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Round 3 Goes to Apple in Optis Patent Trial - A lawsuit that began nearly seven years ago ended Thursday after jurors determined Apple did not infringe five wireless technology patents held by Optis Wireless Technology. Optis had been seeking between $400 million and $600 million in damages, according to court documents. Judge Gilstrap also entered a sua sponte order Thursday finding that Optis and its affiliated entities that were also plaintiffs in the case are “judicially estopped from asserting that they are entitled to recover pre-suit damages” from Apple. February 12, 2026
Houston Appellate Court Undoes New Trial Order Predicated on Juror’s Talk of $1,000+ Hourly Fee - The opinion from the First Court of Appeals clarified what constitutes an “outside influence” on the jury. It came in a case where Harris County District Judge Sonya L. Aston presided over a jury trial and, post-verdict, heard a juror say she had explained to other jurors that when she worked as a paralegal at a “large, prestigious law firm” in downtown Houston, the attorneys there charged more than $1,000 an hour. February 12, 2026
Galveston Jury Awards $57M in Breach of Contract Trial - A team of Porter Hedges attorneys secured over a $57 million jury verdict for their client, Shintech Incorporated, earlier this week. The manufacturing company accused Olin Corporation of breaching its contract by refusing to provide the agreed-upon amount of vinyl chloride monomer. February 12, 2026
Asked & Answered with Mo Lovett: Expanding & Expectations - In this edition of Asked & Answered, Mo Lovett Law’s founder discusses opening a new office in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and growing her law firm a year into opening. She also talked about mentorship and the state of the profession. February 11, 2026Saltchuk Takes Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Private for $1.2B Cash - Privately held Seattle freight transportation, marine service and energy distribution conglomerate Saltchuk said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. for about $1.2 billion cash. Sidley Austin advised Great Lakes and its CLO Vivienne Schiffer, while Fried Frank represented Saltchuk. February 11, 2026
Texas Business Court First: Jury Trial Underway in Houston in $200M Crude Terminal Dispute - The dispute pits the lawyer Albert Theodore “Ted” Powers against three members of the Berry family, who, through their businesses, is one of the largest private employers in Corpus Christi. Its origins can be traced back to an idea Lawrence Berry had in 2018 to build a world-class crude export terminal outside of Corpus Christi that could receive oil from the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale. The product could be stored in Aransas Pass and then loaded onto tanker ships from Harbor Island before being shipped anywhere in the world. February 10, 2026
Centerpiece
Tariff to Trillion: Texas Deal Lawyers Had a Blockbuster Year (and Hardly Saw It Coming) - It didn't feel like it at the time, but 2025 turned out to be a blockbuster year for M&A lawyers in Texas. The Lone Star State may no longer be matching national trends in M&A; it could be surpassing them. A good year elsewhere was a great year in Texas, regardless of the small print. Put simply, there were more deals made for more money (lots more) than we anticipated, and The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker has the exclusive details. February 11, 2026Big Law’s Transfer Portal: Elite Firms Raid Texas Talent with Record Pay Packages - The Texas corporate legal market has started 2026 with a frenzy of activity that includes several high-profile lateral partner moves, new office openings, new hourly rates nearing $3,000 and record-shattering compensation agreements with some lawyers being offered guaranteed multi-year compensation packages exceeding $20 million. February 6, 2026
Expert Voices
After the Claude Crash — What Agentic Tools Mean for Legal Research Vendors and Texas Lawyers - On Feb. 3, a lot of legal and data folks discovered they suddenly cared about stock tickers. Anthropic announced legal plug-ins for its agentic platform, Claude Cowork, and within 48 hours investors shaved tens of billions off the market caps of Thomson Reuters (Westlaw/CoCounsel), RELX (LexisNexis) and Wolters Kluwer. Headlines framed it as AI killing legal software. Social channels called it the “Claude Crash” and the “SaaSpocalypse.” If you work in a Texas law firm or legal department, it felt like watching a tornado touch down a few miles over — not on your roof yet, but close enough to change your weekend plans.
Let’s separate the market drama from the operating reality. February 12, 2026
Let’s separate the market drama from the operating reality. February 12, 2026
Business Court: January 2026 Decisions - If January is any indication, it’s going to be another blockbuster year for the Court. The Court penned three opinions and gave us an early contender for quote of the year. February 10, 2026
Stories You Might’ve Missed
The Legacy of Pennzoil v. Texaco 40 Years Later — The Civil Jury Trial of the Century - Pennzoil v. Texaco's legacy remains significant, as it changed how companies handle mergers and acquisitions, caused the Chamber of Commerce to designate Texas as a judicial hellhole in 1986 and directly led to two decades of massive tort reform efforts that dramatically limited the rights of Texans to sue businesses, doctors and insurance companies for wrongdoing. It also launched Texas trial lawyer Joe Jamail to national stardom and made him the richest trial lawyer in American history.
In this in-depth article, The Texas Lawbook provides a detailed timeline of the events involved in the historic litigation, as well as comments from more than a dozen lawyers about the legal strategies employed. November 18, 2025
