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Bruce Tomaso

Bruce Tomaso spent more than 30 years as a writer and editor at The Dallas Morning News. When asked what positions he held there, he usually says it’s easier to list those he didn’t.

As enterprise editor on The News’s breaking news desk in the summer of 2016, he played a key role in covering the downtown shooting spree that left five police officers dead. For its coverage, The News was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting.

He spent most of 1997 in Denver covering the federal criminal trials of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Four years later, he covered McVeigh’s execution.

His first major reporting assignment for The Texas Lawbook was a retrospective on the 20th anniversary of the $119.6 million verdict for 10 young men who’d been molested as children by Rudy Kos, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. The stories earned Bruce and his Lawbook editor, Allen Pusey, the Dallas Bar Association’s 2018 Stephen Philbin Award for Feature Writing.

In 2019, he covered the seven-week medical fraud trial of nine physicians, healthcare executives and others associated with Forest Park Medical Center, a now-defunct Dallas surgical hospital.

He’s a member of the Alumni Hall of Fame at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He and his wife, Dallas attorney Patricia A. Nolan, have one grown son, who is smarter than either of them.

He will drop everything, including preposterous sums of money, to see Lady Gaga, Notre Dame football, or the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

You can reach Bruce at bruce.tomaso@texaslawbook.net.

Holland & Knight hires DOJ Crypto-Fraud Expert 

Camelia Lopez Shoemaker, who led numerous white-collar investigations for the federal government, joins the Dallas office of Holland & Knight.

January 13, 2026 Bruce Tomaso

Top 10 White-Collar Crime Cases of 2025

Healthcare fraud prosecutions, many stemming from the pandemic, stood out among the biggest white-collar cases in Texas last year.

January 6, 2026 Bruce Tomaso

Unsealed: Judge Mazzant’s ‘Coffee Cake for Jurors’ Recipe

Jury duty is no piece of cake. But at least it comes with one in the court of U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas.

An avid baker, Judge Mazzant likes to treat juries in his Sherman court to a homemade coffee cake. He shares with The Texas Lawbook his recipe, and his thoughts behind the kindly gesture.

December 30, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Former NDTX Appellate Chief Joins Paul Hastings

Stephen Gilstrap, a six-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office, joins roughly 2 dozen lawyers who have left since the start of the year.

December 23, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Houston’s U.S. Attorney Wins Key Senate Vote for Federal Judgeship

The nomination of Nicholas Ganjei to the bench of the Southern District of Texas goes next to the full Senate, where swift approval is expected. Ganjei, currently the Southern District’s top federal prosecutor, is a former chief counsel to Sen. Ted Cruz.

December 12, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Ex-VP of Wichita Falls Bank Gets 4 Years in Pandemic Loan Scam

Kaylee Ree Lunn pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud, admitting that she used bank customers’ financial data to apply for bogus loans under the government’s Paycheck Protection Program.

December 8, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Houston-area Energy Executive Convicted in Scheme to Bribe Mexican Officials

Jurors in the court of U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt found Alexandro Rovirosa guilty of conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A codefendant, Mario Avila, is a fugitive.

December 8, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Former TV News Anchor Gets 10 Years in Pandemic Loan Scam

Stephanie Hockridge, a former local news anchor in Phoenix, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Fort Worth for her role in what prosecutors called a vast fraud based on phony applications for loans under the Covid-era Payroll Protection Program. Her husband, Nathan Reis, pleaded guilty in August for his role in the scam.

November 21, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

Newly Retired U.S. Judge Lynn Will Mediate Huge Boy Scouts Insurance Dispute

Barbara M.G. Lynn, the recently retired judge for the Northern District of Texas, has been appointed as mediator in an insurance dispute involving the Boy Scouts of America that the presiding judge in the matter called “the mother of all coverage cases.”

August 29, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

McKool Smith Hires High-Ranking U.S. Prosecutor in Dallas

Rachael Jones, most recently deputy chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas, joins McKool Smith’s white-collar and complex commercial litigation team.

August 27, 2025 Bruce Tomaso

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Features

  • P.S. — ‘This is Our American Dream,’ DFW Corp. Counsel Award Winners Share Inspiring Acceptance Remarks - Last week, The Texas Lawbook had the honor of co-hosting the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards with the Association of Corporate Counsel DFW Chapter. The words shared by the four honorees in the Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Bono and Public Service categories are still resonating with us and are well worth sharing with readers in this column.

    In this edition of P.S., we also report that Dallas-based Attorneys Serving the Community held a record-breaking fundraising event for Shared Housing Center and a Paul Hastings Texas partner has joined the advisory board of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law.
    February 6, 2026Krista Torralva & Elle Grinnell
  • ‘To the Gates of Hell’ One Dallas Lawyer Was Willing to Go in Federal Habeas Fight Over ICE Detention - Charles Gearing felt an itch last summer to get more involved in pro bono work. The healthcare litigation lawyer at Weaver Johnston Nelson in Dallas found a project that advertised a limited scope — helping detained noncitizens apply for bond — that seemed like work that required less lawyering than sleuthing and logistical hustle, or so Gearing thought. He took on the case of Pedro Romo Navarro, a Mexican citizen living in Dallas for the past three decades who was facing deportation after being stopped by police for riding a bicycle without a front light.

    What began as a seemingly simple bond request plunged Gearing into a nationwide legal and political controversy over the detention of longtime U.S. residents with no criminal records, often for months at a time in unsanitary facilities and without the opportunity for a bond hearing. Lawyers argue that these detentions violate the Immigration and Nationality Act and constitutional due process rights.
    February 3, 2026Krista Torralva

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • TechnipFMC’s Former Head of Litigation Joins Fletcher Held - After over seven years as in-house counsel, Steve Ryan has switched back to private practice at Fletcher Held in Houston. He said he was ready for a change and missed the courtroom.
  • Kilpatrick Bolsters Houston Office
  • Melsheimer, Stodghill Lead Nine-Partner Litigation Team to King & Spalding
  • Groundhog Day: More Competition for Texas Talent
  • Weil Opens New Austin Office as Firm Now Has Three in Texas
  • Smith, Gambrell & Russell Expands Texas Reach with New Addition
  • Former SEC Chief Trial Lawyer Takes Practice to Vartabedian
  • Brown Fox Jumps Over to The Quad, Nearly Doubles Footprint
  • Data Security and E-Discovery Provider HaystackID Taps Dallas Lawyer as CEO
  • To Launch New Dallas Office, Dechert Snags McDermott Duo Behind Tesla’s $1 Trillion Contract
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

Chip Babcock
Chris Bankler
Jamie B. Beaber
David J. Beck
Bill Benitez
Jessica Berkowitz
Brent Bernell
Tyler Bexley
Shawn Blackburn
Michael Blankenship
Jeffrey Brill
Anita Brown
Ian Brown
Stuart Campbell
Jack Chadderdon
Paul Clement
Erin Nealy Cox
Scott Craig
Kevin Crews
Shamus Crosby
Hannah M. Crowe
Geoffrey Culbertson
Sean Cunningham
John Daywalt
Rajiv Dharnidharka
James Ducayet
Brian K. Erickson
Scott Everett
Weiru Fang
Elizabeth Freeman
Tad Freese
Melanie Fry
Geoff Gannaway
Paul Genender
John J. Gilluly III
Rodney Gilstrap
Andrew Gorham
John Greer
Joseph Grinstein
Matthew Haddad
Colleen Haile
Breen Haire
Shahmeer Halepota
Dionne Hamilton
Troy Harder
Rusty Hardin
Michael Hawes
Nathan Hecht
Stephen Hessler
Hillary Holmes
Marc Jaffe
Lauren Jenkins
David Jones
Atma Kabad
Susan Kennedy
David Kinder
Justin King
Allan Kirk
Melanie Koltermann
Doug Kubehl
Joe Laurel
Sang Lee
Steven Lockhart
Arthur Lotz
Barbara Lynn
Mike Lynn
Nora McGuffey
Stephanie McPhail
Mark Melton
Jeri Leigh Miller
Kimberly A. Moore
Mark Moore
Shelby Morgan
Alia Moses
Davis Mosmeyer III
Darren Nicholson
Eamon Nolan
Ivy Nowinski
Holland O’Neil
George Padis
Ian Peck
Jonathan Platt
Chase Proctor
Doug Rayburn
Joel Reese
Kevin Richardson
Andrew Rodheim
Seth Rubinson
Mazin Sbaiti
Ana Sanchez
Vincenzo Santini
Jeffrey Scharfstein
Robert Schroeder III
Scott Seidel
Steven Sexton
Ahmed Sidik
Robert Slovak
Emily Smith
Melissa R. Smith
Jonathon Soler
Robert Soza
Lande Spottswood
Craig Stanfield
Justin Stolte
Josh Teahen
Kelly Tidwell
Linda Tieh
Rafael B. de Toledo
Monica Uddin
Rhett Van Syoc
Rahul Vashi
Gabe Vazquez
Patrick Venter
Sarah Walden
Kandace Walter
Kyle Watson
Mikell Alan West
Noël Wise
Meng Xi

Firms in the News

Hover right to show full list

AZA
Baker Botts
The Bandas Law Firm
Beck Redden
Boies Schiller Flexner
Bracewell
Bradley Arant
Burns Charest
Clement & Murphy
Condon & Forsyth
DLA Piper
Dykema
Foley & Lardner
Gibson Dunn
Gillam & Smith
Haynes Boone
Holland & Knight
Jackson Walker
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Lynn Pinker
Mayer Brown
MoloLamken
Pamela Welch PLLC
Patton Tidwell Culbertson
Paul Hastings
Porter Hedges
The Probus Law Firm
Reese Marketos
Rusty Hardin & Associates
Sbaiti & Company
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher
Skadden
Squire Patton Boggs
Sullivan & Cromwell
Susman Godfrey
Troutman Pepper Locke
Vinson & Elkins
Weil
Willkie
Winston & Strawn

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