• Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Sign up for email updates
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

  • Appellate
  • Bankruptcy
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A
  • GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.
  • Firm Management
  • White-Collar/Regulatory
  • Pro Bono/Public Service/D&I

Tony Mauro

Behind the Scenes: How a Pair of Texas Friends Prepped for a SCOTUS Argument

Ed Sullivan and Sam Kaplan (pictured center) have been friends for 30 years, beginning when they met at the University of Texas as undergraduates. Later they both decided to become lawyers.

Their friendship continued but never as intensely as it did this year, while working together on a case that would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, argued Oct. 12, was Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a dispute about whether highly paid employees are eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is an important issue for the oil and gas industry. The case was brought by Michael Hewitt, a “tool-pusher” on an offshore oil rig. Other amicus briefs indicated that the outcome of the case could affect a range of organizations including nursing.

October 21, 2022 Tony Mauro

As SCOTUS Readies for the First Monday in October, Texas-related Cases Loom

The marquee cases of the U.S. Supreme Court term that begins Monday touch on issues such as affirmative action, voting rights, immigration and LGBTQ and First Amendment rights. a second tier of lesser-known cases set for October and November are also worth a look for Texas lawyers and for aficionados of Supreme Court business cases. More cases will be granted review and scheduled for argument soon. Some of the cases will be a test of the high court’s relationship with the Fifth Circuit.

“It’s shaping up to be another big term,” says Scott Keller of Lehotsky Keller in Austin and Washington.

September 30, 2022 Tony Mauro

Bobbleheads and Smoked Brisket at SCOTUS: Recollections and Advice from Former Supreme Court Law Clerks Who Now Practice in Texas

Washington D.C. may have an allure as the “Nation’s Capital,” but Texas certainly has demonstrated its own allure: of wide-open spaces, the Dallas Cowboys, longhorns, Willie Nelson, SXSW to name a few. But Texas has also attracted its share of those top-tier lawyers whose résumés denote them as a former clerk to a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

It’s a rarified distinction, and The Lawbook’s Tony Mauro interviewed a baker’s dozen of them about the path they took to get there, about their experiences inside and about their decision to bring their elite professional skill sets back to Texas. It is safe to say that they remain awed by the experience.

August 1, 2022 Tony Mauro

In a Texas Capital Case, the Supreme Court’s Denial of Cert Bewilders the Appellate Defenders Who Pursued It

The high court’s decision in the long-running Terence Andrus v. Texas capital-murder case was a surprise for Andrus’s lawyers who worked hard to convince courts that Andrus was beset by egregious ineffective assistance of counsel at his earliest trials.

July 1, 2022 Tony Mauro

For V&E’s Tom Leatherbury, the Mantra is ‘Texas – So Many First Amendment Violations, So Little Time.’

In First Amendment decisions like the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent injunction stopping enforcement of a Texas law governing social media platforms, and other free-speech challenges for years, Vinson & Elkins senior partner Tom Leatherbury has been front and center. Leatherbury, widely regarded as a leading media and appellate lawyer in the state and who founded a media law clinic at SMU, tells The Texas Lawbook that First Amendment challenges never seem to end.

June 1, 2022 Tony Mauro

Former Texas SG Kyle Hawkins Exits Gibson Dunn for Lehotsky Keller Litigation Boutique

Former Texas solicitor general Kyle Hawkins is joining the litigation boutique Lehotsky Keller as head of its Texas appellate practice group. As Texas SG Hawkins argued four times before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hawkins had been with Gibson Dunn since he left as solicitor general last year.

April 25, 2022 Tony Mauro

SCOTUS Denies Review in the Dallas Death Penalty Case of Kristopher Love

The U.S. Supreme Court’s liberal justices on Monday criticized their colleagues and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the handling of the long-running death-penalty case.

April 18, 2022 Tony Mauro

SCOTUS Calls a Halt to ‘War’ Against Texas Bar Mandatory Dues

The Supreme Court also denied certiorari Monday in two mandatory bar cases – one from Michigan and the other from Oklahoma. The actions may slow the momentum of nationwide “bar wars,” but other challenges could be likely.

April 4, 2022 Tony Mauro

Southwest Airlines Brings Its Baggage to the Supreme Court

At issue is a decades-long dispute over the meaning of a clause in the FAA. Lawyers for the Dallas-based airline go before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to assert that its baggage loaders and supervisors can be required to undergo arbitration when they file employment complaints.

March 27, 2022 Tony Mauro

Status of Bar Wars: The Reincarnation?

The fact that a petition seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a challenge to the mandatory Texas bar-association dues has been lumped together with similar disputes from Michigan and Oklahoma suggests the high court may have decided to tackle, once and for all, the extent to which state associations can compel lawyers to pay dues that may finance activities with which they disagree.

March 24, 2022 Tony Mauro

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

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

  • Reed Smith Beefs Up Global Regulatory Enforcement Group, Hires V&E Partner  - Rebecca Fike, formerly senior counsel with the SEC, officially made the move to Reed Smith July 1. In an interview with The Texas Lawbook after one week on the job, she said she knew joining Reed Smith was the right move for her after meeting lawyers in the firm’s Dallas office during the interview process. 
  • Rey Anaya Valencia Begins Deanship at South Texas College of Law Houston
  • Willkie Adds Blake Winburne to its Houston Office
  • 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
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

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

Hover right to show full list

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

Footer

Who We Are

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Submit a News Tip

Stay Connected

  • Sign up for email updates
  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Premium Subscriber Editorial Calendar

Our Partners

  • The Dallas Morning News
The Texas Lawbook logo

1409 Botham Jean Blvd.
Unit 811
Dallas, TX 75215

214.232.6783

© Copyright 2025 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.