Blank Rome announced that Cassandra G. Mott and Sarah H. Frazier have joined the firm’s Houston office as partners in its Finance, Restructuring, and Bankruptcy practice group. Cassandra and Sarah represent financial institutions, including commercial banks and non-bank lenders, as well as borrowers, in a variety of commercial transactions. They join Blank Rome from Holland & Knight LLP and were partners at Thompson & Knight before the two firms recently combined. At Thompson & Knight, Cassandra served as the firm’s Houston office leader and finance practice leader.
“We are thrilled to welcome Cassandra and Sarah to Blank Rome, notably as we continue to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Houston office this year,” said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s Managing Partner and CEO. “Cassandra and Sarah are proven leaders with stellar reputations in the Houston business community and beyond. Their addition to our Houston office not only affirms our commitment to this growing market, but also formally establishes our firm’s transactional practice in the region and significantly enhances our national capabilities on both the borrower and lender sides for our finance clients.”
Cassandra and Sarah counsel clients across a range of industries, including consumer products, oil and gas, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, transportation, retail, and more, for clients throughout the United States and around the world. Collectively, they represent borrowers, as well as financial institutions, private equity funds and their portfolio companies, and other credit providers in a variety of secured and unsecured transactions, such as oil and gas secured financings, acquisition financing, syndicated lending, the workout and restructuring of credit facilities, and note purchase and sale transactions. Cassandra also provides counsel on intercreditor matters, helping clients negotiate and structure deals with numerous lien priorities and debt trenches.
“Sarah and I are excited for the opportunity to work with Blank Rome to establish a robust finance practice in Texas, one that parallels the firm’s preeminent finance practices in other markets,” said Cassandra. “More importantly, we are thrilled to introduce our clients to all that Blank Rome has to offer, from a top-notch national finance practice to a thriving Houston office, to industry teams and practice areas across the country that are of keen interest to our clients, such as midstream, renewables, asset-based lending, middle market lending, and more.”
“We are excited to have Cassandra and Sarah join our leading national finance practice in Houston and expand our capabilities to service our clients throughout Texas,” said Lawrence F. Flick II, Partner and Chair of Blank Rome’s Financial Services industry group. “Their finance capabilities and notably deep experience in the oil and gas industry will provide tremendous value to our clients and growing finance and energy practices.”
“I look forward to joining Blank Rome, whose commitment to supporting women—and particularly women in finance—is so strong,” added Sarah. “The firm has a rich history of promoting and advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives, and is readily able to assemble diverse teams of attorneys to handle client matters, which is of incredible value to our clients. Paired with the depth and breadth of its nationally recognized finance practice, Blank Rome offers Cassandra and me a great platform on which to grow our practices.”
Beyond their practices, Cassandra and Sarah are dedicated to philanthropic initiatives in Houston. Cassandra serves on the board of directors for the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council, and Sarah serves on the board of directors for the Association for Corporate Growth (“ACG”) Houston and co-chairs the ACG Houston Women’s Forum. Furthermore, she is a member of The Children’s Fund, a local nonprofit dedicated to helping early stage charities fulfill their mission to provide critical services to disadvantaged children across the greater Houston area. Cassandra is also recognized in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America©, and Super Lawyers as a leading attorney in Banking and Finance Law, and was recently honored in The Deal as a “Top Woman in Dealmaking, Private Equity” and in the Houston Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business.”
Cassandra earned her J.D., with honors, from The Ohio State University, Order of the Coif, and her B.A., with high distinction, from Ohio Northern University. Sarah earned her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law and her B.S., with honors, from University of Texas at Austin.