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$100M Dispute in Synergy v. Blackbrush Reaches Jury - After closing arguments in the Texas Business Court trial, 12 jurors now weigh the 46-page charge. Synergy accuses Blackbrush Oil & Gas of sabotaging its clean-energy technology. Blackbrush says Synergy founder Rich Halvorson squandered its $1.5 million investment. October 21, 2026
Westlake Chemical Gets Win in East Texas Pipeline Easement Dispute - The lead lawyer for Westlake Chemical said defeating the motion for a permanent injunction seeking to shut down a section of ethylene pipeline can be viewed as a win for Texas’ midstream energy industry. Express H20 Pipeline and ROW had argued a 3.5-mile portion of the Westlake pipeline violated its exclusive, blanket easement. October 21, 2026
KKR’s Arctos Acquires 7.5% of Atlanta Falcons - Kirkland & Ellis advised Dallas-based Arctos in the addition of the Falcons to its portfolio of NFL-approved minority investments. In addition to Atlanta, the KKR-backed sports investor now has ownership positions in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Buffalo. League rules limit private equity ownership to 10 percent or less. October 21, 2026
Active Panel Questions Parties During East Texas Water Dispute Oral Argument - The Texas 12th Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in hedge fund executive Kyle Bass’ effort to revive an ultra vires lawsuit against the Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District over halted water well permits, which the district argues is barred by a prior settlement. October 20, 2026
CirclesX Gets Chilly Reception at Houston Appeals Court - Houston’s First Court of Appeals voiced skepticism Tuesday toward CirclesX Recovery’s bid to revive its Winter Storm Uri tortious interference and market manipulation claims against 43 natural gas companies. The three-justice panel questioned whether gas producers intended to disrupt consumer contracts rather than simply pursue profit during the historic 2021 freeze. October 20, 2026
Texas A&M Dean Named President of Pace University - Texas A&M University School of Law Dean Robert B. Ahdieh has been named president of Pace University in New York. Since taking the helm in 2018, Ahdieh has guided the law school from 83rd to 22nd in national rankings, expanded total enrollment to more than 2,000 and led the school’s expansion in Fort Worth. October 20, 2026Winter Storm Uri Litigators’ Last Stand - In one of the last remaining legal battles stemming from the February 2021 winter freeze, the First Court of Appeals in Houston will hear oral arguments Tuesday over whether to revive market manipulation and price-gouging claims against 43 major natural gas companies. Plaintiff CirclesX Recovery argues that energy producers and pipeline operators intentionally restricted fuel supplies during Winter Storm Uri to starve power generators and extract billions in windfall profits.
October 19, 2026
Fifth Circuit Judicial Council Releases Report on NDTX Judge Ada Brown - U.S. District Judge Ada Brown set off a weekend scramble when she emailed confidential Fifth Circuit misconduct documents about herself to dozens of judges at 2 a.m. Saturday, prompting the judicial council to officially release them Monday. The newly public findings include probable cause that Brown created a hostile work environment, abandoned her docket and refused to cooperate with investigators, and raise questions about her ability to serve. Brown is now required to sit Oct. 30 for a sworn interview with the investigating committee. The Texas Lawbook has the official documents and full report by Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod. October 19, 2026
Centerpiece
Affinius Capital’s Rachel Donnelly is the ‘Simone Biles of the Texas Legal Community’ - Rachel Donnelly once planned to become a forensic psychologist before a law degree changed her path. Now she’s chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel at Affinius Capital, where she’s helped steer the firm through SEC exams, a corporate rebrand and its expansion into AI-driven data centers. Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named her the winner of the 2026 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for Chief Corporate Compliance Officer of the Year. October 21, 2026
Brenna Nava’s Hard Work, Leadership ‘Literally Saving Lives’ - The 2017 class of Leadership San Antonio was touring the nonprofit healthcare organizations BioBridge Global and helping assemble packets used to match marrow donors with patients. One class member — Rackspace Technology Senior Counsel Brenna Nava, a former high school dance teacher turned corporate in-house counsel — was fascinated.
Seven years later, Preferred Legal Counsel President Morgan Matson called Nava with an interesting opportunity: the deputy general counsel position at BioBridge. Nava is the 2026 San Antonio Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. October 19, 2026
Expert Voices
Contractor, Employee or Something New? The Classification Questions Facing College Athletic NIL Collectives - With booster-funded collectives accounting for the vast majority of college athletic NIL compensation, universities and third-party collectives face mounting legal exposure over whether student-athletes are independent contractors, common-law employees or an entirely new legal hybrid. In Part 2 of a series for The Texas Lawbook, this article examines how clearinghouse scrutiny, performance benchmarks and IRS control tests could trigger joint-employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act. October 21, 2026
Book Excerpt: Reconstructing Immigration - Texas built a parallel deportation system, the Supreme Court narrowed judicial review, and the practical consequences are landing in Texas courthouses first. October 16, 2026
