Cindy Matherne
Muller

Position: Partner
Office: Houston

Cindy Matherne Muller is a partner in the Maritime Practice Group and head of the firm’s Houston office. She represents multinational engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors; private equity portfolio companies; and industry stakeholders across the energy, maritime, and construction sectors, advising on capital projects, commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, and restructuring matters.

Before joining Jones Walker, Cindy spent more than a decade as in-house counsel in the offshore energy sector, serving as senior legal counsel at Horizon Offshore Inc. (2004–2007), vice president, legal and assistant general counsel at Cal Dive International Inc. (2007–2014), general counsel at Energy Maintenance Services (2014–2016), and general counsel and chief compliance officer at GulfMark Offshore Inc. (2016–2017). During this time, she negotiated more than 100 engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contracts, overseeing offshore pipeline construction, platform and topside installation, and engineering, procurement, and installation projects across North America, Latin America, West Africa, the Caribbean, and the Asia-Pacific region — totaling more than $3 billion in contract value.

Since joining Jones Walker in 2018, Cindy has advised leading oil majors, pipeline operators, and national energy companies on major capital projects, and has led numerous negotiations for offshore pipeline and facility construction agreements. She has extensive experience drafting and negotiating EPC, EPCI, and engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) agreements for various energy infrastructure projects, including offshore wind, liquefied natural gas, and compressed natural gas facilities, and horizontal directional drilling installations for oil and gas, utilities, and fiber optic cables. Her maritime transactional and regulatory proficiency includes Jones Act compliance and coastwise trade regulations, charter party negotiations and contracts of affreightment, and offshore construction and decommissioning agreements.

Cindy serves as co-chair of Jones Walker’s offshore wind initiative and actively contributes to the firm’s Construction; Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources; and Maritime industry teams.

Noteworthy

Experience

Served as outside general counsel to a private equity-backed startup wind turbine installation vessel owner and EPC contractor, providing: (1) corporate advices, including corporate formation and equity investment; (2) finance advices (including Maritime Administration Title XI financing); (3) federal government relations advices and lobbying; and (4) contract and supplier advices for a suite of contracts for a new offshore business, including shipyard, subcontractor, and supplier agreements and customer contracts.
Acted as project counsel for a developer in connection with planned offshore wind farm(s) in state waters off the coast of Louisiana.
Advised several Tier One contractors on application of the Jones Act coastwise trade limitations on construction methodology in offshore wind projects.
Represented a horizontal directional drilling company in the drafting and negotiation of an EPCI agreement with a leading offshore wind developer for the horizontal directional drilling, design, and engineering of a temporary pier for the export cables for the Sunrise Wind project.
Negotiated the $800 million EPCI Balance of Plant agreement for the Cape Wind project.
Drafted an EPCI pipeline construction agreement for an offshore services company to procure pipeline services to replace a pipeline in Saudi Arabia damaged by its operations.
Supported in-house counsel of an oil and gas major on the drafting and negotiation of a Construction and Use Agreement between it and a multinational pipeline and energy company for the construction of a gathering system to connect new deep-water developments to existing trunklines.
Drafted an EPCI pipeline construction template for a telecommunications firm that was later converted to an EPCM agreement.
Drafted two EPCI agreements for compressed natural gas facilities in Louisiana and Honduras and an EPCI agreement for the installation of a Container Receiving and Offloading Unit Agreement in the Dominican Republic for an international energy company.
Negotiated a $20 million EP+Commissioning agreement for the design, supply, and commissioning of electronic bus chargers for the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority Bus Terminal and a $1 billion EPCI contract with Virginia Electric Power for a 230 kV gas-insulated substation on behalf of a global technology leader in electrification.
Drafted and negotiated a $20 million EPCI agreement for the horizontal directional drilling of pipeline routes on the Northern Slope of Alaska.
Represented a major EPC contractor in the negotiation of an EPC frame agreement with an international oil major.
Advised a horizontal directional driller in the negotiation of an EPC contract using a Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs-Conseils form for an outfall project in Barbados.
Advised an international diving and construction general contractor on the negotiation of domestic and international contracts, including lump sum and EPC construction contracts, and related subcontractor agreements for pipeline construction, derrick installation, diving inspection, repair, and maintenance and decommissioning projects in the US Gulf of Mexico, along the US Eastern Seaboard, and in the Caribbean, Central and South America, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
Advised an international diving and construction contractor on the enforceability of lien rights under the Louisiana Oil Well Lien Act and the Texas Property Code.
Provided outside general counsel advice to a private equity-backed onshore construction contractor, including general corporate and subsidiary management, risk identification and mitigation, and drafting of compliance and contracting policies, procedures, and contract templates, to navigate construction anti-indemnity statutes in various states, including Texas and Louisiana.
Represented a major petrochemical manufacturer in the negotiation of contracts of sale and procurement and transportation agreements, including contracts of affreightment.
Advised a private equity investor in the negotiation of master service agreements for preconstruction due diligence services for an energy infrastructure project.
Advised an onshore exploration and production company on the enforceability and breadth of indemnity and additional assured provisions.
Served as part of a restructuring team providing maritime advice on maintaining compliance with Jones Act ownership requirements during a restructuring plan.
Advised an international petrochemical company on maritime risks in due diligence of a potential multibillion-dollar acquisition.
Advised a marine contractor on the negotiation of a construction and installation agreement for a mooring system and related subcontracts.
Advised an international diving and construction contractor on compliance with international and domestic local content laws, including Jones Act, coastwise trade, and US manning regulations.
Negotiated a full suite of offshore customer and vendor contracts, including EPC construction contracts and charter party, marine manning, and dockage and wharfage agreements, ensuring enforceability of indemnity and insurance provisions under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Louisiana Oilfield Indemnity Act, and the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act.