priority on finding creative ways to service our clients, so we are continually expanding our practice in new directions. Administrative and Environmental Law Practice V&E;'s Administrative and Environmental Law Group represents clients in legal matters that relate to the regulation of business activities by administrative governmental agencies. The firm has an extensive environmental practice with pervasive federal and state administrative law components. In addition, V&E;'s AEL Group represents a varied clientele of businesses subject to ongoing governmental regulation, such as insurance, health care and managed care; telecommunications; public utilities; natural gas and oil production, storage and transmission; and motor vehicle sales and franchising. The firm also advises and assists clients whose activities trigger various regulatory requirements, including professional licensure and standards; safety and disability access codes; and advertising and trade practice regulation. V&E; administrative and environmental lawyers participate in the full panoply of activities in and growing out of government regulation: rulemaking; ratemaking; regulatory investigations, enforcement actions and contested cases; judicial challenges of administrative decisions and acts, and judicial declarations on the validity and application of agency rules; licensing and permitting; mergers and corporate restructuring; protection of trade secrets and confidential information provided to regulators; and legislative initiatives. Appellate Members of our practice handle appeals in cases tried by V&E; lawyers as well as appeals in cases tried by other law firms. Where firm lawyers are trial counsel, the Appellate Section is involved in preparing dispositive motions and in preparing objections to the trial court's charge to the jury. After a verdict has been returned, lawyers within the Section prepare post-verdict motions, review the trial record, analyze and research legal issues, prepare appellate briefs, present oral arguments and prepare post-argument motions. Appellate Section lawyers are involved in all aspects of state and federal appellate practice, including the preparation of amicus briefs and the filing of specialized appellate proceedings such as petitions for writs of mandamus. In addition, lawyers in the Section are available to consult with other lawyers in the firm concerning subjects that require special appellate expertise. Business Transactions Our Austin Business and Transactional Practice is focused on technology companies and technology-driven transactions, although we also work with clients in various other lines of business. The types of matters we handle include domestic and international mergers, acquisitions and dispositions; the formation and advising of corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies; public and private offerings of equity and debt securities on behalf of issuers, underwriters and institutional purchasers; securities and commodities law compliance issues; private equity funds and investments; structured finance transactions; and regulatory and antitrust counseling. Our lawyers also advise clients in technology acquisition; licensing; joint marketing; distribution, consulting, systems integration and outsourcing contracts; and real estate transactions. ERISA Our ERISA practice provides a depth and variety of legal experience in all facets of employee benefits and executive compensation. Our ERISA lawyers are regularly involved in designing, drafting, amending and day-to-day administration of qualified plans (for example, 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, ESOPs, defined benefit pension plans and cash balance plans); nonqualified deferred compensation plans; incentive, retention, SERPs and other executive compensation plans or agreements; tax sheltered annuity plans; stock option plans; welfare plans (for example, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment plans); and severance and parachute agreements. We have extensive experience in all employee benefit aspects of corporate acquisitions, mergers and divestitures, including negotiating employee benefits provisions in sales/purchase/merger agreements and handling post-closing plan terminations and mergers. Our lawyers regularly represent clients in controversies with the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor involving compliance issues under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, our ERISA practice has included extensive participation in defending our clients in ERISA litigation involving fiduciary liability issues, prohibited transaction issues and benefit denial issues, with a particular focus on ERISA preemption of state statutes and common law causes of action. We regularly advise clients on institutional investing, including, for example, representation of pension funds in the investment of pension assets in venture capital operating companies and real estate operating companies. Our client representation is broad and includes publicly traded and privately held corporations, for-profit and tax-exempt employers and public and private sector employers. Health Care Lawyers in our Health Industry Group have extensive experience in the organization and development of managed care entities, medical group practices and physician-hospital joint venture arrangements that involve for-profit, non-profit and governmental entities. They routinely represent health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, self-funded employers, health care provider networks, hospitals and medical groups in managed care transactions. Our lawyers monitor proposed legislation and regulations affecting the health care industry, draft comments and participate in related public hearings. Currently, they are devoting a substantial portion of their practice to the following areas of managed care law influencing the health care industry: Managed care contracting arrangements and legal compliance issues Integrated delivery systems, including provider-sponsored organizations Medicare+Choice Managed Medicaid Risk management related to managed care liability issues State and federal regulation of physician incentive plans Physician practice acquisitions and employment agreements
In addition, our lawyers frequently speak on risk contracting, liability and health care quality issues, as well as serve on the faculty for legal conferences and continuing education programs. Intellectual Property and Technical Litigation We represent corporate clients in a wide range of intellectual property matters spanning a variety of technologies. Our practice includes representing clients in complex patent litigations in federal court; prosecuting patent and trademark applications in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; and counseling clients regarding their intellectual property rights. We also handle trade secret, trademark and copyright litigations. Representative matters include complex patent litigation regarding patents covering chemical formulations, litigation involving misappropriation of trade secrets, prosecution of patents covering pharmaceutical compounds and counseling clients regarding their rights to such diverse technologies as medical devices, engine technologies and trade secret industrial chemical formulations. The Intellectual Property and Technical Litigation Section is supported by Tim Corder, a registered patent agent. Labor and Employment We counsel public-sector and private employers on understanding and following anti-discrimination laws and on other employer/employee and management/labor issues. Our lawyers help clients resolve employment disputes through litigation and alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. Litigated matters have included EEOC actions; cases asserting discrimination on the basis of age, race, sex (including sexual harassment) and national origin; claims challenging the employment-at-will doctrine; retaliatory discharge claims; common law claims; public-sector civil rights; and breach of contract claims. Legislative Practice The firm has a long history of interest, active participation and involvement in the state political and legislative arenas. The legislative practice includes representation of a wide variety of clients before the Texas legislature and state agencies. Joe Bill Watkins, the head of the group, has assisted clients in matters involving numerous issues, including securities; tort reform; telecommunications; public school textbooks; health issues, including charity care and health maintenance organizations; railroads; state and local taxation; professional sports facilities; and lawyer mediation. Litigation We handle a wide range of civil litigation matters in both the federal and state courts. Our lawyers represent clients in a wide array of industries, including communications and telecommunications companies, health care entities, financial institutions, food service companies, universities, real estate brokerage firms, construction corporations, investment firms, insurance companies, engineering firms, drug wholesalers, a national publisher, an automobile manufacturing corporation, several hotels, a supermarket chain, oil and gas companies and a national cable television multisystem operator. We have handled cases involving antitrust disputes, including conspiracies to restrain trade, price-fixing and challenges to distribution practices. In addition, our lawyers have experience in counseling clients on antitrust issues and helping clients to understand the potential antitrust ramifications of proposed business, marketing or distribution practices. We also handle the full range of contract disputes, including those involving related business torts, such as fraud and tortious interference. In this regard, our lawyers also have experience in handling securities fraud matters. We have handled a wide array of claims of improper business practices, including suits brought under state consumer protection and deceptive trade practices acts. We have handled several cases involving constitutional issues, including both cases involving private individuals and cases involving the interplay of rights between governmental units. Our experience also includes architectural, engineering, medical, legal and other types of professional malpractice, as well as products liability and negligence claims. Public Finance Our public finance lawyers are involved in all aspects of public and private offerings of securities by state and local governments and by certain nonprofit institutions, such as hospitals and private universities. We represent numerous state agencies, cities, counties, school districts, housing agencies, river authorities and special utility districts in bond financing transactions. We consistently have been at the forefront of many creative, complex and innovative financing techniques and structures in our continuing effort to enable public bodies to take advantage of developing financing possibilities for all types of public infrastructure needs. We also represent entities responsible for the investment of public funds. Among our clients are the investment managers of a $12 billion portfolio of assets for a public university system, a $7 billion portfolio of assets belonging to a public pension system and a $600 million private equity investment trust. Taxation Our taxation lawyers handle a full range of federal and state tax matters. This experience includes, planning, controversy, administrative and legislative matters. We regularly handle federal contested proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service, the Tax Court and the Claims Court.
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