The Texas Supreme Court issued a new emergency order Wednesday that officially stays or tolls “any statute-of-limitations deadlines for the filing or service of any civil case” between March 13 and June 1. The new order takes discretion away from trial judges.
Fed Circuit Gives Schlumberger, Latham Huge Win in Patent Dispute
A widely monitored and hotly contested patent dispute in the oil patch likely ended Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled that energy giant Schlumberger did not infringe on the intellectual property of legendary Houston energy inventor and lawyer, Dr. Claude Cooke.
Dallas Trial Lawyer Trey Cox Jumps to Gibson Dunn
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is expected to announce that Trey Cox, a name partner at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst, is joining the firm as a partner in its trial section. Cox, who is married to Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Erin Cox, was a lead lawyer representing Purdue Pharma in litigation over the opioid epidemic in Oklahoma and had been with the Lynn Pinker law firm for 23 years.
Fifth Circuit Gives AT&T, Arbitrators Big Win
Arbitrators in commercial civil disputes may change their minds and reverse their own final decisions without the worry of any review by federal judges, even in cases in which judges believe the arbitrator committed “grave error.” The Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of AT&T, which has been in a five-year-long labor dispute with one of its labor unions, the Communications Workers of America.
COVID-19 has Law Firms Considering Changes to Summer Associate Programs
Corporate law firm leaders across Texas are scrambling to figure out what to tell the hundreds of increasingly nervous law students scheduled to participate in summer associate programs scheduled to start in about six weeks. Sidley is delaying its summer clerks arrival for two weeks. Other firms are not sure.
2019 Capital Markets Transactions
The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker documents all M&A activity and securities offerings handled by in-house and outside counsel in Texas. Today, The Lawbook publishes a list of the 139 IPOs and equity and debt offerings that Texas lawyers worked on in 2019.
Chasity Henry Joins CECO Environmental as GC
Chasity Henry, a veteran of the Kimberly-Clark and Dr Pepper Snapple legal departments, officially moved into the corporate C-suite Monday as a general counsel of Dallas-based CECO Environmental. At age 39, Henry is widely recognized as one of the leading voices on diversity in the legal profession.
Corp. Deal Tracker 2019 M&A Master List – 303 Texas Transactions and the Lawyers who Led Them
If a Texas lawyer works on an M&A transaction, The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker database documents it. Today, The Lawbook has published our master list of all non-confidential transactions from 2019. The Corporate Deal Tracker lists the lawyers and law firms who represented the buyers and sellers in all 303 transactions.
Expert: TX Law Firms Face Financial Hits, Opportunities in Crisis
Corporate law firms in Texas are going to take a financial hit as a result of the one-two punch of the coronavirus and plunging oil prices, according to a law firm management expert. The crisis is also an opportunity for firm leaders to make significant changes, including giving underperforming partners the boot.
NDTX Postpones All Federal Trials for Six Weeks; Texas Office of Court Administration Offers New Guidelines for Judges on COVID-19
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas issued an order Friday afternoon that calls for all civil and criminal trials scheduled now through May 1 to be reset at a later date as a result of concerns over the coronavirus. Texas Office of Court Administration told state judges to reschedule or suspend proceedings due to COVID-19.
