Houston Energy Litigator Enters 'Third Act' of Career With Move to Bradley

January 11, 2023

Stephen Fernelius, who started his career at Fulbright & Jaworski and spent 13 years at a trial firm he founded in 2010, has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as a partner in Houston.

Stephen Fernelius has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Houston as a partner in the energy practice group, a move the trial lawyer calls his “third act,” after 13 years at a trial boutique he founded and 19 years before that at a global firm.

“I really want to go try cases, represent clients,” said Fernelius, who started his career at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, now Norton Rose Fulbright, until he founded a trial boutique, most recently known as Fernelius Mace, in 2010.

The trial lawyer started looking for a new firm last summer, and after talking with “a lot of folks,” Fernelius said he was impressed with Bradley, because of the caliber of its trial lawyers and the Am Law 200 firm’s strategic plan to build its energy industry disputes practice.

Along with Fernelius’ hiring, the firm in late December also hired Baker Botts partner Meghan McElvy as a partner in the energy practice group in Houston. Fernelius joined Bradley on Jan. 1, but said he did not move into the office until Jan. 5, because of an office renovation.

Jeff Davis, a partner in Houston and co-chair of Bradley’s oil and gas law team, said in a press release that adding Fernelius on the heels of McElvy expands the firm’s capabilities across areas of the oil and gas industry including upstream, regulatory, international arbitration and downstream.

“Steve and Meghan have practices that complement strategic focal points for the firm, including energy and construction, and their practices will have an immediate impact on the trajectory of work being done for our clients,” Davis wrote.

Fernelius said his decision to look for a new challenge last year was spurred in part by a soon-to-expire office lease for Fernelius Mace. Over the last few months, Fernelius said, lawyers made decisions about where they wanted to continue their career, including Robert Mace, who hung up his own shingle, and Fernelius’ son Nick, who has joined a plaintiff’s firm.

Fernelius said the firm could have moved to a smaller space and stayed together, but he decided he was attracted to Bradley because he could focus on his practice instead of running a firm and use the large firm’s resources in marketing, associate talent and legal staff talent.

His clients are generally in the energy industry and include Exxon Mobil, Phillips66, BP Exploration and Patterson UTI.

He has no regrets about launching a trial boutique. At the time, his clients were happy he had flexibility in billing rates, something that he expects to continue to have at Bradley.

Rate flexibility was also a big selling point for McElvy, who said she looks forward to building an energy litigation team in Houston for Bradley. She does energy litigation and arbitration.

“It was a great opportunity for me, at this point in my career,” she said.

McElvy said her clients include JGE Gas Solutions, and she has also represented oil and gas clients including Shell, Chevron and Murphy Exploration & Production, along with utilities and power companies.

The move to Bradley gives McElvy rate flexibility, which she said is important for companies in the oil and gas sector.

“A lot of oil and gas work doesn’t scream New York partner rates. My perception is I will be in kind of a sweet spot for the kind of clients I want to service,” she said.

Although working in the Houston office, McElvy said she will work occasionally in the firm’s Birmingham, Alabama, office, because her husband has family in Alabama.

“That was just a unique thing that also made it a really nice opportunity for me,” she said.

Baker Botts did not immediately provide a comment on McElvy’s departure.