The firm was founded on November 1, 1945, when J. S. Bracewell and his two sons, Searcy and Fentress, joined with Judge Bert H. Tunks to practice together in Houston under the name of Bracewell & Tunks. J. Searcy Bracewell Jr. was then elected to the Texas Senate in 1946, representing Harris County, and ultimately becoming the Majority Leader of the Senate. Fentress Bracewell led the development of the firm. Harry W. Patterson joined the firm in 1951, and was made name partner in 1966 as Bracewell & Patterson prospered from the commercial growth of Houston. National expansion began during the 1970s, followed by international expansion later. On March 31, 2005, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined the firm as a named partner, with the firm becoming known as Bracewell and Giuliani. Upon this he helped them establish a New York office. Subsequently, Bracewell recruited Mark E. Palmer, top restructuring lawyer Evan Flaschen, former federal prosecutor Marc L. Mukasey, former Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation Jeffrey Holmstead, and former U.S. Associate Attorney GeneralKevin J O'Connor. The firm would have some overlap in clients with the Giuliani Partners consulting operation, but otherwise be independent. For 2006, Giuliani received a $1 million base salary and a 7½ percent share of the profits realized by the New York office, which share amounted to $200,000. During Giuliani's presidential campaign for 2008, he remained a participating partner but did not do direct client or operational work. Giuliani subsequently returned to work for the firm, splitting time between it and his consulting company Giuliani Partners and focusing on overseas efforts. In January 2016, Giuliani left the firm by “amicable agreement,” and the firm was rebranded as Bracewell LLP. Many other noteworthy political figures have worked at the firm, including former U.S. Congressmen Jim Chapman, Edwin Bethune, and Henson Moore, as well as former Governor of Montana and Republican National Committee chair Marc Racicot, former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Ambassador to MexicoTony Garza, current Governor of TexasGreg Abbott, and Texas State RepresentativeMorgan Meyer.
Client base
Bracewell has for decades represented clients on government relations matters in Washington, D.C., and in Austin, Texas. The firm's clients have included major energy and natural resource concerns, from conventional energy sources to renewable energy such as solar power and wind power. In 2009, Bracewell's energy practice ranked as the largest in the U.S., according to Law360, with 117 dedicated energy attorneys. The firm has acted as counsel in high-profile energy transactions including Apache Corp.'s 2010 acquisition of BP assets in Texas, New Mexico, Canada and Egypt, and Kinder Morgan's 2011 IPO, the largest IPO in the energy industry in over a decade, and Kinder Morgan's 2014 consolidation of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, Kinder Morgan Management LLC and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, the $70 billion deal was the second largest energy deal when announced. The firm worked on behalf of geothermal interests in the most recent federal energy legislation. According to one source, because of its broad-based energy experience, "Bracewell has earned a reputation as one of the most powerful law firms in the energy sector." Bracewell lobbying tactics have variously been noted for bipartisanship and stressing substantive expertise over mere access. By the late 1990s Bracewell & Patterson was known as the largest recipient of oil-industry lobbying contracts. In March 2007 it was revealed that a lawyer at Bracewell & Giuliani was acting as a lobbyist on behalf of the Houston-based, Venezuelan state-owned petroleum companyCitgo before the Texas legislature, with the firm receiving $100,000 to $200,000 in billings after having registered to lobby for Citgo on April 26, 2005, less than a month after Giuliani joined the firm. Citgo had been the focus of boycott efforts due to the Socialist policies of President Hugo Chavez and allegations by the U.S. government that Venezuela had "not cooperated" in the War on Terror. Giuliani's presidential campaign said he did no lobbying for Citgo. As of May 2007, the firm no longer lobbied on behalf of Citgo. In 2007, the firm represented a Spanish firm, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a subsidiary of the Grupo Ferrovial, in its negotiations to operate a toll road as part of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. The Bracewell website states, "The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road."
