New York-based White & Case, a firm with more than 2,000 lawyers and offices in 30 countries, has boosted its oil and gas practice by opening an office in Houston with lateral partners from big Texas firms.

The new office is led by partner James “Jay” Cuclis, who joined the firm on Feb. 8 from Vinson & Elkins. Other partners in the new office are Christopher Richardson and Charlie Ofner, who left Andrews Kurth Kenyon last week, and Saul Daniel, an England-qualified partner who formerly practiced in the firm’s offices in London and Abu Dhabi.