Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity matters in the Texas legal market.
Krista Torralva covers pro bono, public service, and diversity for the Texas Lawbook Foundation and The Texas Lawbook. Previously, she covered courts for The Dallas Morning News. Krista has spent the bulk of her decade-plus-long career covering criminal courts in Texas and Florida. Her reporting includes the high profile federal terrorism trial against the Pulse nightclub shooter’s widow in Orlando, which ended in a rare acquittal. Her civil courts coverage has included the long-winding Texas voter ID lawsuit, legal battles over local Covid-19 mandates and school board disputes. Krista's work has been recognized by the State Bar of Texas' Gavel Awards, the Texas Association Press Managing Editors, the National Headliner Awards program and various local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists.
The daughter of a Naval officer, Krista grew up traveling every few years but calls Corpus Christi home and talks about the Texas Gulf Coast every chance she gets. She lives in Dallas’ North Oak Cliff with her husband, Fares Sabawi.
Krista graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Nitro Fluids infringed on two of Cameron International Corporation’s patents, a federal jury decided. John Keville, the Sheppard Mullin partner who represented Cameron, discusses what challenges Cameron faced and why he believes the trial went in his client’s favor.
Melsheimer, who is the managing partner at the Dallas office, is poised to take on a new role, helping to lead the firm’s 450-person litigation team. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Melsheimer shares his philosophy for leadership and ways the firm is breaking the mold.
The justices had consolidated the oral arguments in two cases that involve disputes in Mills and Wilbarger counties. The cases are part of a large group of lawsuits filed by Oncor to fight the valuation of its transmission lines in 13 counties. The utility company argues incorrect data provided by a private appraisal firm to determine 2019 values led to a $7 million overvaluation of its property and a "windfall" of taxes for the local governments.
Texas’ growing economy and “dynamic legal market” present “many opportunities for a nimble firm like Dowd Bennett,” Barnes said in an interview with The Texas Lawbook following the announcement of his move from Kirkland & Ellis. Barnes, now a partner at Dowd Bennett, has long-held ties to St. Louis, where the litigation boutique is based.
Mascianica joins the firm as a partner and head of its Government Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement group. Mascianica shares why the career move was “too good of an opportunity to pass up” in an interview with The Lawbook.
U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer of the Northern District of Texas said a John Doe auditor’s argument that the case should be heard in Texas is “unpersuasive.” The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s disciplinary proceedings.
Dr. Hieu T. Dang has an impressive résumé, packed with medical and legal experience as well as a diversity of languages. Dang will continue his anesthesiology practice while working for Sorrels and his own private practice. In a Q&A, Dang shares his keys for success and his winding career path.
A three-judge panel including the chief judge issued a rare reversal of a trial verdict on the grounds of improper jury argument. Two Texas lawyers who resorted to name calling, including one who threw a tissue box at opposing counsel, “employed nearly every category of what we have previously held to be improper closing argument,” the judges wrote.
Intellectual property and business disputes lawyer Kyle Ryman was a top scorer on the July 2021 Texas Bar Exam thanks to his very own study app that he used to convert long outlines to flashcards. Now, he wants to donate the patent and code to a deserving school or nonprofit.
On a recent February morning, Ryan Pitts got his first experience in the Texas Supreme Court, accompanying a colleague who argued the case. That afternoon, Pitts learned a U.S. Fifth Circuit panel handed him a victory in his first-ever appellate argument.
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