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The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

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Krista Torralva

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.

P.S. — Champions of Justice Gala Shatters Record, Remembering Fallen Heroes and Dallas to Kyiv: One Lawyer’s Solidarity with Ukraine  

In this week’s edition of P.S., the 2025 Champions of Justice Gala shattered previous fundraising records by collecting over $1 million to support legal aid for veterans, with AT&T’s David McAtee and Halliburton’s Van Beckwith co-chairing the event and receiving widespread support from the legal community. Keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson highlighted the importance of access to justice, while Texas lawyers Rebecca Flanigan and Fred Krasny were honored for their dedication to legal aid. Meanwhile, Dallas attorney Rogge Dunn raised over $100,000 at a dinner with Gen. David Petraeus to support Ukrainian mental health efforts and plans to attend the Kyiv Security Forum. In a separate initiative, Carry the Load launched its annual Memorial May campaign to honor fallen heroes, with longtime legal support from Sidley Austin’s Aaron Rigby, a U.S. Navy veteran and founding supporter of the nonprofit.

May 2, 2025 Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Chris Patton 

Firm partner Chris Patton deserved a “most valuable player” award for zipping back-and-forth between New York and Pennsylvania representing Energy Transfer in two trials around the winter holidays, said name partner Mike Lynn of Dallas-based Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann. 

April 25, 2025 Krista Torralva

Q&A With Trial Lawyer Angela Zambrano

Angela Zambrano often tests her arguments against her children before presenting to a judge or jury. Because if there’s one thing kids understand, it’s fairness, Zambrano reasoned. The co-leader of Sidley’s Dallas office and the firm’s global litigation practice shared these and other tips in an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook.

April 22, 2025 Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Bob Hilliard

Robert C. Hilliard has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was on the forefront of litigation against General Motors over its faulty ignition switches. And he helped free a man from prison for a fatal car wreck that Hilliard proved was the result of an auto defect in a lawsuit against Toyota that netted an $11.4 million jury verdict. But a story of a serendipitous connection between an early client and one of his colleagues is the one he tells to convey how fulfilling his legal career has been. 

April 18, 2025 Krista Torralva

P.S. — Women’s Champions Honored, Auction Items Sought, First Amendment Lawyer Recognized

Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas has announced its Women’s Advocacy Awards recipients who will be honored at its annual reception June 11 at the Arts District Mansion in Dallas. That and more, including details on the Hispanic Bar Association’s Houston Annual Gala, in this edition of P.S.

April 18, 2025 Krista Torralva

Q&A With Trial Lawyer Chip Babcock

When more than 50 Texas Democratic senators fled the state in 2003 to deny the senate a quorum over a controversial Republican redistricting bill, they called Charles “Chip” Babcock, one of the finest First Amendment trial lawyers famously known for representing talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a six-week trial in Amarillo. Babcock, who is currently defending far-right cable network One America News against a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, recently concluded a 25-year run as chair of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee. He shares thoughts from his 40-year legal career in this Texas Lawbook exclusive. 

April 15, 2025 Krista Torralva

Southwest Airlines Asks Judge for One Cent Judgment to End Litigation Over Squashed Free Flights Program

Lawyers for Southwest Airlines have asked a judge to enter a judgment ordering the Dallas-based airline to pay one cent and reasonable attorneys’ fees to the American Alliance for Equal Rights to end its lawsuit over a defunct program that offered free flights to low-income Hispanic students traveling to visit their parents. Southwest Airlines ended the charitable program “¡Lánzate!” — meaning “Take off!” — after political conservative Edward Blum’s AAER sued Southwest on behalf of a white student and an Asian student who claimed they were illegally denied benefits of the program. The AAER sought one cent in damages from Southwest. (Photo courtesy Ashlee D. Smith/Southwest Airlines)

April 15, 2025 Krista Torralva

Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center Reaches Major Milestone

For the first time this week, the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center has lawyers stationed at each of the county’s 10 eviction courts. They will be available to help tenants every day there’s an eviction docket. The center, founded by Holland & Knight partner Mark Melton, reached this goal at a time when the Texas Legislature is considering bills that would scale back due process and judicial oversight for evictions. 

April 9, 2025 Krista Torralva

Q&A with Trial Lawyer Jeffrey B. Simon

“There is no right that is so entrenched in the American experience that someone can’t take it away,” trial lawyer Jeffrey B. Simon told The Texas Lawbook about writing his book, Last Rights: The Fight to Save the 7th Amendment. Simon, who co-leads the state’s opioid multidistrict litigation, shared why he wrote his book and how it’s a collection of thoughts and ideas developed over a career spanning more than three decades. 

April 8, 2025 Krista Torralva

O’Melveny, Texas-based First Liberty Institute Win Preliminary Injunction For Church in California

A federal judge in the Central District of California handed a win Monday to a Chinese- and Taiwanese-American church in Santa Ana that is represented by a pro bono team of lawyers from O’Melveny & Myers and Plano-based First Liberty Institute.

April 8, 2025 Krista Torralva

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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
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

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

Hover right to show full list

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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