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The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

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Litigation Roundup: Made-Up Cases Net Real-Life Sanction for Plano Lawyer - In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an attorney who cited made-up cases to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas gets sanctioned, American Airlines is sued by a former pilot who alleges he was shortchanged on disability benefits, and the Texas Supreme Court answers a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in one of the final weeks of its term.  June 17, 2025Michelle Casady
CDT Roundup: The Streak Ends, But It’s Not All Quiet as Key Deals Still Stirring - After five weeks in a row logging transactions valued at $20 billion or more, deal values finally hit the wall. Of course, part of the reason is that all of the M&A and funding deals involved private equity firms, deals whose terms are often undisclosed. Still, there were only six transactions reported. But the deals that were reported were not without importance. June 16, 2025Allen Pusey
Toyota Motor North America Names New GC, Compliance Officer - DFW-based Toyota Motor North America has named a new general counsel and a new corporate compliance and ethics officer — both will report to chief legal officer Sandra Phillips Rogers. The automaker has named former deputy general counsel Elizabeth Gibson to the GC position and assistant GC Dawn Pittman Collins to the corporate compliance and ethics officer post. Gibson has been a lawyer in the legal department at Toyota for more than 19 years. In her previous position, she oversaw complex litigation, government investigations and regulatory compliance. June 16, 2025Mark Curriden
Weil Advises PE Firm in Selling Stake as Part of $1.2B Deal - PSG Equity said it completed the sale of a minority stake in SevenRooms on June 16 to DoorDash as part of the food delivery service’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the customer relationship management technology company. Weil acted as legal counsel to PSG, with David Gail leading the transaction from Dallas. Madeleine Carpenter, an associate in Weil’s Dallas office, was also on the team. June 16, 2025Jason Philyaw
Jury Awards $37.9M to Residents Affected by Houston Watson Grinding Explosion, Case Continues for Others - Five victims of the Houston Watson Grinding 2020 fatal explosion saw some relief from a Harris County jury earlier this month. Their attorneys discussed the details of the case with The Texas Lawbook and the five-year journey it has taken to obtain the $37.9 million verdict. Another trial in the case is expected at the end of this month. (2020 file photo by Godofredo A. Vásquez/Houston Chronicle via The Associated Press) June 13, 2025Alexa Shrake
Judge Approves $91.3M in Settlements in GWG Bankruptcy  - At the end of a roughly two-hour hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved a $50.5 million settlement with directors and officers of GWG, a $30 million settlement with the law firm Mayer Brown, an $8.5 million settlement with Texas accounting firm Whitley Penn and a $2.3 million settlement with brothers Jon R. and Steven F. Sabes, the original founders of GWG. June 13, 2025Michelle Casady
GWG Holdings Bondholders Allege RICO Conspiracy  - The lawsuit, filed Thursday, names as defendants David Jones, Elizabeth Freeman, The Law Office of Liz Freeman, Jackson Walker and Porter Hedges. GWG Holdings bondholders allege those parties were part of a conspiracy to “prey upon distressed entities for their own financial gain.” June 13, 2025Michelle Casady

Centerpiece

Citi Law Firm Expert: ‘Fairly Optimistic Outlook for Rest of 2025’ - Texas-based corporate law firms started 2025 strong, but they face multiple headwinds over the next several months. The largest law firms headquartered in Texas achieved 35 percent revenue increases during the first quarter of 2025 — triple the amount of their national competitors — even though legal demand grew less than one percent during the period, according to the nation’s leading legal industry financial analyst. June 17, 2025Mark Curriden
Susman Godfrey Leads Lawsuit by ABA Against Trump Administration - The nation’s largest and one of its oldest legal organizations has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a restraining order to prevent President Donald Trump and his cabinet members from implementing a policy of “intimidation and coercion” against law firms that has created a “chill of blizzard proportions [that] continues to grip most of the top law firms and lawyers in the country,” the complaint states. The American Bar Association accuses President Trump of using “the vast powers of the Executive Branch to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes, and policy positions the President does not like.” Susman Godfrey, including Houston partners Justin Nelson, Neal Manne and Harry Susman and Dallas partner Barry Barnett, are leading the litigation for the ABA. June 16, 2025Mark Curriden

Expert Voices

AI’s Role in Reviving Texas Jury Trials - Unfortunately, the steady decline of civil jury trials has shaped the litigation landscape in Texas and across the nation for decades. Although multiple factors contribute to this trend, the emergence of reliable artificial intelligence tools may offer a realistic path to reversing it. This article discusses research on AI in the courts, explains how generative and predictive systems could reinvigorate the Texas trial docket and proposes concrete steps for judges, law firms, corporate counsel and the Legislature to harness AI’s upside to increase jury trials and expand justice access. June 17, 2025Victor Vital & Alexander Clark
Anatomy of an Acquittal — Delayed Vindication - At the very end of the series Mad Men, the yoga instructor encourages his class, which includes the show’s protagonist, Don Draper, with the following words: “A new day. New ideas. A new you.” From the perspective of the defense team at least, that’s a fitting introduction to the retrial of United States v. Hamilton, which resulted last week in an acquittal on all charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and two substantive counts of bribery. In the retrial, the government tried precisely the same case it tried four years ago. And why not? That case resulted in a conviction on three of four charges, which led to an eight-year prison sentence imposed by the district court. June 16, 2025Tom Melsheimer & Alex Wolens
Thought Leadership: Mission Control for International Disputes — Houston’s Arbitration Advantage - With corporate America increasingly voting with its feet by relocating to Texas and its business-friendly legal climate, general counsel and international arbitration practitioners should freshly consider Houston’s merits as a U.S.-based seat for international arbitration. By all objective criteria, Houston boasts the infrastructure, expertise, and supporting legal framework to match the leading global arbitration centers. June 16, 2025Michael Massengale

More Stories

Thousands of Texas Hemp Jobs at Risk as State Legislature Passes THC Ban
Trial Commences in Alleged $300M Wire Fraud Scheme 
Family of Arlington Firefighter Who Died at Cancun Resort Gets $31.27M Verdict
More Stories

Appellate

  • Winter Storm Uri Victims Ask SCOTX to Reinstate Their Claims
  • New UT Law Grads Make Courtroom Debut in Federal Appeals Arguments
  • SCOTUS to Consider Chevron Removal Case

Bankruptcy

  • Sunnova Energy Selects Kirkland, Bracewell to Lead $10B Bankruptcy
  • Holland & Knight Files Motion to Dismiss GWG Trustee’s Fraud Suit
  • Sunnova Selects Bracewell, Alvarez & Marsal for Bankruptcy Advisors

Commercial Litigation

  • Texas Lawbook Expands Civil Litigation Coverage, Adds Reporter from The Indiana Lawyer
  • Report: Judge Gilstrap Again the King of Patent Litigation
  • Legislature Revives 25% Judicial Pay Hike After Frantic Negotiations

Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A

  • CDT Roundup: A Week of Energy Deals, Suicide Drones, Cybercurrency PIPES and Another $20B
  • CDT Roundup: Another Week for the $20B Streak, Unusual Deals and a SPAC Twist
  • CDT Roundup: Texas Lawyers Deliver Rare $20B+ Hat Trick

GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

  • 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Celebration
  • How Waste Management and Charles Boettcher Sealed the Stericycle Deal
  • McDermott Legal Department is ‘More than the Sum of its Parts’

White-Collar/Regulatory

  • Anatomy of an Acquittal — Delayed Vindication
  • Legislation Aims to Boost Texas as a Friendly Place to Incorporate and Settle Disputes
  • President Names Career Prosecutor as NDTX U.S. Attorney

Firm Management

  • Lawbook 50: Four Texas Firms Growing East, West and Across the Seas
  • Lawbook 50 — Texas Firms Reap Financial Benefits of a ‘Perfect Storm’
  • Lawbook 50 — The Texas Magnificent Seven

Stories You Might’ve Missed

  • Lawbook 50 — Texas Firms Reap Financial Benefits of a ‘Perfect Storm’ - Corporate law firms in Texas had another blockbuster year in 2024. Record revenues. Record profits. The top business law firms operating in Texas in 2024 worked more hours for more corporate clients and charged those clients record-high rates — some now topping $2,600 an hour for premium services. The demand for high-dollar elite legal expertise and services in Texas came from companies and private equity firms involved in dealmaking for infrastructure and energy transition projects and businesses engaged in bet-the-company disputes, often battling other businesses or government agencies in court. The Texas Lawbook 50, which tracks the revenue generated by lawyers and law firms operating in Texas, found that 34 of the 50 largest corporate firms achieved record-high revenues in 2024, and an even higher percentage achieved record profits. Eight law firms grew revenue by 25 percent or more. May 22, 2025Mark Curriden

Primary Sidebar

Features

  • P.S. — J.L. Turner Legal Association Hosts Sold-Out Inaugural Juneteenth Celebration in Dallas - In this edition of P.S., we highlight the success of the J.L. Turner Legal Association’s first official Juneteenth Celebration, held at the Dallas African American Museum. The Dallas African American bar association, named for one of the city’s first Black lawyers, shared with The Texas Lawbook why it was compelled to emphasize the importance of Juneteenth in an event that was open to people of all professions and not just the legal community. Meanwhile, the State Bar of Texas is kicking off its annual meeting on June 19 amid controversy over its decision to disinvite the NAACP president from speaking at its Bar Leaders Recognition Luncheon. Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Wallace B. Jefferson, will deliver a keynote address commemorating the legal history and significance of Juneteenth. And we highlight other upcoming Juneteenth celebrations, as well. June 13, 2025Krista Torralva

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Sorrels Law Adds Trial, Appellate Partner in Dallas - E. Lawrence “Larry” Vincent joined the firm after nine years at Burns Charest. During his time there, he was the co-lead attorney in a successful representation of a group of Houston homeowners alleging government mismanagement of reservoirs lead to flooding of their properties during Hurricane Harvey.
  • Holland & Knight’s Recent Lateral Partner Additions Strengthen RE, Financial Services Offerings
  • Rice Taps Munck Wilson Attorney to be Associate Athletic Director
  • Veteran Energy Lawyer Christopher Richardson to join Paul Hastings
  • Troutman Pepper Locke Snags Two Key Houston PE Partners
  • Jackson Walker Hires Bracewell Partner to Lead Appellate Group
  • Husch Blackwell Hires Veteran Real Estate Partner in Dallas
  • Bracewell Partner Becomes Shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Houston, New York Offices
  • Bradley Hires Former EVP, CLO of Texas Regional Bank
  • Dell Technologies In-house Counsel Joins Yetter Coleman IP Group
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

Barry Barnett
Wes Bearden
Emily Westridge Black
Michael Burke
Alicia Campbell
John Campbell
Madeleine Carpenter
Alexander Clark
Dawn Pittman Collins
Richard Finneran
Elizabeth Freeman
David Gail
Elizabeth Gibson
David Jones
Frank Lopez
Abbe Lowell
Neal Manne
Billy Marsh
Tom Melsheimer
Tasha Moser
Justin Nelson
Reed O'Connor
Kate Pennartz
John “J.” Pieratt
Danielle Reyes
Christopher Richardson
Randy Sorrels
Harry Susman
Larry Vincent
Victor Vital
Brent Walker
Matt Weybrecht
Melody Wilkinson
Alex Wolens

Firms in the News

Hover right to show full list

A&O Shearman
Bryan Cave
Cozen O'Connor
Haynes Boone
Holland & Knight
Jackson Walker
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Law Office of Liz Freeman
Paul Hastings
Porter Hedges
Sorrels Law
Susman Godfrey
Toyota
Troutman Pepper Locke
Willkie
Vinson & Elkins
Weil
Winston & Strawn

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