McElroy is the first in-house lawyer and general counsel for the Texas accounting firm. At Weaver, McElroy will work on both the litigation and transactional side. In addition to managing the firm’s corporate needs, he’ll be active in the firm’s contract and acquisition negotiations, quality review teams and risk management.
Report: Pier 1 lenders have retained legal counsel
Several Pier 1 lenders have retained legal counsel in anticipation of a coming overhaul as the home furnishings retailer’s earnings continue to plummet, Retail Dive reported, citing a report from Debtwire. This article from the Dallas Business Journal has more details.
Updated: It was the ‘Right Time and Place’ for Amy Yeager to Become Children’s New GC
During a break from orientation, Children’s newest GC told The Texas Lawbook why she decided to join the country’s eighth largest pediatric care provider. Litigation writer Natalie Posgate has the details.
Shonn Brown Joins Kimberly Clark as Deputy GC
Dallas trial lawyer Shonn Brown had an interesting Friday. In the early morning hours, she won a 10-digit jury verdict in Dallas County District Court. After lunch, she packed up her office at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst and moved her litigation practice to Irving-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., where she is now the deputy general counsel over litigation and regulatory.
Texas Lawbook Hits 11K Subscribers, Launches Insider Newsletter
Buoyed by partnerships with the DFW and Houston chapters of the Association of Corporate Counsel, The Texas Lawbook now has more than 11,000 paid subscribers, including 2,470 corporate in-house counsel. To celebrate, we are launching The Texas Lawbook Insider, a free newsletter that provides insider details about the inner workings of The Lawbook team and offers behind-the-scenes descriptions on how specific stories came together. Here are the details.
ACC Houston & The Texas Lawbook 2019 Corporate Counsel Awards: One Day Left for Nominations
Law firms, corporate legal departments and others have only one day left to submit nominations for the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.
There are 15 categories, including General Counsel of the Year, Senior Counsel of the Year, Business Litigation and Corporate Transaction of the Year. The awards event is set for Thursday, April 25, at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Catherine Callaway James Named Kinder Morgan GC
Former Dynegy GC Catherine Callaway James was named to the top legal job at infrastructure giant Kinder Morgan Inc. She replaces Curt Moffatt who died unexpectedly in December. Claire Poole has more.
Sysco Elevates Eve McFadden to GC
The Houston food and service company has selected Eve McFadden to replace Russell Libby as general counsel and corporate secretary.
Houston Private Equity Firm Promotes Max Klupchak to GC
Houston-based The Sterling Group announced this month that it has promoted Max Klupchak to general counsel. Klupchak joined the private equity firm in 2015 from Kirkland & Ellis, where he
Remembering Nancy Dunlap: 1946-2019
Nancy Dunlap, general counsel at Rosewood Properties Corporation, died on January 21. We asked longtime friend and colleague Alan Loewinsohn about her. His response was thoughtful and warm.
Former Jones Day Real Estate Leader Joins Mill Creek as GC
David Lowery, who spent 37 years at Jones Day in Dallas, has left the firm and is now general counsel of Mill Creek Residential Trust, an apartment developer, acquirer and operator.
AT&T and Toyota Win Multiple 2018 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards
The chief legal officers at Adeptus Health, EnLink Midstream Partners and Match.com won General Counsel of the Year awards. Senior counsel at Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, Capital One and NGP Energy also were honored for significant successes during 2018. The Texas Lawbook has exclusive details.
RSP’s James Mutrie: Putting Himself Out of a Job
It’s not much fun to be general counsel of a company going through a sale which, if successful, would likely put you out of a job. But Jim Mutrie handled his company’s $9.5 billion sale to Concho Resources last year like a pro. Now he’s RSP Permian’s former general counsel and a finalist for an Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award.
Updated: Toyota Legal One Builds Creative Partnerships, Promotes Diversity
Five years ago, Sandra Phillips Rogers started an effort to analyze and revamp how the auto giant’s corporate legal department selected and worked with outside counsel. The idea was a more collaborative relationship between Toyota’s in-house counsel and its outside counsel. Today that idea is more than a success: it’s a model for cooperation and diversity.
Updated: Jared Sine Leads Match’s ‘World Class’ Legal Department
Jared Sine has never swiped right on Tinder, but he is making all the right legal moves for Match.com. In his 30 months as GC, Sine has tripled the size of the Match legal department, unveiled a major data privacy effort and successfully litigated a patent infringement claim against a competitor. The Texas Lawbook tells what Sine then did after lunch.
Kelly Rentzel: Lawyer for $28B Bank by Day; 24/7 Advocate for Mental Health
A couple years ago, Kelly Rentzel faced a daunting question: whether to disclose a mental illness to the world. The GC of Texas Capital Bank had known days of darkness stemming from her struggle with bipolar disorder. But in the process she has discovered that the public revelation of that struggle has meant as much to others as it has to her.
Ziosk’s Shruti Krishnan Makes Connections, Gets Deals Done
When complex deals become contentious – with emails flying and obstacles accruing and the transaction in danger of falling apart – Shruti Krishnan is likely to do something unusual: she picks up the phone and talks with opposing counsel. And now, as a top lawyer at Table Top, she is known as one of the most effective and personable dealmakers around.
Bracewell & Pier 1 Team Up for Major Securities Class Action Win
Two retirement funds sued Pier 1 and two of its executives in 2015 claiming they made false statements and misled shareholders about excessive inventory levels, which led to millions in financial losses. Pier 1 GC Mike Carter and Bracewell partners Stephen Crain and Bradley Benoit executed a near-perfect defense strategy to have the case dismissed.
Hunt Oil’s Michael Monroe Follows Projects from ‘Mere Idea to Fruition’
When Michael Monroe joined the Hunt Oil legal department in 2002 as a senior lawyer, company leaders had developed an innovative idea about building a massive, multibillion-dollar energy operation in Peru. From what seemed like far-fetched plans arose the first LNG producing plant in South America. And Michael Monroe was the guide.
State National’s Kate Nanney Hit the Ground Running with Markel Deal
Kate Nanney had been practicing law merely three years and was corporate counsel at Bedford-based State National Companies for only a few months when she was given a new assignment: work with some of the most experienced M&A lawyers in the world at Skadden Arps on a transaction to sell the company to a mega-insurance and investment firm for $919 million.
ETE-ETP: A Not So Simple Simplification
You would think a merger between two affiliated entities would be easy to pull off. Not so with Energy Transfer Equity’s purchase of Energy Transfer Partners, which is a finalist for the 2018 M&A Deal of the Year award by the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.