Samantha Hale Crispin is a seasoned M&A lawyer and C-suite executive of the international law firm Baker Botts (with 11 offices and over $800 million in annual revenue), serving as global Chair of the Corporate Department and on the firm’s Executive Committee (or board of directors). She is a nationally recognized deal maker with over 25 years of experience advising executive teams and their boards of directors on value creation through transformative M&A and other strategic capital raising transactions.
Samantha serves as global Chair of the Corporate Department – one of five global department chair executives in the organization. She has direct responsibility for formulating and executing global strategy, operational oversight, and performance management for the Corporate Department. Direct key initiatives include pricing and profitability, practice and geographic expansion, talent compensation, acquisition and retention, succession planning, lawyer development and market positioning. In her role as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, she plays a key role in global strategy, long-term firmwide planning and firm governance. Samantha is known as a problem solver and brings a calm and solutions-oriented demeanor to high-stakes discussions, tactfully conveying complex ideas and building consensus among diverse stakeholders.
Samantha has spent the last 25 years negotiating hundreds of bet the company M&A deals and guiding clients through IPO and other transformational capital raising transactions with a particular focus on the Energy, Power and Infrastructure and TMT verticals. Among others, she has represented BKV Corporation in its IPO and several strategic growth transactions in upstream, power and energy transition; infrastructure-focused Arcosa and Fluor with capital markets-based capital raising and strategic M&A transactions; Atmos Energy with strategic initiatives; Liberty Media and related companies with capital-markets based capital raising and various strategic M&A transactions, in addition to a wide array of privately-held and PE-backed companies on such matters. As a result, she is well versed in financial statements, projections, valuation methodologies and bank financing arrangements. She regularly works with C-suite executives to provide creative solutions for achieving strategic growth goals while evaluating and mitigating associated risk. She understands how to focus on the things that matter and how to achieve consensus to get the deal done.
Samantha has deep experience in the board room, regularly representing publicly-traded corporate clients and their boards of directors when evaluating strategic and transformational transactions, controlling stockholder matters and complicated governance and disclosure matters. In particular, she has spent significant time guiding publicly-traded boards and independent committees through fiduciary duty, disclosure and litigation considerations in connection with complex and highly strategic related party matters. She is adept at navigating board/management dynamics and takes a broad, long-term perspective when analyzing challenges and opportunities, effectively guiding her clients toward impactful and sustainable decisions.
She also serves on the Board of Trustees of The University of Texas Law School Foundation, which manages the endowments and privately-sponsored funds that support The University of Texas School of Law. Currently at more than $250 million, The University of Texas School of Law endowment ranks as one of the largest law school endowments in America.
Samantha has been recognized as a “Top Women in Dealmaking” by The Deal, as one of “The Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth” by D CEO Dallas 500, as a “Stand-Out Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters and for Corporate/M&A in Texas by Chambers USA.
Samantha received her J.D. from The University of Texas and her B.A. from the University of Richmond with degrees in Economics and Political Science.