Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
O’Melveny & Myers, which opened offices in Austin and Dallas in June, added Baker Botts trial law partner Tim Durst on Wednesday. The Los Angeles-based firm's chair told The Texas Lawbook that he expects "more people to join" O'Melveny soon and that the firm plans "to be materially larger than we are now."
Texas has two of the three busiest patent dockets in the U.S. and is building one of the deepest and most experienced intellectual property bars in the world. There were more patent infringement lawsuits during the first half of this year in Texas than in any other two states combined, including Delaware and California. But some criticize Texas courts for being too accommodating to frivolous patent cases from so-called patent trolls. The Texas Lawbook has the inside story.
Dallas Appeals Court Justice David Schenck issued an opinion late Friday apparently accusing fellow justices of intentionally delaying the public reporting of a decision by a three-judge panel in order to change the composition of the panel and possibly impact the decision. But Fifth Court Chief Justice Robert Burns said Schenck is mistaken on the facts and the law. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Another large corporate full-service law firm has nabbed another young partner from a litigation boutique. Gibson Dunn's plan is to "grow out" the litigation practice in Houston.
Citing the growing threat of the Covid-19 Delta variant among people who are unvaccinated, several law firms in Texas – Akin Gump, Haynes and Boone, Norton Rose Fulbright and Vinson & Elkins – have announced they are delaying the date when they will require lawyers and staff to return to the office and that employees working on-site must be vaccinated.
Frost Bank clearly has a thing for lawyers at Haynes and Boone. The Texas bank has named former Haynes and Boone litigator C.E. Rhodes, who also practiced at Akin Gump and Baker Hughes, to be its new general counsel and corporate secretary. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Corporate bankruptcies in Texas fell significantly during the first six months of 2021 compared to the record numbers that were filed last year as a result of Covid-19 and the recession. But bankruptcy judges are still much busier than they were before the pandemic thanks to Winter Storm Uri. SDTX Bankruptcy Chief Judge David Jones and legal experts explain why in this report.
Sunday night's merger of Thompson & Knight and Holland & Knight appears to have gone seamlessly. The combination meets the needs of each - H&K to thrive in Texas and TK to just survive. The managing partners of the two firms - now partners of the same firm - gave The Texas Lawbook an exclusive interview on how the merger came together and why they both think it will be a huge success.
William Thompson and R.E.L. Knight became partners in 1914 and created a corporate law firm that lasted 107 years. Its lawyers handled some of the biggest and most important M&A deals and litigation for some of America's largest companies. Today is the last day of existence for Thompson & Knight, as it merges with Miami-based Holland & Knight. As The Texas Lawbook explains, the loss of TK is disheartening because the firm's history mirrors the history of corporate law in Texas.
Leaders of the State Bar of Texas decided Monday that they will not appeal a recent federal appeals court decision that some of the organization’s lobbying efforts violate the First Amendment rights of its members whose mandatory dues go to fund some of those initiatives.
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