Finance lawyer Neal Bakare, who has worked in-house at Macquarie Bank Ltd for seven years, has returned to private practice, joining Foley Gardere in Houston.

He joined the firm as counsel in the finance practice group and is also part of the energy industry team. Bakare, who was senior vice president of legal risk management at Australia-based Macquarie Bank and was an associate with Vinson & Elkins before that, has done work for investment banks, private equity funds, limited partnerships, public and private companies, hedge providers, and oil and gas companies.