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Janet Elliott

Janet has deep knowledge of Texas government, including the Texas Legislature and Texas Supreme Court. Her policy expertise includes public and higher education funding and policy, civil justice, pension and investment funds, and state budget. Janet's news media career has also included stops at the Houston Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal and Texas Lawyer.

SCOTX Hears Guardianship Divorce Case to Open Term

The $32 million estate of wealthy Laredo lawyer and businessman Carlos Benavides is at the center of the battle over a divorce initiated by his daughter and guardian. His fourth wife argues that her challenge to the divorce decree was not mooted by Benavides’ death amidst the appeal and that Texas law does not allow a guardian to petition for divorce on behalf of a ward. The daughter says that spousal lack of care for her mentally incapacitated father caused her to remove Benavides from his marital home. The Supreme Court this week is hearing other high-profile cases involving police immunity, defamation and professional discipline over a filing contesting the 2020 election.

September 11, 2024 Janet Elliott

Brister Readies for Curtain Rise on Fifteenth COA

Scott A. Brister is winding down his appellate practice as he prepares to once again don a black robe. Brister, who has served at all levels of the Texas court system, on Sept. 1 will step into his new role as chief justice of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. He will be joined on the first and only intermediate appellate court given statewide jurisdiction by Scott K. Field, a Williamson County district judge and former Third Court of Appeals jurist, and April L. Farris of the First Court of Appeals. The trio will need their combined 30 years of judicial experience as they navigate some 70 state-related cases and prepare to develop jurisprudence for the new business trial courts. (Photo by Laura Skelding)

August 19, 2024 Janet Elliott

SCOTX Reverses Jury’s $26 Million Verdict for Woman Paralyzed in Minivan Crash

A 2003 tort reform law limits Honda’s liability because its ceiling-mounted detachable seatbelt system met federal safety regulations. The case presented novel questions about the interplay of state law and federal regulations. The large jury verdict was considered by some lawyers to be a so-called “nuclear verdict” ripe for reversal.

June 28, 2024 Janet Elliott

Landfill Dispute Returned to District Court Minus Fair Market Value Claim

The Texas Supreme Court kept alive the lawsuit filed by Travis Central Appraisal District over a landfill’s slashed property valuation but returned the case to the district court on substantially narrowed grounds. The court sided with Texas Disposal System in removing the appraiser’s fair market value claim but will allow market value evidence to be heard. The tax dispute centers on an unusual property that also houses exotic animals and hosts private parties.

June 21, 2024 Janet Elliott

Scott A. Brister to Lead New 15th Court of Appeals

Two others with intermediate appellate court experience were named to the appellate court by Gov. Abbott, who also announced appointments to the new Austin business court division. The governor still must name judges for business court divisions in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. The Texas Lawbook‘s Janet Elliott has the details.

June 11, 2024 Janet Elliott

Business Court Applicants Pick Favorite Judges, Disliked Decisions

Answers to the governor’s questionnaire shed some light on the judicial philosophies of some 30 who have applied for the coming business trial and appellate courts. Generally, they like conservatives like Scalia and Thomas and shun SCOTUS decisions on Obamacare and the Chevron deference.  

Editor’s note: This article was written in advance of the governor’s announcements Wednesday.

June 11, 2024 Janet Elliott

Transactional Lawyers Fail to Materialize for Biz Court Positions

Litigators dominate the latest applications for the new business court judgeships, public records show. In the coming weeks, Gov. Greg Abbott will exercise his new power to select jurists to handle the new court’s docket of complex corporate governance and transactional disputes. A drafter of the legislation to create the specialized court system makes the case for ‘sit down’ lawyers to throw their names in the hat.

June 10, 2024 Janet Elliott

SCOTX: Trial Court Must Revisit Order Shutting Down Stinky Poultry Operations

Justices determined that two adjacent chicken farms were a nuisance but said less-drastic remedies to abate the odors are warranted. Agricultural interests are closely following the appeal, which attracted prominent lawyers for Sanderson Farms and its growers.

June 7, 2024 Janet Elliott

TxDOT to Face ‘Takings’ Claim Over Tree Removal, SCOTX Says

The Texas Supreme Court rejected the state transportation department’s claim that it thought the large oaks and elms were in its right of way when it directed a contractor to have them cut down. Such a ruling would “eviscerate our constitutional bulwark against uncompensated takings,” the court said.

May 17, 2024 Janet Elliott

Houston Not Liable for Cop Car Crash with Bicyclist

Justices decided the first of three cases that test cities’ immunity when officers were involved in vehicle crashes while responding to calls for service. The court dismissed a
wrongful-death case filed by the family of a Houston bicyclist killed by a cop car speeding at night without emergency lights and sirens. The court found that the officer acted in good faith while responding to a suicide in progress call.

May 10, 2024 Janet Elliott

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Features

  • P.S. — Pro Bono Work Honored at State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting - Advancing access to justice in rural Texas, advocating for domestic violence survivors and ensuring Spanish speakers aren’t left out are among the pro bono initiatives for which lawyers and a judge were honored during the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in San Antonio.   July 4, 2025Krista Torralva

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • McGuireWoods Names Tyler VanHoutan as New Houston Office Managing Partner - Keeping with McGuireWoods' practice of alternating people in its leadership roles, the firm has also appointed new office managing partners in Atlanta, Baltimore and San Francisco. The new appointments took effect this month.
  • Reed Smith Beefs Up Global Regulatory Enforcement Group, Hires V&E Partner 
  • Rey Anaya Valencia Begins Deanship at South Texas College of Law Houston
  • Willkie Adds Blake Winburne to its Houston Office
  • Hines CLO Joins Greenberg Traurig in Houston
  • Thomas Verity Vaults to Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Veteran Houston Partner Jumps from Latham to Simpson
  • Skadden Hires Two M&A Partners from White & Case
  • V&E Adds Three Partners: Two from Kirkland, One from Baker Botts
  • Houston Texans Associate GC Jumps to Munsch Hardt
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Lawyers in the News

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Barry Barnett
Wes Bearden
Emily Westridge Black
Michael Burke
Alicia Campbell
John Campbell
Madeleine Carpenter
Alexander Clark
Dawn Pittman Collins
Richard Finneran
Elizabeth Freeman
David Gail
Elizabeth Gibson
David Jones
Frank Lopez
Abbe Lowell
Neal Manne
Billy Marsh
Tom Melsheimer
Tasha Moser
Justin Nelson
Reed O'Connor
Kate Pennartz
John “J.” Pieratt
Danielle Reyes
Christopher Richardson
Randy Sorrels
Harry Susman
Larry Vincent
Victor Vital
Brent Walker
Matt Weybrecht
Melody Wilkinson
Alex Wolens

Firms in the News

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A&O Shearman
Bryan Cave
Cozen O'Connor
Haynes Boone
Holland & Knight
Jackson Walker
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Law Office of Liz Freeman
Paul Hastings
Porter Hedges
Sorrels Law
Susman Godfrey
Toyota
Troutman Pepper Locke
Willkie
Vinson & Elkins
Weil
Winston & Strawn

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