Bloomberg Law: Alfredo Perez to be Next SDTX Bankruptcy Judge
If approved, Perez would join his former Weil Gotshal law partner, Judge Christopher Lopez, as one of the bankruptcy judges handling big cases in Houston.
Jackson Walker Offers 2021 Memo as Proof Partner Lied About Relationship with Bankruptcy Judge
The former McDermott International shareholder who exposed the secret relationship between a former Jackson Walker partner and the Houston bankruptcy judge who handled the McDermott restructuring is a “professional litigant” with a history of “perjured testimony and falsification of evidence” who has no legitimate legal claims against Jackson Walker. Those arguments were part of a 46-page document filed Friday by Houston trial lawyer Rusty Hardin, who represents Jackson Walker, seeking to dismiss the federal racketeering and fraud lawsuit filed against his client and others by McDermott investor Michael Van Deelen who seeks millions of dollars in damages, alleging the firm hid and profited from the romantic relationship between Elizabeth Freeman, a Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner between 2018 and 2022, and former Bankruptcy Judge David Jones.
Elizabeth Freeman: Secret Relationship with Bankruptcy Judge Jones Had No Impact on McDermott Restructuring Case
The decision to keep secret the relationship between then-U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge David Jones and Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner Elizabeth Freeman was made by Judge Jones in 2020 at the start of the multibillion-dollar corporate restructuring of McDermott International, a lawyer for Freeman stated in court documents filed late Monday in federal court in Houston. Prominent Houston corporate bankruptcy lawyer Tom Kirkendall, who represents Freeman in the ongoing litigation related to Freeman’s relationship with Judge Jones, wrote that neither Jackson Walker nor Kirkland & Ellis were aware that the couple were living together or were romantically involved and that the federal lawsuit against them should be dismissed.
Kirkland Hires David Beck, Seeks Dismissal from Judge Jones Bankruptcy Romance Lawsuit
Kirkland & Ellis lawyers had no knowledge that former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones was having a secret romantic affair with a former partner at a Texas law firm that served as its co-counsel in dozens of corporate restructurings and that Kirkland cannot be held accountable for the ethical lapses of the judge in those cases, according to court documents filed Friday. Lawyers for Kirkland, which include David Beck, argue that the Chicago-founded law firm should be dismissed from a federal racketeering lawsuit that accuses Kirkland and its co-counsel at Dallas-based Jackson Walker of exploiting the relationship between Judge Jones and former Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman. Jackson Walker has hired Rusty Hardin and Judge Jones is being represented by McKool Smith.
Jackson Walker: Zero Evidence That Any Bankruptcy Decisions Were ‘Influenced by Secret Intimate Relationship’
Lawyers for Jackson Walker contend that the U.S. Justice Department “fails to plead any plausible allegations” in its effort to claw-back legal fees paid to the firm for its work on 26 different corporate bankruptcies and to have sanctions levied against the firm.
The Dallas-based corporate law firm argues that there is no evidence that then-U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones’ intimate relationship with then-Jackson Walker partner Elizabeth Freeman influenced any of his decisions and that Jackson Walker should not be penalized because it only learned about the relationship after many of the cases raised by the U.S. trustee had been concluded.
U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee: Jackson Walker Acted in “Bad Faith,” Should Return $11M in Fees
Jackson Walker violated lawyer disciplinary and federal bankruptcy disclosure rules when it failed to disclose the romantic relationship between one of its lawyers and the judge in several high-profile bankruptcies, and the firm should be sanctioned and required to return more than $11 million it was paid in those cases, according to the U.S. trustee for the Southern District of Texas.
Dallas Financial Restructuring Partner Joins Baker Botts
With the firm’s third lateral partner hire in Texas in 2024, Baker Botts added depth to its financial restructuring practice with Travis McRoberts from Squire Patton Boggs.
Duane Morris Keeps Growing Dallas Office, Hires James Billingsley from Polsinelli
Billingsley joins as a partner in the firm’s business reorganization and financial restructuring practice group, where he says he’ll be able to expand his practice nationally. Billingsley talks to The Texas Lawbook about Chapter 11 bankruptcy venues and what’s ahead in 2024 in the world of complex Chapter 11 cases.
Jackson Walker: Lawyer Misled Firm Over Relationship With Bankruptcy Judge
When Jackson Walker leaders confronted its partner, Elizabeth Freeman, in 2021 and 2022 about reports that she was in a romantic relationship with then Chief Bankruptcy Judge David Jones, Freeman assured them that “there was no ongoing intimate relationship with Judge Jones,” according to a court document filed Monday afternoon by lawyers for Jackson Walker.
“Jackson Walker did not know of any ongoing intimate relationship between Ms. Freeman and Judge Jones until 2022 when it learned, quite by accident, that Ms. Freeman’s denial was possibly false or at least no longer true,” the firm states in a five-page filing titled “Preliminary Response of Jackson Walker to Recent Filings by the Office of the United States Trustee.”U.S. Trustee: At Least 26 Bankruptcy Cases Tainted Due to Judge Jones, Ex-Jackson Walker Partner Relationship
The U.S. Trustee filed notice Friday that at least 26 corporate bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas are tainted and that $13 million in legal fees awarded to Jackson Walker should be revisited or declared invalid because of the undisclosed romantic relationship between Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones and former Jackson Walker law partner Elizabeth Freeman. The trustee also said the disputes should be transferred to the chief judge in the Western District. The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth report.
‘Reminds Me of the Facebook Relationship Status — It’s Complicated’
Seven trial lawyers have been contacted by parties involved in corporate bankruptcies and restructurings before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones of Houston between 2018 and 2022 to inquire about potential legal claims they have against the judge or the law firm that employed his live-in girlfriend during those five years. No new lawsuits have been lodged and no one is publicly claiming that they were wronged as a result of Judge Jones’ secret romantic relationship with a partner in Jackson Walker’s bankruptcy practice.
But the controversy surfaced last week in an ongoing bankruptcy case. U.S. Trustee Kevin Epstein asked Judge Marvin Isgur, who is overseeing the GWG Holdings restructuring, to postpone awarding more than $1 million in legal fees to Jackson Walker, who served as co-lead debtor’s counsel, while the U.S. trustee’s office investigates. Judge Jones served as the mediator in the case and the lawyer worked on the case.
Fallout in SDTX Bankruptcy Court
Have large corporations filed their Chapter 11 restructurings in Houston because the rules are favorable to debtors or because of Bankruptcy Judge David Jones' expertise? Several bankruptcy lawyers fear it was the latter that made the Southern District of Texas the busiest jurisdiction over the past six years for complex business restructurings.
With Judge Jones' resignation over the weekend amid a Fifth Circuit investigation, experts say that there is a danger of returning to the days when Texas lost billion-dollar restructurings to other jurisdictions.