GWG Trustee Sues Holland & Knight for $148M Over Alleged Beneficient Fraud

The bankruptcy trustee appointed to recover funds for creditors in the GWG Holdings bankruptcy case has sued Holland & Knight for nearly $150 million for “knowing participation in a fraudulent looting scheme and associated criminal enterprise” that included Dallas-based financial services firm Beneficient and its founder and CEO Bradley Heppner. In a 156-page complaint filed Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, the court-appointed trustee accuses longtime outside counsel Holland & Knight and one of its Dallas law partners of colluding with Heppner to “fraudulently induce” GWG to invest the $148.4 million to help BEN “stave off collapse” by repaying a senior lender.

March 2, 2025 Mark Curriden

Jackson Walker, US Trustee Drop Objections to Experts in Bankruptcy Fee Case

At an evidentiary hearing where the parties were supposed to fight to convince Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Eduardo V. Rodriguez, to strike the experts offered by the other side, a détente was reached shortly after lunch Thursday. But during the hearing, the U.S. Trustee revealed that the secret romantic relationship between former judge David Jones and former Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner Elizabeth Freeman began in 2010 or 2011 and said the firm learned about it in 2021.

February 27, 2025 Michelle Casady

Judge Recommends Ending Disciplinary Action Against Jackson Walker

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal is recommending closing a proceeding that was initiated to determine whether Jackson Walker should face any disciplinary action for its failure to disclose a romantic relationship between its former bankruptcy partner and a sitting bankruptcy judge. The order came about four months after the case was randomly assigned to her court.

February 3, 2025 Michelle Casady

Jackson Walker, U.S. Trustee Move to Strike Each Other’s Experts in Bankruptcy Fee Case

On Thursday, the U.S. Trustee and Jackson Walker filed dueling motions to strike, with the law firm arguing the expert opinions of Richard J. Davis and Jonathan C. Lipson — a retired partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges who now is in private practice, and a tenured bankruptcy law professor at Temple University-Beasley School of Law, respectively — and the U.S. Trustee arguing the same about an expert opinion from Renee Jefferson, who is the Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center.

February 3, 2025 Michelle Casady

JCPenney Tells Court Jackson Walker Must Disgorge Bankruptcy Fees

The 18-page lawsuit seeking to claw back about $1.1 million in bankruptcy fees, along with other damages, was filed Tuesday in the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division and brings claims for disgorgement for failure to make bankruptcy disclosures, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.

January 30, 2025 Michelle Casady

Bloomberg Law: Kirkland ‘Absolutely Shocked’ at SDTX Judge’s Secret Romance with ex-Jackson Walker Partner

Lawyers at Jackson Walker never told lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis that one of its bankruptcy partners was having a secret romantic relationship with former Houston Bankruptcy Judge David Jones and that Kirkland would have taken action to make the couple’s cohabitation public if he had known about it, one of Kirkland’s top bankruptcy lawyers told the U.S. Trustee’s office in a recent deposition.

January 10, 2025 Mark Curriden

Texas Business Bankruptcies Skyrocket in DFW, Decline Slightly in Houston

For the fifth consecutive year, Texas led the nation in business bankruptcy filings, cementing its position as the premier destination for corporate restructurings. However, Delaware closed the gap significantly in 2024, surpassing Texas’ Southern District as the top venue for business bankruptcies.

Despite a tumultuous year marked by scandal in the Southern District, Texas' three other federal court districts experienced significant increases in bankruptcy filings, ensuring the state maintained its dominance in this critical legal sector. The Northern District, in particular, emerged as a rising star, with its Chapter 11 caseload more than doubling.

The Texas Lawbook's Mark Curriden has the details on these trends and more.

January 7, 2025 Mark Curriden

Texas Bankruptcy Expert: ‘Conditions Seem Ripe for Substantial Restructuring Activity in 2025’

The corporate bankruptcy practice faced some headwinds in 2024, including higher interest rates, an unsettled political environment and the judicial romance scandal that rocked the complex bankruptcy panel in the Southern District of Texas. 

The Texas Lawbook talked with Haynes Boone corporate bankruptcy and restructuring partner Ian Peck about trends in the world of complex business Chapter 11s in Texas.

January 7, 2025 Mark Curriden