The elite Wall Street law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced leadership changes in its Dallas offices on Wednesday.
GWG Trustee Sues Holland & Knight for $148M Over Alleged Beneficient Fraud
The bankruptcy trustee appointed to recover funds for creditors in the GWG Holdings bankruptcy case has sued Holland & Knight for nearly $150 million for “knowing participation in a fraudulent looting scheme and associated criminal enterprise” that included Dallas-based financial services firm Beneficient and its founder and CEO Bradley Heppner. In a 156-page complaint filed Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, the court-appointed trustee accuses longtime outside counsel Holland & Knight and one of its Dallas law partners of colluding with Heppner to “fraudulently induce” GWG to invest the $148.4 million to help BEN “stave off collapse” by repaying a senior lender.
‘What Did You Do Last Week?’ Texas Judges Hit With ‘DOGE Emails’
Just days after Elon Musk said “it is time” to consider impeaching federal judges who block President Donald Trump’s government reform initiatives, at least six federal judges in Texas and many more of their clerks and staff received so-called “DOGE emails” the past two days demanding that they justify their jobs by providing explanations of the work that they did last week. The federal judges, who spoke to The Texas Lawbook on the condition that they not be identified, said the emails created “incredible unease and stress” and caused many of the clerks and staff to ask whether their positions were in danger of being eliminated. The email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told the recipients to reply with five bullet points listing their work accomplishments and to copy their supervisor. In a statement posted on the social media platform that he owns, Musk wrote, “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
SCOTUS Appoints Kasdin Mitchell to Argue Case
Once a year or so, the U.S. Supreme Court appoints a lawyer to advocate a legal position that none of the active parties in the case favor but that needs to be addressed. The justices did just that Thursday.
Antonio Milton: Black History Month is about ‘Generations Past that Struggled to Ensure the Basic Freedoms and Privileges’
Antonio X. Milton got the bug to be a lawyer when he visited his father’s southern Louisiana law office after school. “I was in first grade, and I’d go to his office to do homework,” Milton told Tulane University, his alma mater, in a 2022 interview. “I would see him working with clients, representing real people and arguing before the courts. Just seeing him in action had such an impact on me.”
Milton was the first African American editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review, clerked for former Chief Judge Carl Stewart of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and is now a lawyer at the Houston litigation firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing. For Black History Month, The Texas Lawbook asked Milton five questions about race, diversity and inclusion and whether he worries about Black history being “cancelled.”
Texas Supreme Court Aggressively Quizzes Lawyers in Winter Storm Uri Litigation
For 45 minutes Wednesday, the state’s highest court questioned lawyers on both sides of the dispute about whether the entire litigation should be dismissed or whether it should proceed toward trial.
When it Comes to Ann Saucer, Never Doth the Lady Protest Too Much
Ann Saucer will stand before the Texas Supreme Court Wednesday morning to argue the largest and possibly most important civil litigation dispute the state’s highest court has handled this decade. The Dallas appellate law expert represents 15,000 individuals and small business owners who are asking the Texas justices to allow their Winter Storm Uri-related claims for wrongful death, personal injury and property damage against the largest electric transmission and distribution utilities in Texas to move forward to trial. Combined, the plaintiffs seek billions of dollars in damages from the energy companies.
V&E’s Quentin Smith: Black History Month Helps ‘All Better Understand Our Nation’
The spring, summer and fall of 2020 was a time of turbulence and uncertainty. The Covid-19 shutdowns meant law firm offices were closed, courts put all trials on hold and clients were struggling to survive. The media was filled with stories on the killings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. There was a feeling of isolation. But it was later that year that Vinson & Elkins promoted Quentin Smith to partner.
Smith has scored a handful of multimillion-dollar trial victories for clients and is currently one of the lead lawyers representing Oncor Electric Delivery and other transmission and distribution utilities in the Winter Storm Uri litigation in which 15,000 plaintiffs seek several billions of dollars in damages in wrongful death, personal injury and property damage cases. Despite his busy schedule, Smith agreed to discuss Black History Month and diversity efforts with The Texas Lawbook.
P.S. — Meet The Lawbook’s New Pro Bono & Diversity Reporter
Throughout the world of corporate law, there have been attacks on diversity and inclusion, as the biggest companies and law firms in America have bowed to pressure to back off their public commitment to DEI. At the same time, some political leaders and media commentators openly shame lawyers for tackling unpopular defendants or policies. The Texas Lawbook is actually doubling down on our commitment to pro bono, public service and diversity in the legal profession. Today, we officially announce the hiring of Krista Torralva as a new pro bono and diversity beat reporter for The Texas Lawbook. Krista is a former Dallas Morning News courts reporter who has covered litigation for The Lawbook for more than a year.
Winter Storm Uri — Four Years Later, Zero Jury Trials for 30,000 Victims of Historic Storm
The ground had not yet thawed four years ago when the Texas courts were slammed with an avalanche of lawsuits. More than 30,000 individuals and small businesses filed wrongful death, personal injury and property damage lawsuits against ERCOT and the energy companies accusing them of gross negligence that caused much of the power blackouts. A separate class action accused energy companies and financial institutions of using Winter Storm Uri to manipulate prices and generate billions of dollars in profits. Four years later, not a single witness deposition has been taken and not a single case has been set for trial. And a growing number of legal experts predict that none of those cases will ever be heard by a jury of Texas citizens.