Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
The court rejected the effort by a group of protestors to curb the coronavirus curbs by filing directly to the state's highest court. In rejecting In Re Salon a La Mode, et al. the court showed sympathy for both sides, but ordered them to begin their legal protest with the lower courts.
Carrington Coleman has a new managing partner this week: Monica Latin, who has been the firm's head of litigation. “We had an official passing of the torch Friday on an all-firm Zoom,” Latin told The Texas Lawbook in an interview Sunday. “We thanked Bruce [Collins] for his eight years of incredible leadership.”
A dozen of the 17 Texas-based corporate law firms on The Texas Lawbook 50 generated more money in 2019 than they did the year before. Seven scored record high revenues. Some increased income more at their non-Texas offices. This year, however, the leaders at most of the Texas firms are just hoping they make 70-cents on last year’s dollar. The Lawbook provides an in-depth look at Texas firm finances.
“He’s unconscious, but there are some promising signs,” says Susman Godfrey managing partner Neal Manne. “He’s got movement on both sides of his body, to the extent there’s some movement of arms and legs on both sides. That’s a good thing when you have a brain injury, obviously.”
On Wednesday, the Texas Supreme Court issued an order regarding the July bar exam. As the COVID-19 situation continues to unfold, Texas should continue to evaluate all available options, including those beyond the traditional bar exam process. Jenae Ward, a first-year associate at Weil, weighs in.
The 50 largest corporate law firms operating in Texas scored record revenues and profits in 2019, added more lawyers than ever before and started the first two to three months of 2020 on pace for even loftier heights, according to exclusive new data collected by The Texas Lawbook. While 2019 seems like such a long time ago, legal analysts say the financial health of Texas law firms in the 14 months leading into the COVID-19 and crude oil price crises is a clear indicator of how they will make it through the rough times ahead.
Lawyer headcount for corporate law firms operating in Texas was stagnant for the past decade. But new Texas Lawbook 50 data shows that those same firms went on a relative hiring spree in 2019, adding more attorneys last year than they had during the previous four years combined. Analysts say the long-awaited growth occurred at exactly the wrong time. The Texas Lawbook has all the stats and comments.
Some law firms have intensified their outreach efforts by trumpeting the myriad of legal issues on which they can help clients during this crisis. Are they seizing opportunities or distastefully capitalizing on a global pandemic? Prominent corporate law firm marketing expert Susan Peters says the best law firm business development efforts in bad times resemble those in good times: anticipate clients’ concerns and show how the firm can help.
Even the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders cannot contain the ever-hot Texas lateral market. Thompson & Knight announced Monday that three intellectual property trial lawyers – Phillip Philbin, Jamie McDole and Michael Karson – have joined the firm’s Dallas office as partners.
Gibson Dunn managing partner Rob Walters, fresh out of the hospital after testing positive with the coronavirus, has a unique perspective on the potential impact that COVID-19 and cheap oil prices could have on Texas law firms: “This will affect the entire legal industry [and] prove fatal for some fine businesses and law firms.”
Legal industry experts say corporate law firms across Texas should be more worried than they appear to be. Many need to cancel summer associate programs, tell new lawyers that they may not be needed this fall, start reductions in associate salaries and hold back partner draws. “It could get very bad and the Texas legal market will take an even bigger hit than others,” says an Altman Weil analyst. The Texas Lawbook provides an exclusive, in-depth report.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is expected to announce that Trey Cox, a name partner at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst, is joining the firm as a partner in its trial section. Cox, who is married to Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Erin Cox, was a lead lawyer representing Purdue Pharma in litigation over the opioid epidemic in Oklahoma and had been with the Lynn Pinker law firm for 23 years.
Corporate law firm leaders across Texas are scrambling to figure out what to tell the hundreds of increasingly nervous law students scheduled to participate in summer associate programs scheduled to start in about six weeks. Sidley is delaying its summer clerks arrival for two weeks. Other firms are not sure.
© Copyright 2026 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.
