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The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

  • Appellate
  • Bankruptcy
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A
  • GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.
  • Firm Management
  • White-Collar/Regulatory
  • Pro Bono/Public Service/D&I

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Breaking News

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Outline

Senior Exxon Mobil Counsel’s Move to Gibson Dunn is ‘Very Personal’ - Exxon Mobil assistant general counsel David Woodcock has departed the energy giant to join the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as the firm’s SEC enforcement practice co-head. The move surprised many within the legal department at Exxon Mobil because Woodcock, who was a past regional director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Fort Worth office, was viewed as a likely candidate to be the company’s next chief legal officer. February 6, 2023Mark Curriden

Top Stories

Top Stories

Litigation Roundup: Samsung Inks $150M Settlement, Jury Hits Boston Scientific with $42M Judgment - In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Samsung agrees to a $150 million settlement in an intellectual property suit, a group of Texas lawyers secures a $42 million win against Boston Scientific in Delaware and U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes gets reversed, again. February 6, 2023Michelle Casady
P.S. — More Legal Aid Announcements; Meet Weil’s Newest “Lend-A-Lawyer” - This week’s edition of P.S. features details on the next Weil associate to be selected for the firm’s unique pro bono volunteer program, how to get free legal help if you were the victim of the Jan. 24 tornado that hit the Houston area and the February dates for the Dallas Bar Association’s legal hotline. Natalie Posgate has the details. February 3, 2023Natalie Posgate
Veteran Dallas Prosecutor Tapped as EDTX U.S. Attorney - If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as expected, Damien Diggs would be the first Black U.S. attorney in the 166-year-old Eastern District. February 2, 2023Bruce Tomaso
Energy Transfer Hit With $42M Jury Verdict - A jury in McMullen County that heard two weeks of testimony determined Energy Transfer’s underground, hydrogen sulfide injection well had interfered with the drilling rights of SilverBow Resources Operating and El Dorado Oil & Gas Inc. The case has a long history, including two trips to the Texas Supreme Court, and saw Houston-based law firms Yetter Coleman and Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing go head-to-head. February 2, 2023Michelle Casady
Jury Awards $8.4M In Wrongful Death Case Against Bobcat of Houston - The jury was selected Jan. 18 and began hearing testimony Jan. 19 in the trial that had sought as much as $500 million in wrongful death damages on behalf of the family of Ricardo Garza. The jury deliberated for about seven hours before returning its verdict. February 1, 2023Michelle Casady

Centerpiece

Natural Gas Companies Dismissed from Winter Storm Uri Lawsuits - The Texas judge handling more than 100 personal injury, wrongful death and property damage lawsuits brought by hundreds of plaintiffs against scores of energy companies related to Winter Storm Uri has dismissed the allegations against more than 60 natural gas companies in four of those cases.

Judge Sylvia Matthews ruled Jan. 26 that natural gas companies such as Anadarko, Apache, Comstock, Energy Transfer and XTO will not have to stand trial for any damage or deaths caused by power outages during the four days in February 2021 in which Texas was hit with record cold temperatures and sleet and snow.
February 2, 2023Mark Curriden

Expert Voices

An Overview of the FTC’s Proposed Rule Banning Noncompete Agreements - The proposed rule seems to be in line with the Biden administration’s executive order issued in 2022 encouraging the FTC to exercise whatever legal authority it has to “curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses” that “may unfairly limit worker mobility.” Here are some questions and answers about this new proposed rule. February 1, 2023Mark A. Shank

More Stories

Texas Supreme Court Weighs Noneconomic Damages Cap
3 of 4 Whistleblowers Suing AG Paxton Ask for Abatement
Atlas Technical Agrees to $1.05B Buyout by GI Partners
Haynes and Boone Opens Virginia Outpost
CDT Roundup: 7 Deals, 7 Firms, 75 Lawyers, $2.2B
More Stories

Appellate

  • Appellate 2022 Year in Review: SCOTX and the Fifth Circuit
  • Comcast, NBC Dropped From $332M Astros Sale Lawsuit
  • SCOTX: Tort Claim Act Again Under Scrutiny in Roadway Conversion Case

Bankruptcy

  • Just Energy’s $335M Bankruptcy Dispute at Fifth Circuit
  • Talen Energy Bankruptcy Inches Toward Resolution
  • Bankruptcy Judge ‘Conditionally Approves’ Brazos Disclosure Agreement After Intense Hearing

Commercial Litigation

  • ChatGPT as a Pocket B.S. Detector
  • Forging a New Path: From the Federal Bench to ADR
  • Fort Worth Bank, Former VP Allegedly Aided Home Flipper’s Ponzi Scheme

Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A

  • DBJ: Why You Should Expect Bank M&A Activity to Pick Up Next Year
  • CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 13 Firms, 115 Lawyers, $7.9B
  • What Private Equity and Family Office Groups Should Know About Purchasing a Company Owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Plan

GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

  • Kelli Roach: A ‘Ferocious Advocate’ for Black Mountain Sand
  • GC Bill Dunne Helps Civitas Navigate ‘Tricky Waters’
  • MB2 Dental’s Jonathan Koh is ‘The Fixer’

White-Collar/Regulatory

  • Pivotal Year on the Horizon for Texas Cryptocurrency Miners
  • SEC Charges Eight ‘Stock-Picking Gurus’ on Twitter with $100M Scam to Manipulate Share Prices
  • SEC’s David Peavler Joining Jones Day

Firm Management

  • The Gifts of Mentorship
  • WFH to LAW: Gray Reed’s Renovated Houston Office Aims to Feel Like Home
  • Texas Law Firms Predict 2022 Revenues, Profits Will Hit Record Highs

Stories You Might’ve Missed

  • GOP Missive to ESG Practitioners: Real Threat or Political Theater? - Whatever its purpose or intent, a letter from five GOP senators to 51 lawyers involved in ESG transactions at their firms was mystifying to those who would talk about it. Sent five days in advance of the recent mid-term elections, the threatening tone of the letters was in keeping with a series of attempts to curb, through their lawyers, corporate support for environmental mandates, energy transition investments and changes in corporate governance — despite increasingly vocal and influential investor demand. November 18, 2022Allen Pusey
  • Texas Lawbook Foundation Launches, Natalie Posgate to Lead Pro Bono, Public Service and Diversity Coverage in Texas - The daily news is filled with articles about lawyers scoring multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, closing billion-dollar M&A deals or reaping tens-of-millions of dollars in annual firm profits. The Texas Lawbook announces today its commitment to focus significantly more on what is essentially the legal profession's ESG. From this day forward, The Lawbook has a full-time reporter — Natalie Posgate — doing nothing but researching and writing about pro bono, public service and diversity efforts involving Texas law firms and corporate legal departments. She will publish articles that highlight the successes of Texas lawyers and firm leaders, but also examine where and how the legal profession is failing. Posgate will be the first legal journalist in Texas to write exclusively about pro bono and diversity. November 1, 2022Mark Curriden

Primary Sidebar

Features

  • HF Sinclair’s Vaishali Bhatia Balances Concerns of Business and Law, and Wins a Green Apatosaurus - Vaishali Bhatia experienced five crazy months in 2022. As HollyFrontier's GC, she and her team closed the $400 million acquisition of the Puget Sound Refinery, negotiated and closed the $2.7 billion acquisition of Sinclair Oil Corporation and Sinclair Transportation, which required multiple regulatory approvals and the creation of an entirely new publicly-traded entity. That was immediately followed by a $400 million senior notes offering and a new credit facility.

    Citing those extraordinary successes, the ACC DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Bhatia as the 2022 DFW General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.
    January 31, 2023Mark Curriden
  • Tuesday Morning’s GC Jennyfer Gray’s Life in the Fast Lane - Jennyfer Gray knows what it means to take it to the limit one more time. As interim general counsel of Tuesday Morning, Gray is helping lead the Dallas-based retailer through turbulent times. Facing severe economic challenges like most retailers, Tuesday Morning and Gray went through multiple financings and credit facilities, including a $110 million asset-based loan, and the transition to a new executive leadership team and corporate board. In recognition of Gray's achievements, she is the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award recipient for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department. January 26, 2023Mark Curriden

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Former Texas Appellate Judge Rejoins Dykema - After eight years on the Dallas Court of Appeals, former justice David Schenck is practicing law at his old law firm. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Schenck said Dykema was the only firm he seriously considered.
  • White & Case Hires Three Bracewell Litigators in Houston
  • Remembering Fort Worth Federal Judge John McBryde
  • Winstead Elects Jeff Matthews as Next Leader
  • This Associate Logged 100 Hours of Pro Bono in the Last Year. Here’s How He Did It
  • SEC’s David Peavler Joining Jones Day
  • P.S. — A Couple Awards, A Memorial Fund, ‘It’s Fun to Stay at the YMCA’
  • Jonny Havens: An Entrepreneurial Lawyer, Iraq War Veteran & Pro Bono Advocate
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

Clyde O. “Chip” Adams IV
Priya Aiyar
Doug Bacon
Jim Baldwin
Jesse Craig Barker
Jeffrey Scott Becker
Will Becker
Eryn Berquist
Shawn Blackburn
Victor Boutros
Clayton J. Callen
Chrysta Castañeda
Don Colleluori 
Chris Collins
Deron Dacus
Shumaila Dhuka
Alan Dorantes
Scott G. Edwards
Joanna Enns
Russ Falconer
Jon Finger
Rachel Fitzgerald
Andrew Frackman
Royal Furgeson
David Gair
William Gammon
Maria Garrett
Mitchell Garrett
Rodney Gilstrap
Joseph Grinstein
David Gunn
Charlie Haag
Elizabeth Hadley
Brian Hail
James S. Halpern
Kevin Henderson
James Wesley Hendrix
Joe Hoffman
Garrett Hughey
Joel Israel
Jack Jacobsen
Marc Jaffe
Adam Johnson
Chelsea Johnson
Jim Jordan
Johnathan Jordan
Mike Logan
Marc Kaplan
Dee Kelly Jr.
Gary Kennedy
Jeremy Kennedy
Susan Cannon Kennedy
Chris Kratovil
Douglas M. Kubehl
Bianca LaCaille
Lindsay Lane
David Lange
Adam Larson
Marysia Laskowski
Jonathan Litsey
Ryan Maierson
Jim Marshall
Michael Mazidi
Josh McNulty
Doug McWilliams
Jonathan Mitchell
Adrienne Mosley
Michael Murphy
Cheryl Camin Murray
David A. Nelson
Sarah Nelson
Andrew S. Oldham
Patrick O'Malley
Yvette Ostolaza
Danielle Patterson
Ken Paxton
Brett Peace
Jesse Pence
Kevin Peter
David Rassin
Andino Reynal 
Tom Rhodus
Benjamin Roberts
Whit Roberts
Adolfo “JR” Rodriguez Jr.
Ladd Sanger
Stephen W. Sather
Jason Schumacher
Ryan Scofield
Cory Don Sepolio
Anthony Shoemaker
Mike Slack
Joshua Smeltzer
Carl E. Stewart
David Stone
Brianne M. Straka
Chris Strong
Michael Telle
Ashley Thurman
Mitch Tiras
Emily Tobolowsky
Mark Trachtenberg
John E. Tyrrell
Rob Walters
Charlene Wandrisco
Kristin Walker-Probst
Steve Walkowiak
Dan Wall
Johnny Ward
Bruce Wark
Erika Weinberg
Mark Werbner
Bob Wiegand
Don R. Willett
Taylor Williams
Tom Woolsey
Meng Xi
Debbie Yee
Paul Yetter

Firms in the News

Hover right to show full list

American Airlines
AT&T
Baker Botts
Beck Redden
Belmont Interests
The Castañeda Firm
Chesapeake Energy
Chevron Phillips Chemical
Compass Group Equity
Craftsman Capital
DLA Piper
Dykema
Enterprise Products
Figari & Davenport
Finesse
Gibson Dunn
Gray Reed
Greenberg Traurig
Harris County DA
Hartline Barger
Haynes and Boone
HTI
Hunton AK
Katten
Kelly Hart
Keurig Dr Pepper
Kirkland
KRCL
Kuvare
Latham
Locke Lord
Lone Star Bank
McGuireWoods
Molina Healthcare
Munsch Hardt
Next Bridge Hyrdrocarbons
Nokia
Ocwen Financial
O'Melveny
OpTic Gaming
PepsiCo
QatarEnergy
Quinn Emanuel
Race Rock
Roberts Law
Rodriguez Law Firm
Ryan Law Partners
Sabre
SAExploration
Sidley
Skyward Specialty
Slack Davis Sanger
SMB Law
Stewart Wiegand & Owens
Susman Godfrey
T-Mobile
Transocean
United Healthcare
V&E
Ward Smith & Hill
WildFire
Winston & Strawn
Womble
Worlds Enterprises
Yetter Coleman

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