Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
An eight year veteran of the U.S. Army, Glen Hill had no idea what public finance was. But after a decade of training in the Bracewell muni-bond practice, Hill is the assistant general counsel at Preston Hollow Capital and has “touched” more than 80 financial transactions. He’s worked on 35 deals that have closed.
Lori Browne attended her first law school class when she was seven and she immediately gave up her dream of being a rock star in favor of practicing law. Three decades later, Browne is the GC of a pipe manufacturer that employs 5,000 people, operates 85 manufacturing facilities and has a market cap of $922 million. And she's had a really big year.
Ashford Associate GC Jim Plohg played a critical role in 10 transactions, including a couple transformational deals last year for the publicly traded hospitality industry asset management firm. But you can also catch him frequently at the Eagles Canyon Raceway racing a Porsche 911 GT3 in near-bumper-to-bumper traffic at speeds of 160 MPH.
Less than two years on the job, Aundrea Holt assumed legal support for the airline's nationwide paid sick leave policy and administration, played an instrumental role in American’s nationwide sexual harassment prevention training and led the legal department's move to its new corporate headquarters, Skyview 8 .She credits her parents and two federal judges for her success.
A West Point alum, Noah Webster led Zix through a transformational acquisition and capital raise last year. But his most interesting success for the security tech business involved a URL, an Oakland artist and past due garbage collection bills. Not bad for the son of a "toilet paper salesman."
Seven years ago, Tracy Preston traded in her Levi jeans for Jimmy Choo shoes to become the GC at Neiman Marcus. Last year, she defeated a $1 billion lawsuit brought by a hedge fund, executed a complex transaction that extend the company's funded debt and played a strategic role in the opening of Neiman Marcus Hudson Yards, the company’s first store in New York City. She has more to come in 2020.
Mike McKool and a group of McKool Smith lawyers asked a San Diego federal court jury to order Apple to pay their client $85 million for patent infringement. On Friday, the jury did just that. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Ashlie Alaman returned home Monday after a four day mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico, which is one of the most dangerous towns on the border. She and seven other women from their church delivered food, clothes, sewing machines to 400 migrants in a shelter hoping for asylum in the U.S. Alaman is a "force of nature" in the pro bono world. "I absolutely love being a lawyer ... to help change people’s lives,” she says.
James Sheppard took his first flight on Southwest Airlines when he was a high school freshman. Twenty-five years later, Sheppard is a senior litigation attorney for Southwest who took two major multimillion-dollar lawsuits to trial in California last year and won both of them. This is the story of how he did it.
Navin Rao led Michaels Stores through an IPO, two major acquisitions, the liquidations of its Aaron Brothers and Pat Catan’s store chains and the issuance of a $500 million senior notes offering. But did you know that Sabrina the Teenage Witch bought Rao drinks? Or that he now has a new GC job? The Texas Lawbook has the details.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
