Ex-GC of Front Burner Restaurants Jumps to Fox Rothschild
John Gessner, who served as general counsel and corporate secretary of Front Burner Restaurants for the last nine years, has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in its Dallas office.
Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
John Gessner, who served as general counsel and corporate secretary of Front Burner Restaurants for the last nine years, has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in its Dallas office.

Many lawyers believe Dallas Stars GC Alana Matthews and Dallas Cowboys GC Jason Cohen have dream jobs. Guess what? Matthews and Cohen agree. Next week, they join their counterparts for the Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Motor Speedway and FC Dallas in an exclusive CLE program hosted by The Texas Lawbook and ACC-DFW.

David was the best lawyer I have ever known. He reveled in the complex but was able to devise simple and creative solutions when none were apparent to others. The Texas Lawbook has this tribute.
This year’s awards ceremony will be Jan. 24 at the President George W. Bush Library and Institute. Save the date. This article has the details.
Houston-based energy giant ConocoPhillips is expected to name Baker Botts corporate transactional partner Kelly Brunetti Rose as its new general counsel, The Texas Lawbook has learned.
(Aug. 6) – Purdue Pharma needed a new chief legal officer to lead the privately held drug maker through a mountain of litigation it faces over the opioid crisis. Lawyers
By Richard G. Stewart Jr. (Aug. 1) – Richard G. Stewart, Sr. was a member of the Greatest Generation, World War II veteran, breaker of racial barriers, entrepreneur and community
The Texas General Counsel Forum unveiled 10 winners of the 2018 Magna Stella Awards, including the top legal officers at Dr. Pepper Snapple, Varsity Brands, Hanger and the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. The Texas Lawbook has full details.
Michael Sukenik spent a week behind the counter at Smoothie King making Slim-N-Trim Orange Vanilla and Pure Recharge Mango Strawberry shakes. He took orders, blended, washed and stocked shelves - a requirement for all new Smoothie King execs. Nearly three months on the job as GC, Sukenik tells The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview that he's tackling issues related to the headquarters relocation to Dallas, getting to know the C-team, trying to hire a lawyer for his legal department, re-evaluating our outside legal support and talking with a few Texas law firms.
Today, I am pleased to announce that The Texas Lawbook has reached and surpassed 10,000 paid subscribers – 2,359 of whom are general counsel or corporate in-house counsel.
The time has come to eliminate venue shopping in corporate bankruptcies and restructuring. Based on my first-hand experience leading American Airlines' corporate restructuring in a distant locale, it is my view that Congress should amend the bankruptcy laws and eliminate venue shopping. U.S. corporations should be required to file bankruptcy cases in their hometown jurisdiction. This exclusive Texas Lawbook article explains why.
(June 8) – The Woodlands-based Talen Energy has hired former Energy Future Holdings General Counsel Andy Wright as its new top lawyer. Wright, who leads a legal team of four lawyers, talks about his reasons for the move after 14 years at EFH in Dallas.
[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”2″] © 2018 The Texas Lawbook. By Mark Curriden (June 4) – One by one, young women and men of color stood as their names were called. Brenda Balli.
(May 22) -- Since its creation in 2006, the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation will have awarded almost $400,000 in scholarships and internships to Hispanic law students and provided numerous grants to Hispanic high school and college students with interests in the law. At this year’s Amanacer Luncheon, the Foundation honors and awards 15 deserving Hispanic students with scholarships and grants, and 6 students will receive judicial internships. T-Mobile's Chris Luna writes about the program and its upcoming event in The Texas Lawyer.
Michael Jackman’s departure is the latest blow for the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, which has seen several of its top and most experienced lawyers leave for the private sector during the past year.

Though that legal degree on your wall is kind of important in order to practice law, it turns out that everything you need to know about civility in the profession boils down to the ‘Golden Rule’ that you already learned in kindergarten: treat others the way you would want to be treated.
On Matt Henry’s first day as a lawyer, he was assigned a research project for a subsidiary of Texas power giant TXU Energy. Twenty-three years later, that company, now called Oncor Electric Delivery, has named Henry to be its general counsel. In exclusive interviews with The Texas Lawbook, Henry and Oncor CEO Allen Nye discuss how they met 25 years ago, the legal needs facing the business and their plans for outside counsel.
© 2018 The Texas Lawbook. By Mark Curriden (April 2) – For John Torres, there was no inspirational story or significant life experience that led him to become a lawyer.

Rachel Gonzalez, who has held senior in-house legal positions at several Texas companies, will no longer have to pay for a cup of coffee starting next month.

This week, a potentially epic and landmark trial gets underway in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., pitting the mighty power of the United States government against telecommunications giant AT&T of Dallas. A handful of Texas lawyers, including several AT&T in-house counsel and partners in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, are playing prominent roles in the litigation. The Texas Lawbook has details.
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