Fertitta Buys Caesars for $17.6B

Houston-based Fertitta Entertainment added significantly to its gambling and hospitality holdings Thursday, cutting a long-rumored deal for Caesars Entertainment for $17.6 billion in cash and assumption of debt. Guided by general counsel Steven Scheinthal, Fertitta chose White & Case as outside counsel. Caesars tapped both Latham & Watkins and Skadden Arps. Coincidentally, Scheinthal (pictured) is being honored Thursday night by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook with the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department. The Lawbook's Jason Philyaw has more on the deal and the more than 70 lawyers involved.

May 28, 2026 Jason Philyaw

Exxon Shareholders Approve Texas Reincorporation Plan

Exxon shareholders approved the move to Texas, first recommended in March, with more than 70 percent of shareholders voting in favor.

The move may prove more historical than controversial. While the company's relocation received some opposition, the controversy was nothing compared to Exxon's legal and historical past.

May 28, 2026 Allen Pusey

Texas Capital’s Dan Hoverman: The Finance Executive Who Thinks Like a Lawyer

Dan Hoverman built his career by understanding the law and succeeding in high finance, but the Texas Capital executive insists it was never the product of a master plan so much as a habit of following the right mentors at the right moments.

The Texas Lawbook recently sat down with the Kirkland alum to discuss his unique career path, his sports career, the dealmaking environment in Texas and more.

May 24, 2026 Jeff Schnick

CDT Roundup: A $79 Billion Week, Yet SpaceX Still Steals the Shot

Sixteen deals were reported to the CDT Roundup this week valued at $79.4 billion the second-highest weekly total recorded this year — or, if you prefer, the largest weekly total that didn’t involve SpaceX. Well, not exactly.

That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

May 24, 2026 Jason Philyaw

Gibson Dunn Guides SpaceX on Potential Record‑Shattering IPO

Elon Musk's SpaceX filed a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday for a much-anticipated initial public offering of its common stock that will trade on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol "SPCX."

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is advising SpaceX led by capital markets partners George Sampas in New York and Hillary Holmes, Harrison Tucker and Atma Kabad in Houston. Davis Polk is advising the underwriters.

May 20, 2026 Allen Pusey & Jason Philyaw

Less Disclosure, More Questions: Evaluating the SEC’s Semiannual Reporting Proposal

Even if the Securities and Exchange Commission gives public companies permission to report less often, will investors, analysts and lenders actually let them? That is the central question raised by the Commission’s May 5 proposal to allow U.S. public companies to replace quarterly Form 10-Q filings with semiannual reports on a new Form 10-S — the most significant proposed change to the periodic reporting framework since quarterly reporting became mandatory in 1970.

May 20, 2026 Hillary H. Holmes & Cynthia M. Mabry

NextEra, Dominion Energy Merge in Stock Swap Valued at $66.8B

NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced Monday an agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction valued at $66.8 billion. Kirkland & Ellis advised NextEra with a team led by Zach Savrick and Andy Calder in Houston with David Feirstein, who works from Houston and New York, and Brooksany Barrowes in Washington, D.C. Dominion Energy is being advised by McGuireWoods.

May 18, 2026 Jason Philyaw

Houston Geothermal Power Company Fervo Energy Nets $1.89B in Upsized IPO

Fervo Energy believes it can make carbon-free geothermal power a foundational component of the global energy system. The Houston company said horizontal drilling, fiber-optic sensing and advanced reservoir engineering have allowed it to establish a repeatable, industrial approach to building firm, utility-scale power.

May 15, 2026 Jason Philyaw

GC Will Marsh Helps Cactus ‘Transform into a Truly Multinational Business’

As general counsel of Cactus Inc., Will Marsh is experiencing a second (or third) career, depending on how you count. Wherever it fits in his 37-year legal career, Marsh is making the most of it, and so is Cactus, the Houston-based designer and manufacturer of oilfield equipment.

In 2023, Cactus expanded its offerings with the $621 million acquisition of FlexSteel Technology Holdings, a deal led by Marsh that earned him and Cactus the 2023 M&A Transaction of the Year from The Texas Lawbook and ACC Houston. Now they’ve done it again, winning the 2026 award for their $344.5 million purchase of a controlling interest in the surface pressure control business formerly owned by Baker Hughes.

May 14, 2026 Allen Pusey & Mark Curriden

Premium Subscriber Q&A: Will Marsh

In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Will Marsh discusses the traits he seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with him and more.

May 14, 2026 Allen Pusey & Mark Curriden

The Rise of ‘DEXIT’: Why Corporations are Swapping Delaware for Texas

The corporate landscape in the United States is shifting as a growing number of companies are making the choice to “DEXIT.” This article looks at reasons shareholders are citing in SEC filings for making the decision to redomicile in Texas.

May 14, 2026 Byron F. Egan

Baker Botts Adds Dario Mendoza to Executive Compensation, Employee Benefits Team in Dallas

Dario Mendoza has joined Baker Botts in Dallas as a partner in the firm’s executive compensation and employee benefits practice after more than 15 years at Vinson & Elkins across town.

Baker Botts said Mendoza advises companies, private equity firms, boards, compensation committees and executive teams on compensation and benefits. His work spans tax, securities law, corporate governance and disclosure considerations associated with these arrangements.

May 13, 2026 Jason Philyaw