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Mark Curriden

Mark Curriden is a lawyer/journalist and founder of The Texas Lawbook. In addition, he is a contributing legal correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

Mark Curriden

Mark Curriden is a lawyer/journalist and founder of The Texas Lawbook. In addition, he is a contributing legal correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

Mark is the author of the best selling book Contempt of Court: A Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism. The book received the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and numerous other honors. He also is a frequent lecturer at bar associations, law firm retreats, judicial conferences and other events. His CLE presentations have been approved for ethics credit in nearly every state.

From 1988 to 1994, Mark was the legal affairs writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he covered the Georgia Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He authored a three-part series of articles that exposed rampant use of drug dealers and criminals turned paid informants by local and federal law enforcement authorities, which led to Congressional oversight hearings. A related series of articles by Mark contributed to a wrongly convicted death row inmate being freed.

The Dallas Morning News made Mark its national legal affairs writer in 1996. For more than six years, Mark wrote extensively about the tobacco litigation, alleged price-fixing in the pharmaceutical industry, the Exxon Valdez litigation, and more than 25 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Mark also authored a highly-acclaimed 16-part series on the future of the American jury system. As part of his extensive coverage of the tobacco litigation, Mark unearthed confidential documents and evidence showing that the then Texas Attorney General, Dan Morales, had made a secret deal with a long-time lawyer and friend in which the friend would have profited hundreds of millions of dollars from the tobacco settlement. As a direct result of Mark’s articles, the U.S. Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation, which led to the indictment and conviction of Mr. Morales.

For the past 25 years, Mark has been a senior contributing writer for the ABA Journal, which is the nation’s largest legal publication. His articles have been on the cover of the magazine more than a dozen times. He has received scores of honors for his legal writing, including the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, the American Judicature Society’s Toni House Award, the American Trial Lawyer’s Amicus Award, and the Chicago Press Club’s Headliner Award. Twice, in 2001 and 2005, the American Board of Trial Advocates named Mark its “Journalist of the Year.”

From 2002 to 2010, Mark was the senior communications counsel at Vinson & Elkins, a 750-lawyer global law firm.

Mark’s book, Contempt of Court, tells the story of Ed Johnson, a young black man from Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1906. Johnson was falsely accused of rape, railroaded through the criminal justice system, found guilty and sentenced to death – all in three weeks. Two African-American lawyers stepped forward to represent Johnson on appeal. In doing so, they filed one of the first federal habeas petitions ever attempted in a state criminal case. The lawyers convinced the Supreme Court of the United States to stay Johnson’s execution. But before they could have him released, a lynch mob, aided by the sheriff and his deputies, lynched Johnson. Angered, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the sheriff and leaders of the mob, charging them with contempt of the Supreme Court. It is the only time in U.S. history that the Supreme Court conducted a criminal trial.

You can reach Mark at mark.curriden@texaslawbook.net or 214.232.6783.

Thirteen Years of Texas M&A: Three Law Firms, 2,000 Deals, $2 Trillion

Lawyers at Kirkland, Latham and V&E say they see each other across the table in the biggest M&A deals in the Lone Star State. New Mergermarket data shows the dominance of the trio of law firms in Texas dealmaking is far from a new trend. The numbers are staggering. To be sure, other corporate law firms operating in Texas have done their fair share of dealmaking. The Texas Lawbook looks back at more than a dozen years of M&A and the law firms doing the work.

Mark Curriden

Mergermarket: Kirkland Sets Texas M&A Record for Second Straight Year

Kirkland & Ellis is having back-to-back record years for representing businesses and private equity firms doing deals in Texas. Three law firms – Kirkland, V&E and Latham & Watkins – hold the top 18 spots for having advised the most buyers, sellers and investment banks in M&A transactions in a single year. The Texas Lawbook has the details.

Mark Curriden

Federal Circuit Reverses Part of VirnetX v. Apple $502M Verdict

VirnetX Holding’s decade-long patent infringement battle against Apple appears to be closer to a finality. The federal appeals court tossed out two of four patent violations and sent the case back to the Eastern District of Texas to recalculate damages. The Texas Lawbook explains the long and winding road.

Mark Curriden

By a Nose, Waco Overtakes Marshall as Patent Litigation Hotbed in TX

The reign of the Eastern District of Texas as the busiest patent docket in the U.S. ended last year when Delaware captured the top spot. Now, EDTX isn't even the busiest patent jurisdiction in Texas. The designation now belongs to the Western District and new federal judge Alan Albright. The Texas Lawbook has an exclusive interview with Judge Albright, new data and an in-depth report on the new hot patent docket.

Mark Curriden

Norton Rose Fulbright began as Fulbright & Crooker at the top of a Houston bank tower 100 years ago. Here is a timeline of their ascent to one of the largest firms on the planet.

Mark Curriden

From Two Lawyers in Houston to 4,000 Worldwide – Fulbright Turns 100

Exactly a century ago, R.C. Fulbright and John Crooker started their own law firm. A dozen years later, the firm added a young unknown trial lawyer named Leon Jaworski. No Texas corporate law firm has had a bigger historical impact on the legal profession, business and politics than Fulbright & Jaworski. Now known as Norton Rose Fulbright, the firm occupies 11 floors atop the Fulbright Tower in downtown Houston and boasts more than 4,000 lawyers in 29 countries with revenues expected to top $2 billion this year. This is the story of a law firm everyone just calls "Fulbright" - how it got here and where it is going.

Mark Curriden

Carter Dugan: The Future of Norton Rose Fulbright and a Link to its Past

As a little girl, Carter Dugan played in the office of her grandfather, James Kerr, high atop Fulbright Tower in downtown Houston. Kerr practiced alongside legendary lawyers, including Leon Jaworski, for six decades. Now, Dugan is an energy litigation partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, officing only a few floors away from where she played as a kid. Like the old-timers, she has great stories to tell.

Mark Curriden

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