Study: Businesses Spending More on Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations

By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook

HOUSTON (April 15) – Businesses in Texas and across the U.S. continue to spend more and more money on legal fees to fight high-stakes litigation and to deal with a growing number of regulatory enforcement actions from state, local and federal government agencies, according to a new survey scheduled to be released Tuesday.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s 10th Annual Litigation Trends Survey found that 71 percent of corporations spent $1 million or more on litigation costs in 2013 – up from 53 percent the two previous years. More than 26 percent of companies saw their litigation costs exceed $10 million last year – an increase from 11 percent in 2011.

Also, Marsha Gerber and Richard Smith take an indepth look into survey results about an increasingly active regulatory environment, and William Wood discusses why energy companies are concerned about the jump in investigations and regulatory matters.

Hunt Pilot: ‘We Would Have Grounded the Airplane on the Spot’

By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook

DALLAS (April 16) – One of Hunt Consolidated’s pilots told jurors Tuesday that if Hunt had known about the high probability that there was damage in the engines of the company’s two Learjets, the planes would not fly until the engines had a proper inspection.

“If we had that information, we would have grounded the airplane on the spot,” said George Vaeth, who has been a pilot for Hunt since 1985. “It’s unsafe to fly.”

The Texas Lawbook is providing extensive daily coverage on the trial. Check here for updates.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Litigation Trends Survey Reveals an Increasingly Active Regulatory Environment

By Marsha Gerber and Richard Smith
Contributing Writers to The Texas Lawbook

(April 15) – Regulatory/investigations are near the top of the list of litigation concerns for senior in-house counsel, and more time is being spent on government or regulatory investigations in company legal departments.

Dallas Court Rejects Developer Billingsley’s Carrollton Airport Efforts

By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook

(April 12) – The Dallas Court of Appeals, in a case that exposes the influence of big money on local politics, has rejected a complex legal effort by real estate developer Henry Billingsley to shut down a residential air park community in Collin County so that he could turn the airport and its land into a shopping and office center.

Jackson Walker Shines in Otherwise Dismal Women Partner Promotions Trends

By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook

(April 10) – Statistics show that a small cadre of law firms have experienced extraordinary success promoting women to partner, while a large majority of Texas firms continue to lag way behind, according to an analysis conducted by The Texas Lawbook of 40 of the state's largest and most prominent law firms.

Eighteen of the law firms in the study elected zero or one woman into the partnership from 2012 to 2014. By contrast, a small handful of law firms promoted as many or more women to partner as they have men during the same three-year period.

But no law firm in the state has a better record in recent years of promoting women to partner in Texas than Jackson Walker. The Dallas-based firm elevated nearly double the number of any other law firm during the time period.

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Energy Companies Concerned About Jump in Investigations and Regulatory Matters

By William D. Wood
Contributing Writer to The Texas Lawbook

(April 15) – Energy company general counsel face significantly different litigation issues than the corporate legal departments in other business sectors. Norton Rose Fulbright's 10th Annual Litigation Trends Survey found that 56 percent of energy GCs faced litigation over contract disputes during the past year. Personal injury and environmental/toxic tort litigation were the next, followed closely by labor and employment.

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Karl Dial
Marsha Gerber
Bob Jewell
Chris Kratovil
Layne Kruse
Kathleen LaValle
Richard Smith
William D. Wood
Patricia Stanton

Andrews Kurth
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Bracewell
Dykema
Jackson Walker
Locke Lord
Norton Rose
UT Center for Women in Law

Holland & Knight's Toast to Dallas

By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook

(April 2) – The Florida-based firm recently celebrated the official opening of its Dallas office. Holland & Knight’s Jim Chadwick welcomed more than 100 guests and clients, including Southwest Airlines GC Mark Shaw, at The Crescent Club, which is a few floors above the firm’s new digs.