Legal Experts: Ken Paxton Case will go to Trial

Criminal charges probably should never have been brought against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but now that they have been, he could be at serious risk of going to prison, according to legal experts following the case. More than a dozen former prosecutors and former judges interviewed by The Texas Lawbook say there is little to no evidence that the charges against Paxton are the result of political motivations and they believe there’s a significant chance that the case will go to trial.

August 10, 2015 Mark Curriden

Mollie Duckworth – The Queen of Securities Offerings

Mollie Duckworth has been a partner at Baker Botts for only 19 months, but has led seven separate securities offerings that raised $3.8 billion during the first seven months of 2015, which was nearly twice as many offerings as any other lawyer in Texas, according to The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. Duckworth talks trends and what she sees for the rest of the year.

August 4, 2015 Natalie Posgate & Mark Curriden

A Word with John Goodgame: The Top M&A Dealmaker in 1H 2015

John Goodgame is having a very good year. The corporate partner at Akin Gump has led more mergers and acquisitions (11) during the first seven months of 2015 than any other lawyer in Texas, according to The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. Learn why he's doing so many energy transactions.

August 4, 2015 Natalie Posgate

Locke Lord Advises NextEra in Purchase of NET Midstream

Florida-based NextEra Energy Partners made a huge splash in the Texas energy market Monday when it announced is acquiring seven natural gas pipelines owned by Houston-based NET Midstream for $2.1 billion. NextERA General Counsel Mitch Ross turned to the energy M&A group at Locke Lord to advise the company on the highly complex transaction.

August 4, 2015 Mark Curriden

Inside the Case Against Ken Paxton: The Lawyers

The criminal securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is only getting started, but it already features some of the best lawyers in the state. At the same time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has conducted its own inquiry into Servergy. The two cases have attracted A-list white-collar lawyers, including former federal judge Joe Kendall, Houston criminal defense lawyers Kent Schaffer and Brian Wice, SEC enforcement attorneys Samantha Cox Martin and Matthew Gulde, and securities litigators Jason Lewis and Kit Addleman. We have all the details.

August 2, 2015 Mark Curriden

XTO and BofA Score Mandamus Win in Derivative Royalty Trust Lawsuit

XTO Energy and Bank of America scored a win this week in a Dallas appellate court when a three-judge panel ruled that a trial court abused its discretion by allowing a derivative action lawsuit to continue with an investor of XTO’s publicly-traded royalty trust.

July 31, 2015 Mark Curriden

Norton Rose Fulbright Scores $400 million Litigation Win for Tesoro

If the lawsuits were baseball games, shareholders and their lawyers trying to stop two San Antonio-based oil and gas pipeline and storage companies from merging were blown out in the first inning. Tesoro GC Charles Parrish hired Norton Rose Fulbright partner Gerry Pecht to defeat the securities litigation. He won the case before the first court hearing. Here's the story how.

July 28, 2015 Mark Curriden

Gardere Relocates in Houston

Gardere will now operate on floors 20 to 22 of Wells Fargo Plaza, where the firm has been a tenant for the past 16 years.

July 27, 2015 Mark Curriden