Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
As we reported on the day of the event, the 2025 Bench Bar Conference for the Northern District of Texas held April 11, began with a bit of a bang. U.S. District Judge David Godbey caused an early stir by describing the level of personal threats against himself and against other judges and their families as a threat to judicial independence. Here are a few other notable outtakes from conference.
Marek had been a frequent presence on corporate teams at Vinson & Elkins, including some of the firm's largest deals in 2025. Marek had been with V&E since his graduation from University of Texas School of Law in 2014.
The event was described as a “fireside chat,” intended as a brief, informal Q&A session to kick off the 8th Annual Bench Bar Conference for the Northern District of Texas. The discussion featured NDTX District Clerk Karen Mitchell and NDTX Chief Judge David Godbey. They began by addressing the dynamics of the district and common challenges related to budgeting and policy, including the impact of AI. However, the conversation also took a more serious turn as they talked about the issue of judicial death threats. “Non-elected, active citizens will send me death threats and publish my personal information on the internet and encourage like-minded people to try to kill me,” he said. “That’s a different ballgame.”
The 2025 Katten Middle-Market Private Equity report released Thursday was based on bullish post-election December business optimism. But the early and aggressive moves by the Trump Administration forced the report sponsor, Katten, to reassess its data — to the point of authorizing a "flash survey" to gauge whether optimism had survived.
Below is a list of qualified capital markets transactions reported to The Texas Lawbook during 2025. The list is organic, designed to grow as deals are reported. So if you have deals
The torts and defamation case centered on the role of Greenpeace, the activist international environmental group, on protests in 2016 and 2017 against a controversial North Dakota pipeline. Greenpeace, based in the Netherlands, said the verdict could cause an end to its U.S. organization. Trey Cox, a Dallas partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, led the legal effort for the plaintiffs with an all-Texas team.
Below is a list of qualified M&A transactions reported to The Texas Lawbook for 2025. The list is organic, designed to grow as needed. So if you have deals that qualify or
In a major move to shore up its Texas transactional practice, Dykema announced Monday that it is doubling the headcount of its Houston office with the lateral addition of five attorneys from Kane Russell Coleman Logan and two from Hirsch & Westheimer.
Houston trial attorney Abby Parsons was hired away by Arnold & Porter, while finance partner Susan Ormand Berry lateraled to Bracewell.
The Houston office of Latham & Watkins had not been open for a year when Ryan Maierson experienced a significant realization. The office opened in February 2010, and as the year progressed, he and the other partners at Baker Botts began to marvel at how easily this "non-native" firm from Los Angeles integrated itself into Texas's established transactional law environment.
Other national firms had previously entered the Texas market. However, with Latham — the second most profitable law firm in the world — something felt different. In less than a year, Latham had achieved what no other national firm had managed to do: it instilled a sense of fear in the long-established Texas firms that had previously dominated corporate law in the Lone Star State.
Fifteen years later, this is the story of how Latham changed the game in Texas.
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