The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.

Dearth of Legal Aid for Low-Income Texans ‘Really Dire’

Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht says the number of Texans needing legal assistance but who cannot afford an attorney is increasing so fast that the state's legal profession is not equipped to handle the demand for basic legal services for military veterans, abused spouses and children and other low-income residents. Even so, new Texas Lawbook data shows that most corporate law firms in Texas are not doing their share of pro bono work, even as those same firms achieve record profits. The solution may rest with in-house corporate legal departments and general counsel. The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth report.

Mark Curriden

$20M HOA Verdict Becomes Personal for Coinsource GC Arnold Spencer

Arnold Spencer has tried around 100 cases in his legal career. But a recent Perry Mason moment during an insurance negligence trial came to him while wearing a different hat: a fact witness. Natalie Posgate tells his tale and how he and lawyers at Hedrick Kring secured a $20 million jury verdict this week on behalf of residents of a burned down Dallas condominium.

Natalie Posgate

Nominations Open for 2019 DFW Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are officially accepting nominations for the 2019 Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognize the best of the best legal work being performed by corporate in-house counsel. There are 14 categories this year, including three categories that also recognize successful partnerships between general counsel and their outside law firms. The Lawbook has full details.

Mark Curriden

The 2019 Magna Stella Award Goes To…

The Texas GC Forum chose in-house lawyers at AT&T, Boeing Global Services, ExxonMobil, Platinum Dermatology, Southwestern Energy and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to receive the Magna Stella Award. The biggest winner is Houston-based Mattress Firm. The Texas Lawbook has the names.

Mark Curriden

American Airlines Names Priya Aiyar as New GC

The Fort Worth-based airline conducted a national search to replace Paul Jones, who retired earlier this year. Willkie Farr partner Priya Aiyar, whose practice specialized in litigation and global trade and investment disputes, will start the job in September and will relocate to American’s DFW headquarters.

Mark Curriden

Worldwide Flight Services GC Baron Oursler’s ‘Crazy Year’

The past six months have been a whirlwind for Baron Oursler. He played a critical role in the sale of his employer, FleetPride, to a New York private equity firm. His wife gave birth to their first child, who was born six weeks prematurely and spent a month in the hospital. And he recently started a new job as GC of Worldwide Flight Services. The Texas Lawbook has the inside details.

Mark Curriden

TechnipFMC’s Lisa Wang: From Scooping Ice Cream to Expertise on Multijurisdictional, Dually Traded Public Companies

Widely viewed as one of the brilliant young stars in the corporate in-house legal community, Lisa Wang played a leading role in the incredibly complex $13 billion merger of Houston-based FMC Technologies and Technip of Paris in 2017 and guided the newly formed company through a $460 million debt offering in 2018. The Texas Lawbook has an in-depth profile of Wang's life and career.

Mark Curriden

Fluor Promotes CLO Carlos Hernandez to Interim CEO

Fluor Corp's long-time chief legal officer Carlos Hernandez is now the company's interim CEO. While Fluor has not announced who will replace Hernandez as CLO, it lists two lawyers , Dawn Stout and Kevin Hammonds, as holding the general counsel title. This article looks back at Hernandez' extraordinary life and career.

Mark Curriden

The 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards – A ‘Spectacular Evening’ in Words and Pictures

Halliburton GC Robb Voyles stepped to the podium to accept his award for General Counsel of the Year and saw a photo of himself on the ballroom’s big screen. "I'm not getting this award for picture of the year obviously,” Voyles told the audience at the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. ACC Houston and The Texas Lawbook honored 14 corporate legal departments and their lawyers. The Lawbook has exclusive details and photos from the event.

Mark Curriden

Buc-ee’s & Tracy Richardson – Business Litigation of the Year

In a trademark lawsuit that began with a coffee cup plopped on his desk, Tracy Richardson led the charge to protect the distinctive Buc-ee's beaver grin from corporate copycats and poachers. Now, he and Buc-ee's are winners in the Business Litigation of the Year category of the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Read Mark Curriden's account of this award-winning litigation.

Mark Curriden

CenterPoint’s $6B Acquisition of Vectren is the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Award’s M&A Transaction of the Year

Monica Karuturi, an associate GC at CenterPoint Energy was visiting relatives in India when she first got word that CenterPoint was interested in acquiring Vectren, an Indiana-based utility. Within days she was on a flight to New York City to begin fleshing out the agreement. In the next few months Karuturi's team put together a $6 billion deal that has been named M&A Transaction of the Year in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards. Mark Curriden has the background on the remarkable, award-winning transaction.

Mark Curriden

Buc-ee’s, CenterPoint, Precision Drilling, Peak Completion, LyondellBasell & Superior Energy Win Big at 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday night that Buc-ee’s Deputy General Counsel Tracy Richardson is the winner of the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards’ Business Litigation of the Year. CenterPoint Energy Associate General Counsel Monica Karuturi and her outside lawyers at Akin Gump and Baker Botts are the winners of the 2019 M&A Transaction of the Year. More than 300 leaders of Houston corporate legal departments and the most prominent business lawyers in Texas celebrated the annual 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel awards Thursday evening at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Houston. We have exclusive coverage of the event and a list of winners in The Texas Lawbook.

Mark Curriden

Carriage’s Mike Elliott & Shook Hardy – Creative Partnering

Legal Counsel Mike Elliott of Carriage Services, a $300 million funeral operations company, has a distinctive approach to litigation: he likes his company to avoid it. To do so he has formed a creative alliance with law firm Shook Hardy Bacon that involves a shared vision of legal needs and something close to absolute professional trust. Their relationship is the sole finalist and thus the winner of the 2019 ACC Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Creative Partnership. Mark Curriden describes that award-winning relationship.

Mark Curriden

Keane Group’s Kevin McDonald – Actively involved in Running the Company

Kevin McDonald leads a legal department with four lawyers that last year successfully led the preparation of the Keane Group’s first proxy statement and first annual stockholders meeting. He helped lead legal support for the acquisition and integration of hydraulic fracturing assets of RSI, a new senior term loan credit facility, a $100 million stock repurchase plan and two underwritten secondary offerings of company stock totaling $307 million. And now he's a finalist for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Mark Curriden

ConocoPhillips’ Shannon Kinney: Persuasion through Engagement

Shannon Kinney is an exceptional lawyer. But her development of creative ways to interact with stockholders has made her an expert in investor relations. As a result, she is a finalist for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department in the 2019 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards.

Mark Curriden

© Copyright 2025 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.