Three Texas legal aid providers located in North Texas, the Houston area and South Texas, are receiving $2.5 million from a Congress-founded nonprofit to assist in their efforts to represent low-income Texans impacted by Winter Storm Uri and other natural disasters. The money will go toward expanding resources and reimbursement for legal services already provided.
‘I Never Meant to Make Marshall a Patent Lawyers’ Mecca,’ Storied Ex-Judge Says
T. John Ward, a pioneer of the ‘rocket docket,’ says he didn’t think his simple case-management plan – set strict deadlines and hold people to them – would beckon thousands of patent litigants to knock on his Marshall courtroom door.
Louisiana Federal Magistrate Nominated to Be First African American Woman in Fifth Circuit
President Joseph Biden has nominated U.S. Magistrate Dana Douglas of New Orleans to one of two open seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. An African American jurist who practiced energy litigation, products liability and intellectual property law during her 17 years in corporate law, Judge Douglas would be the first woman of color to serve on the Fifth Circuit.
Remembering Jim Cowles – A Lion of the Texas Bar
Jim Cowles, who tried nearly 600 cases to a jury verdict, including a dozen trials while he was still in law school, died this past weekend, according to an announcement released Wednesday by Cowles Thompson, the firm he co-founded in 1978.
Judge: Jury to Decide Law Prof. Linda Mullenix Equal Pay Case Against UT
A federal judge in Austin has ruled that University of Texas School of Law professor Linda Mullenix and the university will go to trial over the educator’s claim that she has been discriminated against under the federal Equal Pay Act. An expert on class action litigation, Mullenix claims she was paid less than male professors who have less experience, fewer articles published and fewer professional honors.
Litigation Roundup: Stanford Trial Date, Social Media Addiction, Jerry Jones’ Daddy Issues
A challenge to a high-profile patent that endangers a multibillion-dollar verdict. An SEC settlement worth hundreds-of-millions involving a Texas-based financial services giant. An Texas-based airline sued for a passenger’s wrongful arrest. All this and more in this week’s litigation roundup.
Updated: Ryan GC ‘Seeks to Set the Record Straight’ With Lawsuit Against USA Today
Ryan General Counsel John Smith said the Dallas-based tax services provider sued USA Today and parent company Gannett Co. because the media company published allegedly defamatory articles about Ryan’s business practices but never disclosed in its articles that Gannett employed Ryan to identify potential tax savings and then failed to pay for its services. Ryan, in the lawsuit filed Monday in Montgomery County, accuses the national newspaper chain of defamation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, suit on a sworn account and fraud.
Corban Addison’s Wastelands Gives Scoop Behind Pork Producer Nuisance Trials
A new legal thriller out this month details the story of some Texas plaintiff’s lawyers who took on the pork industry’s most powerful player, a formidable opponent that provoked death threats, had the legal team followed and even changed some laws in the middle of the five-year nuisance litigation that resulted in five jury verdicts totaling hundreds-of-millions. The Lawbook sat down with Wastelands author Corban Addison Thursday when his book tour brought him to Dallas.