The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

More Stories

CDT Roundup: Deal Flow Slows, but Debt Steps In to Fill the Gap

For the week ended April 11, the CDT Roundup saw 10 deals reported with a total valuation of just over $5 billion. The prior week had 11 deals reported with a total value of $33 billion, dominated by a $29.1 billion megamerger between food distribution giants Sysco and Jetro Restaurant Depot. A year ago at this time, the Roundup reported on eight deals valued at about $2.4 billion.

This week, however, credit and capital markets dominate the deal numbers. Maybe “dominate” is strong a word to describe three debt issues, a $167 million PIPE and a secondary equity offering that forced a dip in a company stock.

P.S. — Haynes Boone Tops Law Firms in United Way Giving in Houston; King & Spalding, Baker Botts Follow

In this edition of P.S., Jackson Walker has established the Jackson Walker Endowed Scholarship Fund in Memory of Emma Hackney at SMU Dedman School of Law, honoring a former associate in its banking and finance practice who was killed in a car wreck last year. The scholarship “represents the very best of who Emma was: a warm, kind and thoughtful person who put others ahead of herself,” said Justin Shipley, a finance partner in the Dallas office where Hackney worked.  

The San Antonio Legal Services Association held its annual luncheon this week, bringing together attorneys, judges, business leaders and community advocates committed to expanding access to civil legal services for low-income Texans in San Antonio and surrounding counties. Find out who was recognized at the premier fundraising event. 

The Haynes Boone offices in Houston and The Woodlands raised a record $185,000 through a year-long campaign benefiting the United Way of Greater Houston. The effort is part of a broader campaign among law firms, with Haynes Boone ranking as the top contributing law firm.

Mavs Drop Tortious Interference Claim as Case Heads Toward Resolution

The Dallas Mavericks franchise filed notice that it was immediately dropping its tortious interference claim in its battle against the Dallas Stars. The move comes a week after the Texas Business Court denied the Stars’ five motions for summary judgment and granted the Mavericks’ motion for declaratory judgment.

Texas Lawbook Honors Sidley Austin Chair Yvette Ostolaza

Yvette Ostolaza grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in Miami, the daughter of parents who fled Cuba in the 1960s. She learned English from watching Sesame Street. As a young teenager, she lied about her age to get a job at Sears to make extra money for her family. When she announced that she wanted to be the first in the family to go to college, they told her she was crazy.

Four decades later, Ostolaza became the first Latina and first Dallas lawyer to lead a global corporate law firm — a position she has held since 2022 at Sidley Austin, a 2,300-lawyer firm with 21 offices and more than $3.7 billion in annual revenue.

The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday that it is awarding the first-ever Texas Lawbook Law Firm Leadership Award to Ostolaza.

Ares Management Buys Whitestone REIT for $1.7B

Alternative investment manager Ares Management Corp. said on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Houston-based Whitestone REIT for $19 a share, or about $1.7 billion, in cash.

Kirkland is outside legal advisor to Ares and Whitestone’s general counsel is Peter Tropoli.

SEC Names Dallas Lawyer as Nation’s Top Corporate Enforcement Cop

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has named Dallas lawyer David Woodcock as its new director of enforcement, overseeing the agency’s federal civil corporate securities and fraud investigations and prosecutions.

Woodcock is taking a multimillion-dollar pay cut by leaving Gibson Dunn, where he has been a partner in Dallas since 2023.

© 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.