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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.

Ecobat’s Carolyn Lam — ‘Racing to the Next Mile Marker’

Growing up, Carolyn Lam had no interest in being a lawyer. Her parents, immigrants from Vietnam, were against her becoming an attorney. “They were extremely concerned about my decision to become a lawyer, and what they saw on TV wasn’t promising,” Lam said. “Who wants your kid to learn how to weasel their way out of the truth and subvert the law?”

Lam did fine. Better than fine, actually. She is now the deputy GC at Dallas-based Ecobat, the world’s largest battery recycler. And her successes during the past year and a half include settling a major class action lawsuit against Ecobat for pennies on the dollar, the divestiture of seven different business operations across three countries in southern Africa and the implementation of the company’s first global anticompetition training program and global code of conduct.

Mark Curriden

Maria Alonso: ‘Every Day Is My Best Day’ at Tokyo Electron

In October 2022, the U.S. government imposed novel and complex semiconductor export control rules designed to limit Chinese access to advanced integrated circuits for artificial intelligence and other technology innovations with potential military applications. The 139-pages issued by the U.S. Commerce Department forced semiconductor companies to interpret and immediately comply with the massive new regulatory regime. Tokyo Electron, an $84 billion Japanese-based global innovative semiconductor production equipment maker with significant U.S. operations, turned to a 32-year-old Dallas lawyer only four years out of law school for guidance. Maria G. Alonso did not disappoint.

“Maria immediately pulled up her sleeves and went to work, advising company executives in the U.S. and Japan on the nuances of the new rule and how it would impact the company in the U.S. as well as its operations abroad,” said Stinson international trade partner Elsa Manzanares. “There is no doubt Maria Alonso was the right person at the right time." Citing her success, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Alonso one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.

Mark Curriden

City Electric Supply’s Clinton Willett is ‘Not Afraid to Get into the Weeds’

Clinton Willett was a teenager when his mother waged a mighty battle against cancer — a fight she heartbreakingly lost. “Being a lower-middle-class family, I saw the devastating financial implications of such a fight,” said Willett, noting that his father was a career U.S. Postal Service employee. “I knew I had to find a career that would allow me to provide a different lifestyle and comfort level for my family if I worked hard enough.”

Fifteen years later, Lynne Willett would be mighty proud of her son. Willett earned a bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University, graduated cum laude from the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law and is now corporate counsel of City Electric Supply in Dallas. He has been so successful during his first two years at City Electric that the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Willett as one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel of the Year Award for Rookie of the Year. This is his story.

Mark Curriden

Q&A: Diane Hornquist of Hunt Realty

For Premium Subscribers As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500

Mark Curriden

For 25 Years, Diane Hornquist Has Been Hunt Realty’s Go-To Problem Solver

As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500 million, 800,000 square-foot complex, Diane Hornquist sat on the front row just absorbing it all. Hornquist never took the stage but she was critical in the 11-acre North End mixed use development becoming a reality. “This deal involved a complicated build-to-suit lease, entitlement work, master development work, a joint venture, a mortgage loan and a mezzanine loan, and Diane led and was deeply involved in all aspects of it,” said Baker Botts partner Jeremy Gott. “I can easily say that without Diane’s leadership and tenacity, it would have been next to impossible to have successfully concluded this transaction in a timely manner — or perhaps at all.”

Mark Curriden

Senate Confirms Judge John Kazen to SDTX District Bench

The U.S. Senate Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. district court judge in Texas in nearly four years when it voted to approve U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kazen for an open seat on the federal bench in the Southern District of Texas. President Biden nominated Judge Kazen for the position last year after Houston federal judge Vanessa Gilmore retired. Judge Kazen’s chambers in Laredo, once he is sworn in, will be in the federal building named after his father, former U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen.

Mark Curriden

2023 DFW GCs of the Year: GameStop, Avantax and Hunt Realty

Corporate general counsel faced a year of business and governmental turmoil, higher interest rates, tightened capital markets and dramatic changes in state and federal regulatory schemes throughout 2023. But three GCs did it exceptionally well. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced the 2023 DFW General Counsel of the Year awards Tuesday for three categories. The winners are GameStop General Counsel Mark Robinson, Hunt Realty Investments General Counsel Diane Hornquist, and former Avantax Chief Legal Officer Tabitha Bailey. A panel of independent judges reviewed more than 60 nominations in 13 different categories submitted by corporate legal departments and law firms. The DFW Corporate Counsel Awards recognize the successes and leadership demonstrated by in-house counsel in North Texas.

Mark Curriden

DFW Business Litigation and Rookie of the Year

The legal department at Match Group is the recipient of the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year. Clinton Willett, corporate counsel at City Electric Supply, and Maria Alonso, trade and corporate counsel at Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, are the two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Monday.

Corporate legal departments and law firms submitted more than 60 nominations in 13 different categories for this year’s DFW Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognize the successes and leadership demonstrated by in-house counsel in North Texas. DFW General Counsel of the Year will be announced Tuesday.

Mark Curriden

DFW Senior Counsel of the Year Finalists: City Electric, Ecobat, Envoy Air, Jacobs

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announce two winners and two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year. Corporate legal departments and law firms submitted more than 60 nominations in 13 different categories for this year’s DFW Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognize the successes and leadership demonstrated by in-house counsel in North Texas. During the past week, The Lawbook has announced finalists for M&A Deal of the Year, Corporate Secretary/Legal Counselor of the Year, Pro Bono and Public Service and Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion. The full details on the finalists are in The Lawbook.

Mark Curriden

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