Sorrels Law Recruits Head of Commercial Litigation Practice
Prominent personal injury law firm Sorrels Law has tapped Houston lawyer Brian A. Baker to lead its commercial litigation practice.
Maverick Natural Resources’ Sarah Payne is ‘Like Having a Cheat Code Against the Other Side’
Sarah Payne went to college and graduate school to be a journalist covering the music industry with the dream of writing for Rolling Stone. Her father, then a Houston trial lawyer, had other ideas. “I was worn down by my tenacious father over the course of two decades,” Payne told The Texas Lawbook. “My entering the profession was likely inescapable. It’s in my veins for better or worse." Payne recently led her employer, Maverick Natural Resources, to a huge courtroom victory after a four-year contract dispute with XTO Energy regarding revenue sharing as part of a joint venture. Citing the jury trial success, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Lawbook named Payne the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award recipient for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
Winter Storm Uri Litigation Timeline
A timeline of events tied to Winter Storm Uri litigation.
Texas Lawbook 50 — Susman Godfrey Scores ‘Second Best Year Ever’ in 2024
Even as Susman Godfrey is engaged in a monumental federal court fight with President Donald Trump that threatens the law firm’s very existence, the Houston-based litigation powerhouse reported 2024 revenues and profits that are once again the envy of their competitors. The firm's revenues last year were down from its record-smashing numbers of 2023, but it was still Susman Godfrey's second-best year in its 44-year history.
57 Texas Law Students Sign Amicus Brief for Susman Godfrey
The amicus briefs in the case of Susman Godfrey v. Executive Office of the President continue to stack up. On Tuesday, 1,129 law students and 51 law school student organizations filed a brief claiming that President Donald Trump’s April 9 executive order against Susman Godfrey “will cause enduring damage to the legal profession and amici as America’s future lawyers.” Fifty-seven law students from all 10 of the law schools in Texas signed the amicus brief, as did three Texas law student groups.
Litigation Roundup: SCOTX Vacates Guardianship Divorce Decree
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a woman whose Lyft driver was convicted of raping her settles a civil lawsuit against the company about a week before trial was to begin in Dallas County, members of a Houston megachurch allege an improper takeover by leadership, and a jury in Austin awards a seven-figure verdict in a revenge porn case.
Outtakes from the NDTX Bench Bar Conference
As we reported on the day of the event, the 2025 Bench Bar Conference for the Northern District of Texas held April 11, began with a bit of a bang. U.S. District Judge David Godbey caused an early stir by describing the level of personal threats against himself and against other judges and their families as a threat to judicial independence. Here are a few other notable outtakes from conference.
Amicus for Susman Godfrey Flood Court, DOJ Seeks Case Dismissal
On the very day last week that the U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge to dismiss Susman Godfrey’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order against the Houston litigation powerhouse, the federal judge in the case was blitzed with more than 20 separate amicus briefs by 366 former judges, current law professors, former FBI and CIA directors, 77 former corporate general counsel and dozens of bar associations supporting Susman Godfrey’s legal efforts.
Houston Trial Underway in Battle Over Lost Construction Bid on $18B Mexican Oil Refinery
A Mexican company, Constructora Hostotipaquillo, sued Kellogg Brown & Root, contending that an ill-fated partnering with the Houston-based construction, engineering and consulting giant cost it more than $186 million in lost revenue.
House Bill Would Alter Attorney Fee Structure of Anti-SLAPP Law
A defamation lawsuit against Rep. Jeff Leach took center stage during a Texas House committee hearing on the Texas Citizens Participation Act. Lawmakers are struggling to address abuses of the popular law while still maintaining its protections for Texans exercising their First Amendment rights.
Q&A with Trial Lawyer Chris Patton
Firm partner Chris Patton deserved a “most valuable player” award for zipping back-and-forth between New York and Pennsylvania representing Energy Transfer in two trials around the winter holidays, said name partner Mike Lynn of Dallas-based Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann.
27 Texas Law Professors Sign Amicus for Susman Godfrey
Susman Godfrey is getting a little help from their friends in the academic community. In an amicus brief filed late Wednesday in Susman Godfrey’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump, 775 law professors — including 27 from Texas law schools — asked a federal judge to rule in favor of the Houston-based litigation firm to help protect “the independence and integrity of the legal profession [and] the rights of clients to seek redress in the courts.”