The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

Main Content

Breaking News

Exclusive

Outline

Top Stories

Top Stories

Judge O’Connor Hears Closing Arguments in $8.5M Treasure Hunter Fight - Treasure recovered off the coast of the Bahamas is being fought over in a legal tug-of-war, with the plaintiffs asking Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to award $2.5 million in treasure it claims it is owed and punitive damages that would bring the total damages award to $8.5 million. The parties concluded the two-week-long bench trial Thursday afternoon, turning the case over to the court to decide. July 2, 2026Alexa Shrake
Houston Appellate Court Paves Way for 4th Bellwether Trial Against 3M - In its request for a stay or a continuance, 3M argued nine weeks between trials wasn’t enough time to prepare, that its lead attorney had timely filed a vacation letter that, under local rules, should have protected her from the July 13 trial setting, and that it only learned the identities of 20 of the 30 plaintiffs in the case on March 27. July 2, 2026Michelle Casady
Lehotsky Cohn Opens Dallas Office - Andy Ryan and his team at Ryan Law Partners are joining the national litigation boutique and bolstering its trial group in Texas. July 2, 2026Brooks Igo
P.S. — Corporate Legal Chiefs Tell Congress Legal Aid Funding is a ‘Uniquely Important Priority’ - General counsel and chief legal officers from 132 of America’s biggest companies — including AT&T, USAA and Oracle — are urging Congress to fully fund the Legal Services Corporation, arguing that civil legal aid strengthens economic stability for families, communities and businesses. The executives signed a May 29 letter to every member of Congress asking lawmakers to provide sufficient funding for fiscal year 2027 to LSC, the federal nonprofit that funds civil legal aid organizations nationwide. At least a dozen Texas-based legal leaders joined the effort. July 2, 2026Krista Torralva
Judge: Ukrainian Plaintiffs Failed to Plead Causation Against TI, Tech Firms - Lawyers for five Ukrainian citizens who were injured or killed in Russian drone and missile attacks that allegedly used semiconductors and other technology made by American tech companies, including Texas Instruments, failed to state a legal cause of action in their federal lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The judge is allowing the lawyers for the Ukrainians 28 days to refile their complaint to address his concerns about causation.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater issued a 21-page decision that the Ukrainians’ claims are not preempted by federal law but that their case is dismissed because the lawsuit failed to show that the “defendant’s conduct is the cause in fact of a plaintiff’s injury” and that the defendant’s “act or omission was a substantial factor in bringing about the injuries, and without it, the harm would not have occurred.” July 1, 2026Mark Curriden
DISH DBS Hires White & Case to Lead Prepacked SDTX Bankruptcy - DISH DBS Corporation, DISH Wireless and 16 affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in the Southern District of Texas. July 1, 2026Mark Curriden
Shell Sells Gulf Offshore Assets for $1.7B - Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Houston-based oil giant Shell Oil, announced that it is selling its interest in two major offshore Gulf platforms to Talos Energy and Ridgewood Energy for $1.7 billion. July 1, 2026Allen Pusey

Centerpiece

Asked & Answered with Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann’s Mary Goodrich Nix: Influences,  Mentorship and Early Battles - In this edition of Asked & Answered, Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann’s Mary Goodrich Nix looks back on her early years as a trial lawyer. She also shares advice she would give to young lawyers and discusses trends she sees impacting the practice. July 1, 2026Alexa Shrake
How the 5th Circuit Fared in the October 2025 SCOTUS Term - The U.S. Supreme Court’s October 2025 docket delivered a substantial course correction for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, with the high court reversing or vacating its rulings more often than not.

The Texas Lawbook looks at Fifth Circuit decisions recently reviewed by the Supreme Court, including summaries for the high court’s merits docket, its emergency docket and its grant-vacate-remand orders. June 29, 2026Jason Curriden

Expert Voices

The Curious Case of Married Business Partners: Why Texas Shouldn’t Let Love Hide the Ledger - Texas law has always been fond of a good boundary line, and few are trickier than the one between the bedroom and the boardroom. Texas’ economy is bursting with family-run companies, spousal co-ownerships and mom-and-pop empires, and the line between marriage and management can get blurry. The law, however, needs that line to stay crystal clear. June 29, 2026Elizabeth Wirmani
Small-town Justice: Some Thoughts on Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood - Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood was published in 1966, which suggests that the 60th anniversary is good time to revisit it. The novel was a subject of discussion in our Legal Philosophy seminar at Texas A&M University School of Law earlier this semester, and we found some of the seminar participants’ observations worth sharing: such as whether there are important, inherent differences between urban and rural justice systems. June 26, 2026Randy Gordon & Grace Chapman

More Stories

Litigation Roundup: Lawyer Defendants Beat Buzbee Suit with TCPA
Business Court Mulls Injunction in Texas Instruments Trade Secrets Case
CDT Roundup: Back to Basics
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

  • ‘The Golden Age for Corporate Law in Texas is Now’ (Updated) - Never in history have Texas corporate lawyers worked so many hours, charged such enormous rates and raked in more revenue and profits than they are right now. The Texas offices of more than three dozen law firms scored record-high revenues in 2025 — and many of them surpassed their old records by tens of millions of dollars, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data.

    Citing increased demand for legal services and healthy hourly rate increases, 48 of the Lawbook 50 law firms generated more revenue and more profits in their Texas operations in 2025 than they did in 2024.     April 30, 2026Mark Curriden

© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.