Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
A new edition of On the Jury Trial aims to provide guidance to lawyers in a post-Covid pandemic world. Coauthors Winston & Strawn partner Tom Melsheimer and Fifth Court of Appeals Justice Craig Smith celebrated the second edition of the book with a signing event in Dallas Tuesday evening.
Two defamation lawsuits filed against critics of FBI Director Kash Patel are unfolding in federal court in Texas. In the Western District of Texas, Patel’s girlfriend has sued a former FBI special agent for allegedly defamatory statements made on a podcast, while in the Southern District of Texas, Patel himself has sued the former assistant director of counterintelligence for the FBI for comments he made during an MSNBC appearance. The defendants have enlisted Dorsey & Whitney, Dykema, Jackson Walker, Fletcher Held and First Amendment pros from SMU to fight the litigation. Binnall Law Group in Alexandria, Virginia, is representing the plaintiffs.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court files an amicus brief in the case where the governor is attempting to remove from office a Democrat who broke quorum in an attempt to block redistricting efforts, and a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wades into a circuit split involving the National Labor Relations Board’s ability to award full compensatory damages.
Two East Texas real estate entities owned by Dallas hedge fund operator Kyle Bass have sued the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District seeking to force the agency to rule on their request to conduct exploratory drilling for East Texas’ most precious commodity: water.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals heard arguments in disputes over taxes and trade secrets while at the Texas A&M School of Law in Fort Worth Thursday. One of the cases originated from the Texas Business Court.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals held oral arguments at Texas A&M School of Law Thursday afternoon. Classes were canceled for first-year students to attend the oral arguments and watch the attorneys and justices in action.
For 33 years as a trial lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright, Steven Jansma has scored huge courtroom victories in highly complex lawsuits for dozens of Fortune 500 clients, including a German automaker, an Ohio tire manufacturer, a Japanese chemical company, a national trucking operation and a major petroleum refinery, to describe a few, in state and federal courts across 26 states.
“It is his ability to see through the clutter, distill the complex into simplicity and then communicate in a way that is devoid of the emotion that one often sees in complex litigation matters," said Vulcan Materials senior counsel John M. Floyd.
But it is Jansma's deep commitment to public service in the San Antonio community that stands out the most, including Child Advocates San Antonio, Clarity Child Guidance Center, Catholic Charities and The Ecumenical Center, where he has helped shape programs that support vulnerable populations, Cody said. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Lawbook are honored to award Jansma with the 2025 C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award.
Travis County’s newest district court judge issued an order this week in a nearly 2-year-old dispute, stemming from a soured joint venture that was formed to buy and sell a luxury home in Austin, while granting and denying certain motions from both parties.
But the real news in the three-page order entered Wednesday in Brandon Becker v. UpEquity Title came in the final three paragraphs, where Travis County District Judge Cory Liu, appointed to the bench by Gov. Greg Abbott in March, took to task the Travis County central docket system.
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