Kirkland & Ellis lawyers had no knowledge that former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones was having a secret romantic affair with a former partner at a Texas law firm that served as its co-counsel in dozens of corporate restructurings and that Kirkland cannot be held accountable for the ethical lapses of the judge in those cases, according to court documents filed Friday. Lawyers for Kirkland, which include David Beck, argue that the Chicago-founded law firm should be dismissed from a federal racketeering lawsuit that accuses Kirkland and its co-counsel at Dallas-based Jackson Walker of exploiting the relationship between Judge Jones and former Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman. Jackson Walker has hired Rusty Hardin and Judge Jones is being represented by McKool Smith.
Come ‘World War or Power Outages,’ SEC’s FWRO Charges 17 in Alleged CryptoFX Fraud Scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed federal fraud charges Thursday against 17 sales workers with a Houston-based cryptocurrency trading company for allegedly operating a $300 million Ponzi scheme targeting more than 40,000 investors — most of them Latinos.
Jackson Walker: Zero Evidence That Any Bankruptcy Decisions Were ‘Influenced by Secret Intimate Relationship’
Lawyers for Jackson Walker contend that the U.S. Justice Department “fails to plead any plausible allegations” in its effort to claw-back legal fees paid to the firm for its work on 26 different corporate bankruptcies and to have sanctions levied against the firm.
The Dallas-based corporate law firm argues that there is no evidence that then-U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones’ intimate relationship with then-Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman influenced any of his decisions and that Jackson Walker should not be penalized because it only learned about the relationship after many of the cases raised by the U.S. trustee had been concluded.
U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee: Jackson Walker Acted in “Bad Faith,” Should Return $11M in Fees
Jackson Walker violated lawyer disciplinary and federal bankruptcy disclosure rules when it failed to disclose the romantic relationship between one of its lawyers and the judge in several high-profile bankruptcies, and the firm should be sanctioned and required to return more than $11 million it was paid in those cases, according to the U.S. trustee for the Southern District of Texas.
Dallas Lawyers Score $57M Patent Win in Delaware
A seven-person federal jury in Wilmington heard four days of testimony, deliberated for two hours and then unanimously found that a group of refined-coal plant operators affiliated with CERT Operations “willfully” violated the patented mercury-reducing technology of Corsicana-headquartered Midwest Energy Emissions Corp.
Employee Spotlight: Krista Torralva
The Texas Lawbook is pleased to announce that former Dallas Morning News courts reporter Krista Torralva has joined The Lawbook team to work with Michelle Casady and Janet Elliott to cover complex commercial litigation being handled by Texas lawyers.
SEC: Houston Man Illegally Used Wife’s Insider Info for $1.76M in Profits
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the last name of the man accused of insider trading. The Lawbook regrets the error.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed federal insider trading charges Thursday accusing a Houston man with using information he obtained from his wife, who worked in the M&A division at BP, to illegally profit from the British-based oil conglomerate’s $1.3 billion acquisition of TravelCenters of America one year ago.
Paul Hastings Lands CapM Trio from Akin
A dozen years after first opening an office in Houston, Paul Hastings is making a concerted effort to expand its presence in Texas. The 1,100-lawyer corporate firm announced Monday three new capital markets partners — David Elder, Christopher Centrich and Patrick Hurley — have joined its Houston outpost from Akin Gump. The addition of the trio of lawyers comes six months after Paul Hastings hired complex commercial litigator Paul Genender away from Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
Match CLO Jared Sine ‘Taking on More of a Strategy Role’ at GoDaddy
For eight years, Jared Sine has navigated multibillion-dollar M&A deals and bet-the-company litigation at Match Group. On Friday, Sine announced that he is leaving the dating app tech company on March 11 to become the chief legal and chief strategy officer with GoDaddy, a $15 billion web hosting corporation, starting March 18. Sine’s deputy at Match, associate general counsel Jeanette Teckman, will step in as acting chief legal officer.
“At the end of the day, eight years is a long time to be at any one place,” Sine told The Texas Lawbook in an interview Friday. “We’ve built a great team — a phenomenal team that I would be hesitant to challenge if I was an opponent. It’s been a fun ride to be part of the growth at Match.”
Three Lawyers, Six Texas Justices Take Center Stage in Winter Storm Uri’s Biggest Case
Six Texas Supreme Court justices peppered three lawyers with about two-dozen questions during an hour of oral argument Tuesday morning in an effort to determine whether the state’s Public Utility Commission was within its power to manually set electric rates at $9,000 per megawatt-hour during the four days of Winter Storm Uri in 2021 or if a massive, multibillion-dollar repricing needs to take place.
“The question before this court is a narrow, legal one: Does the plain text of PURA authorize the PUC to order ERCOT to restore competitive scarcity pricing signals to the electricity market and ensure the reliability of the electric grid?” Macey Reasoner Stokes, an appellate partner at Baker Botts in Houston who represents Calpine and Talen Energy, told the state’s highest court. “We submit the answer is a resounding yes.” Lawyers for Luminant disagreed. The Texas Lawbook has the details.