Corporate executives and a handful of their lawyers want to create a new specialized court system that focuses only on complex commercial disputes similar to the chancery courts in Delaware – but with a Texas twist. The proposed Texas business court would have appointed judges, juries and its own business appellate court. It also has opponents who argued that there is nothing wrong with the current civil court system and judges elected by citizens. The Texas Lawbook has both sides arguments and in-depth details of the business court proposal.
Divided Texas Supreme Court Sidesteps Decision on ERCOT’s Sovereign Immunity
A hotly divided Texas Supreme Court decided Friday that the Texas Constitution prevents them from deciding – at least not at this time – whether ERCOT is a governmental body that has sovereign immunity and is thus protected from lawsuits. But four justices, including Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, disagree: “The answer to the immunity issue in this case has become perhaps more important to the public than even to the parties. The parties want to know. The public wants to know. The court refuses to answer.”
Texas Lawbook Expands M&A Coverage with New Deal Writer
The Texas Lawbook is pleased to announce that Anna Butler, former director of operations for Patterson Thoma Family Office and former Dallas Business Journal managing editor, has joined our news team to lead our corporate transactions coverage. As this article states, Anna will take The Lawbook’s deal coverage to the next level.
Neiman Marcus’ Tasha Grinnell – Standing Up and Standing Out
Tasha Grinnell started at Neiman Marcus exactly one year ago. Days after she started, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Stores needed to be closed and some employees furloughed. Two months later, the luxury department store filed for bankruptcy – a brutal and costly process that Grinnell and her predecessor Tracy Preston conquered. “We had a lot of balls in the air, and we still do,” Grinnell, who became Neiman Marcus’ interim GC on Friday, told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview.
Baker Botts Leads Griddy Energy Into Bankruptcy
Griddy Energy, a retail power supplier facing a slew of civil lawsuits as a result of charges from the February winter storm, says it has less than $10 million in assets but owes ERCOT, CenterPoint Energy and Oncor three times that amount.
Mark Werbner Goes It Alone
Dallas trial lawyer Mark Werbner, who was a pupil of the great Jim Coleman, partnered for two decades with Dick Sayles and then practiced the past two years at Winston & Strawn, has started his own law firm. Werbner, who made global headlines in 2014 when he led an historic billion-dollar jury victory against a Middle Eastern bank accused of aiding terrorists, plans to do more plaintiff’s litigation and white-collar criminal defense work.
TX Chief Justice Talks: In-Person and Remote Hearings, Backlog of 9,000 Jury Trials
Exactly 358 days after the Texas Supreme Court issued its first Covid-19-related emergency order closing most state courtrooms to in-person hearings and trials, the justices issued their 36th order Friday officially lifting the statewide ban. But the pandemic caused a backlog of thousands of civil and criminal jury trials that Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht told The Texas Lawbook needs to be addressed.
Remembering Clyde Siebman, ‘The Guiding Spirit Behind the EDTX Bench Bar Conference’
When the biggest corporations in the world – Toyota, Walmart, Phillip Morris, Boeing and Huawei – needed a lawyer in East Texas, they called Sherman’s Clyde Siebman. So did single moms, the elderly and veterans. Siebman, a zealous advocate for the right to trial by jury, died Friday. He was 62.
‘God of the Earth Realm’ Loses Intergalactic Trade Dispute, Again
Lawyer Edward Moses, Jr., self-described monarch and deity of the “Atakapa Indian de Creole Nation” and “Christian Emperor of New Orleans,” tried for a second time to get the judges of the Fifth Circuit to take up his case. For some reason, the appellate court felt that Moses’ lawsuit against 150 world leaders wasn’t supported by law or facts.
Texas Bar Members Approve Law Firm Trade Names
Vinson & Elkins and Baker Botts are highly unlikely to change their firm names to “Bad Ass Lawyers” or “Energy M&A Deals are Us,” but four out of five Texas lawyers who voted in a State Bar of Texas referendum over the past few weeks think they should be able to do so if they want.