Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Exxon Mobil General Counsel Jack Balagia has announced he is officially retiring as the Irving-based oil and gas giant’s top lawyer in three weeks. Balagia, who has been with Exxon Mobil for 18 years, says current assistant general counsel Randall Ebner will succeed him as the company’s chief legal officer.
Corporate legal department can use internal websites to market their services to their business and provide useful information and materials to the workforce. It also allows company employees to find answers and documents on their own without having to directly utilize the time of the in-house legal team. This edition of “Ten Things” discusses some practical things you can do to create (or improve) your Legal Department website.
Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt told 300 business lawyers Tuesday night attending the General Counsel Forum’s annual Robert H. Dedman Award for Ethics and Law that he's not a lawyer and has "no clue what general counsel do, but I know that you could not have picked a better person [to honor] than David Hernandez." In an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook, Hernandez discusses his career, his worries about the legal profession and the reasons he became a lawyer. Plus, we have photos from the GC Forum gala.
It sucks being a cost center. General counsel can argue all day about the value the legal department is adding to the company, but it is still a cost center to the business. If executives see Legal as just a cost center, it could feel the budget axe when times get tough. This edition of “Ten Things” discusses basic and straight-forward ways you can “market” the legal department to the business in order to help them understand what the department does and the value it brings to the company.
Dallas Cowboys General Counsel Jason Cohen helped negotiate eight-digit stadium naming rights with AT&T his first week on the job. The second week, he led legal talks for the Jones family on the development of the practice facilities and headquarters in Frisco. He has written contracts for Cowboys' players and coaches, negotiated multimillion-dollar media and sponsorship deals, sued to enforce Cowboys intellectual property and represented the owners in discussions with the NFL over league policies and procedures. Did I mention he's only 36?
Most lawyers suck at delegating, primarily because no one ever taught us how to delegate. They just told us to delegate, which is about as helpful as telling us to invent rocket fuel. Becoming good at delegation, however, will allow you to be more productive and get your work done within a reasonable set of hours every day. This edition of “Ten Things” discusses “how” to delegate:
Spencer, who is a private equity holder in the company, represented Coinsource last year as a partner at Akin Gump in Dallas.
Corporate legal departments have a common refrain: how do we get enough money to do the things we need to do to protect the company? A growing solution for many businesses is “litigation financing.” Like it or not, litigation financing is only going to become more prevalent. In-house counsel need to be able to provide guidance to the company and the senior management about whether it is something the company should explore further.
Energy Future Holdings has paid its lawyers and financial advisers about $600,000 a day for each and every one of the 827 days – including weekends and holidays – since it filed for bankruptcy in April 2014. The Texas Lawbook reviewed 450 federal court records and discovered that more than 380 business lawyers and more than 240 financial advisers have billed EFH thousands and thousands of hours for work they’ve done on the bankruptcy – some of them charging as much as $1,400 an hour. As a result, the Dallas power company bankruptcy is now one of the five most expensive corporate restructurings in U.S. history.
University of Texas Regent Sara Martinez Tucker said Wednesday that she is “stunned to find the legal profession among the least diverse” for people of color – notably Hispanics.
GC Forum leaders say they selected Lynn Bozalis because of her deep contacts in the legal profession and her extensive experience in programming and fund-raising.
The U.S. Department of Labor recently finalized its controversial changes to federal overtime pay exemption rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These changes are expected to affect approximately 1.2 million employees in Texas – more than any other state. Fisher & Phillips partner Michael V. Abcarian explains why and how general counsel should immediately begin working with employers to comply by the Dec. 1 deadline to implement the new policies, which will more than double the minimum salary needed to be exempt from overtime pay.
Houston-based Enterprise Products has named career commercial litigator Harry “Hap” Weitzel, a 1987 graduate of Texas Christian, as its general counsel, according to the company’s website. The oil and gas pipeline company also named Craig Murray, who served as the company’s GC for the past 15 months, as its new vice president of regulatory affairs.
Lawyers boast about the view from their office windows, but none can match the scene from Kate Cassidy’s desk: home plate at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
AT&T filed a “friend of the court” brief asking a California federal judge the court to vacate its order requiring Apple take extraordinary steps to assist the FBI in unlocking the iPhone used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shootings. In this case, the government seeks more than what can be supported under the law as it is written today. The solution is for Congress to pass new legislation that provides real clarity for citizens and companies alike.
Rich Rosalez, senior director of litigation at Samsung Electronics America in Dallas, and Emma Mata, litigation partner at Sefarth Shaw in Houston, are among 20 winners selected by the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Rich Rosalez, senior director of litigation at Samsung Electronics America in Dallas, and Emma Mata, litigation partner at Sefarth Shaw in Houston, are among 20 winners selected by the Hispanic National Bar Association.
There are many things I recall about beginning my legal career in Dallas. But one thing I remember clearly, from the very first day on the job, was the pervasive sentiment that an indispensable part of being a lawyer – a real lawyer committed to the craft and the profession – is helping those who need access to our courts. It reminds us of why we became lawyers, and it underscores the importance of serving others as zealously as we support our clients.
Kesselman takes over as the chief legal officer at Yum! on Feb. 1, where he will oversee a legal department of about 100 lawyers.
The Texas Open Carry law went into effect Jan 1. The law allows a concealed handgun license holder to openly carry a holstered handgun in a shoulder or belt strap in most public or private places without violating Texas’ general prohibition against carrying handguns. Employers need to know their rights in light of this game-changing law. The article is divided into sections concerning (1) notice and regulated notice to employees, (2) regulated notice to visitors, (3) prohibited places/activities for carrying handguns and (4) the role of alcohol for the CHL holder.
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