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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.

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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 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.

Susan Snyder Returns to V&E

Susan Snyder comes back to V&E after broadening her business experience on a global scale

October 9, 2012 Mark Curriden

Jones Day Advises MPC in Acquiring Significant BP Assets

MPC has signed an agreement to acquire some of BP’s integrated refining and marketing assets located in Texas and the Southeast.

October 8, 2012 Mark Curriden

Robert Dedman Ethics Award Goes to Mark Berg of Pioneer

Berg has handled some of the most complex legal transactions in the global energy sector during the past few years. The energy deals, which valued in the billions and completely transformed the large, independent oil and gas exploration and production company and its investments.

“We hire lawyers who know our company and want to partner with us. We still see this as a legal profession, not as a commodity and we treat it as such,” says Berg. “The law firms that will survive in this new environment are those who go back and look at how the practice of law used to be.”

October 7, 2012 Mark Curriden

Wal-Mart Seeks Dismissal of Texas Class Action

Lawyers for Wal-Mart asked U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas to reject a class action employment discrimination lawsuit claiming to represent more than 50,000 women who have worked at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in Texas. The suit by seven women who worked at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores during the past 14 years, claims that the company demonstrated gender bias by denying them promotions and paying them less than their male counterparts. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief as well as financial damages. Dallas employment and labor lawyer Hal Gillespie represents the plaintiffs, while Gibson Dunn partners Karl Nelson and Veronica Lewis are defending Wal-Mart.

October 4, 2012 Mark Curriden

Gibson Dunn Leads Complex MetroPCS – T-Mobile Deal

Lawyers for Richardson-based MetroPCS have worked on a highly complex agreement for several weeks.

October 3, 2012 Mark Curriden

No Lawyer has had a Bigger Impact on the North Texas Economy than Ray Hutchison

The senator’s husband and municipal bond lawyer has been intricately involved in the creation, development and construction of the most important economic drivers in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, including DFW Airport, DART, the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, the AT&T Performing Arts Center and every major professional sports facility built during the past 45 years.

“Ray is truly one of the great lawyers ever to practice in Texas – he’s an architect who takes the dreams of our local leaders and makes it come true,” says Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Two weeks ago, Hutchison turned 80. But he shows few signs of slowing down. This is his story.

October 3, 2012 Mark Curriden

Indian Minister Visits Dallas as Texas Business with Country Flourishes

S.M. Krishna, India’s Minster of External Affairs and a 1959 graduate of the SMU Dedman School of Law, is returning to his alma mater Wednesday. The highest-ranking Indian official to ever visit Dallas, Krishna’s presence comes at a time when Texas-based companies are doing more and more business with their counterparts in India.

During the past two years, businesses in Texas, including Fluor Corp, Pioneer Natural Resources, Atlas Energy and ConocoPhillips, have inked more than a dozen deals with companies in India. In addition, Indian-based companies are hiring Texas-based law firms, including Thompson & Knight, Vinson & Elkins and Akin Gump, to handle their complex legal transactional work in Texas and globally.

October 1, 2012 Mark Curriden

Edith Jones Resigns as 5th Circuit Chief Judge

Chief Judge Jones is stepping away from the leadership role for “various family reasons,” but she will stay on the court as a judge. Her resignation means that Judge Carl Stewart, a 1994 Clinton appointee, will become the first African-American to serve as chief judge of the Fifth Circuit. The timing of Judge Jones’ announcement is not without controversy on the court.

September 27, 2012 Mark Curriden

Winstead Adds Four New Lawyers, Invades The Big Easy

Winstead is expanding – both firm-wise and attorney-wise.

September 26, 2012 Mark Curriden

Thompson & Knight Opens LA Office

Thompson & Knight’s 11th office will officially give the firm a presence on the West Coast.

September 26, 2012 Mark Curriden

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Features

  • P.S. — Pro Bono Work Honored at State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting - Advancing access to justice in rural Texas, advocating for domestic violence survivors and ensuring Spanish speakers aren’t left out are among the pro bono initiatives for which lawyers and a judge were honored during the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in San Antonio.   July 4, 2025Krista Torralva

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Willkie Adds Blake Winburne to its Houston Office - Winburne was global head of the energy and infrastructure group at Orrick where he worked for more than nine years. He has been named co-chair of Willkie's energy and infrastructure practice.
  • Hines CLO Joins Greenberg Traurig in Houston
  • Thomas Verity Vaults to Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Veteran Houston Partner Jumps from Latham to Simpson
  • Skadden Hires Two M&A Partners from White & Case
  • V&E Adds Three Partners: Two from Kirkland, One from Baker Botts
  • Houston Texans Associate GC Jumps to Munsch Hardt
  • Gray Reed Hires Longtime Houston Exec to Lead Operations and Growth
  • Sorrels Law Adds Trial, Appellate Partner in Dallas
  • Holland & Knight’s Recent Lateral Partner Additions Strengthen RE, Financial Services Offerings
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Lawyers in the News

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Barry Barnett
Wes Bearden
Emily Westridge Black
Michael Burke
Alicia Campbell
John Campbell
Madeleine Carpenter
Alexander Clark
Dawn Pittman Collins
Richard Finneran
Elizabeth Freeman
David Gail
Elizabeth Gibson
David Jones
Frank Lopez
Abbe Lowell
Neal Manne
Billy Marsh
Tom Melsheimer
Tasha Moser
Justin Nelson
Reed O'Connor
Kate Pennartz
John “J.” Pieratt
Danielle Reyes
Christopher Richardson
Randy Sorrels
Harry Susman
Larry Vincent
Victor Vital
Brent Walker
Matt Weybrecht
Melody Wilkinson
Alex Wolens

Firms in the News

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A&O Shearman
Bryan Cave
Cozen O'Connor
Haynes Boone
Holland & Knight
Jackson Walker
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Law Office of Liz Freeman
Paul Hastings
Porter Hedges
Sorrels Law
Susman Godfrey
Toyota
Troutman Pepper Locke
Willkie
Vinson & Elkins
Weil
Winston & Strawn

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