Wheeler, a veteran transactional lawyer with a long list of major energy deals under his belt, made headlines last year when he jumped from Latham & Watkins to Kirkland & Ellis in Houston. 

He made even more headlines in 2018 leading some of the largest public energy deals of the year. He and his team advised Rowan Companies in its $12 billion combination with fellow  offshore drilling contractor Ensco in an all-stock, cross-border merger of equals transaction. It was the first of two public energy company deals Wheeler led in less than four weeks, with a combined value of $17.5 billion.