Michelle Earley is a Partner in the Austin office of Locke Lord LLP and a member of Locke Lord’s Executive Committee. She also serves on the Firm’s Diversity and Lateral Hire Committees. In her practice, she handles a wide range of corporate and securities matters for public and private companies, including master limited partnerships, with a strong focus on securities offerings and disclosures, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.
Michelle has extensive experience in representing issuers, underwriters and selling stockholders in registered public offerings, Rule 144A transactions as well as equity and debt private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions. She also advises management and boards of directors of companies in all types of industries on general corporate governance matters.
Michelle is an active member of the Austin community serving as General Counsel to the Austin Chamber of Commerce in 2017, and participating as a member in the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), the Junior League of Austin, the Austin Chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc., St. David’s Foundation Opportunity Grants, Austin Ed Fund Board, and Impact Austin, as well as a regular volunteer for Meals on Wheels.
She is a Leadership Austin Class of 2011 Alumni and 2016 AARO McBee Fellow. In 2016, she was selected to participate as a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow.
Representative Experience :
- Advised the Conflicts Committee of Spectra Energy Partners, LP (SEP) in the completed conversion of all of Enbridge Inc.’s incentive distriubtion rights (IDRs) and general partner economic interests in SEP into 172.5 million newly issued SEP common units.
- Represented regulated utility company in its $175 million private placement of its unsecured senior notes.
- Represented large offshore oil and gas operator in its $200 million public senior convertible notes offering
- Represented master limited partnership in its $200 million Rule 144A offering of senior notes
- Represented master limited partnership in its $200 million and $150 million private debt offering and subsequent exchange offer
- Represented various issuers in Rule 144A note offerings, exchange offers, high yield note offerings and other equity and debt offerings (registered and private)
- Represented a publicly traded industrial services company in its $335 million acquisition of a publicly traded industrial services company
- Represented a publicly traded software company in its $135 million acquisition of a company engaged in end-user experience and web application performance monitoring
- Represented a publicly traded distributor and contract manufacturer of specialized components in multiple acquisitions, dispositions and securities matters
Professional History :
- Partner, Locke Lord LLP
- Member, Firm Executive Committee
- Law clerk for the Honorable Thomas M. Reavley, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (1997 – 1998)
Professional Affiliations and Recognitions :
- Board of Directors, Adams Resources & Energy, Inc.
- Member, American Law Institute
- Member, State Bar of Texas
- Member, Austin Bar Association
- Member, Austin Area Research Organization (2018)
- Fellow, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (2016)
- Frank McBee Jr. Fellow, Austin Area Research Organization (2016)
- Leadership Austin Class of 2011
- Leadership Texas Alumnae Association
Education :
- J.D., Yale Law School, 1997
- B.A., summa cum laude, Texas A&M University, 1993
Admissions : Texas, 1997
Cost
Rate : $$$