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Dallas Federal Judge’s Entire Docket Transferred to Other Judges - The chief judge of the Northern District of Texas has issued two separate “special orders” that remove all civil and criminal cases from the docket of U.S. District Judge Ada Brown, who is a highly respected jurist and believed to be the only Native American woman federal judge in Texas. Neither of the special orders provides an explanation. October 12, 2026Mark Curriden

Top Stories

Top Stories

CDT Roundup: A Return to Business As Usual? - The 11 deals valued at $16.4 billion reported last week amounted to an average week on the year. But as the second highest value since early August, it may be a signal that uncertain deal markets are returning to 'normal' — whatever that is in a topsy-turvy year. October 11, 2026Jason Philyaw
SpaceX Enters D2D Services with $8B Spectrum License Buy - The acquisition — advised by Gibson Dunn, Milbank and Latham & Watkins — opens the door for the company's Starlink network to connect directly with cellular customers. And compete directly with cellular providers like Verizon and AT&T. October 9, 2026Allen Pusey
‘Staggering’ M&A Deals Remain for Q4 2026 - Texas lawyers expect a busy final three months of 2026, according to panelists at the UT Law M&A Institute on Thursday. October 9, 2026Jason Philyaw
ACC San Antonio Honors USAA’s Michael Danforth and H-E-B’s Abel Martinez - In an era when corporate lawyers frequently change jobs, Abel Martinez and Michael Danforth have been rocks for their employers. The two San Antonio in-house counsel have been with their respective legal departments for a combined 45 years.

Danforth, a principal lawyer at USAA for more than 18 years, and Martinez, group vice president at H-E-B, are also widely respected for giving back to the legal profession and their local community. October 8, 2026Mark Curriden
Business Court Jurors Hear Opening Statements in Multimillion-Dollar Contract Dispute - Opening statements began Thursday morning in a breach-of-contract jury trial between an oil and gas company and a clean-energy technology developer. Jury selection took all day Tuesday, and there were not enough jurors present to proceed Wednesday, delaying the two-week jury trial. October 8, 2026Alexa Shrake
Texas Lawbook Issues Correction, Apologizes to Justice Lehrmann - The Texas Lawbook published an article Wednesday about a Texas Supreme Court case involving Exxon Mobil that wrongly included a sentence that Justice Debra Lehrmann “owns shares” of Exxon Mobil stock and that she “was present” for the oral arguments. The Lawbook pointed to 2025 financial disclosure forms.

But The Lawbook has learned that the sentence was incorrect and that Justice Lehrmann sold her Exxon Mobil stock. The Lawbook failed to do the additional reporting and editing required and The Lawbook team apologizes to Justice Lehrmann for our error. October 8, 2026Mark Curriden

Centerpiece

Business Court’s September 2026 Decisions: Who Gets In, and Who Gets Out Early - Four of the Texas Business Court’s September opinions asked a threshold question: Can the court hear this case at all? The answers show a court leaning on its own growing body of precedent and a strictly textual reading of its jurisdiction statute. September also brought a Rule 91a fight over an expelled LLC member and a venture capitalist’s claim to a share of a multibillion-dollar sale that ran into his own release. October 12, 2026Zack Ewing & Sofia Michael
Trustee or Fiduciary? Judge Takes Camp Mystic Governance Fight Under Advisement - So many people showed up to the Camp Mystic bankruptcy hearing Friday morning that extra chairs were brought in and the courtroom doors were propped open to let the overflow hear. Opening statements, and much of the testimony, focused on the acrimony and distrust the creditor families say has infected the case. October 9, 2026Michelle Casady

Expert Voices

Yes, Virginia, You Can Review an Arbitration Award: Is Arbitration an Option for Your Case?  - For Texas litigators and corporate counsel, overcoming hesitation toward mandatory arbitration requires leveraging contractual design — either by expanding judicial review under the Texas Arbitration Act or using private appellate panels to eliminate unreviewable legal error. October 12, 2026Thomas "Tommy" Smith

More Stories

Devon Energy Exits Eagle Ford in $4.2B Asset Sale to Crescent
In Camp Mystic Bankruptcy Hearing Friday, Judge Lopez Will Hear Arguments for Chapter 7 Conversion, Trustee Appointment
SCOTX Hears Arguments in $25M Dispute Between Exxon and Lexington Insurance
More Stories


Appellate

Bankruptcy

Commercial Litigation

Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A

GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

White-Collar/Regulatory

Firm Management

Stories You Might’ve Missed

  • Energy Boom to Space Race: The Stellar Career of Hillary Holmes - In a wide-ranging interview, Gibson Dunn capital-markets leader Hillary Holmes takes Texas Lawbook subscribers inside a career that placed her at the center of SpaceX’s historic public offering this year. But that is only the latest chapter in a much deeper Texas story that charts her rise from the Houston “deal room” of her childhood to one of the country’s top corporate lawyers, known for her instinct to see beyond the transactions themselves. September 24, 2026Allen Pusey

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