Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals held oral arguments at Texas A&M School of Law Thursday afternoon. Classes were canceled for first-year students to attend the oral arguments and watch the attorneys and justices in action.
After a three-hour hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott Everett ruled to convert Dr. Phil McGraw’s Chapter 11 startup media bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 and will have a trustee appointed. The ruling comes after a weekslong hearing in September on the motion to dismiss or to convert.
A year into operation, the judges who preside over the Texas Business Court are getting comfortable at home and promoting the court abroad. Business Court Judge Sofia Adrogué has traveled to Argentina and Fifteenth Court of Appeals Justice Scott Field has traveled to Mexico.
Two names have been submitted to the White House for consideration for judicial vacancies in the Southern and Western Districts of Texas. There are 10 total judicial vacancies in Texas federal district courts. Additionally, Kirkland & Ellis partner Ryan Raybould has been nominated for U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas. All four U.S. attorney’s offices have had vacancies since the start of the year. There have not been nominations for the other three districts.
In this edition of Asked & Answered Crawford, Wishnew & Lang partner Haleigh Jones sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss her career, memorable cases and mentorship. Jones coaches the moot court team at Southern Methodist University, which she says she hopes to do for her whole career. The 2024 team won the American Bar Association competition.
Both Barrett Howell and Carlos Lopez pled guilty to disposing of government records and aiding and abetting Wednesday in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. Each has waived their right to appeal and face a maximum term of imprisonment of one year, a fine not to exceed $100,000 and a term of supervised release of up to one year. As of Wednesday, a sentencing date had not been set.
Men who were federally indicted for an alleged healthcare fraud scheme involving urine drug tests won't have to face those charges after prosecutors asked a judge to toss the case. The dismissal is the first criminal defense win for Dykema’s new Texas white collar team, which launched in August.
Despite the federal government shutdown, which took effect Oct. 1 due to congress’ failure to pass a spending bill, federal courts are still in operation. But after three weeks, and with no funding agreement in sight, the judiciary is beginning to feel the pressure as staff members are furloughed and funding dries up.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay $1.4 billion for defamation to the Sandy Hook shooting victims’ family members a decade after the shooting. His second attempt to avoid paying has been denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
White & Case partner Sean Gorman grew up in the small town of Wharton, Texas, which has a population of less than 9,000.
One day, when he was in middle school and visiting Houston, he pointed to a skyscraper under construction and said he would work there one day. And one day, after graduating from the University of Houston Law Center in 1988, he did.
The Texas Lawbook's Alexa Shrake caught up with Gorman to discuss his career, memorable cases and post-trial celebrations.
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