Michael Byrd, who has served as lead counsel in more than 100 oil and gas M&A deals over his 30-plus-year career, and his “protégé” shared the scoop on why Porter Hedges and what kinds of deals they are working on in a Q&A with The Lawbook.
David Cole to Move from V&E to Kirkland
Cole, a nationally recognized expert on tax controversies and tax litigation, is expected to join K&E in October. His lateral hiring is the latest in a variety of moves by firms to beef up their energy practices. Mark Curriden has the details.
Dallas Public Finance Pro Lands at Locke Lord
Steve Bolden, whose clients have included DFW Airport, the North Texas Tollway Authority, the Texas Water Development Board and the City of Dallas, was most recently at Bracewell.
Former SCOTX Justice Eva Guzman Jumps to Houston Litigation Firm
Eva Guzman, who launched a failed bid to unseat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after resigning from the court last summer, will start at Wright Close & Barger on Sept. 12.
Fifth Circuit Judge Joins Gibson Dunn
Federal appellate judges almost never resign; and they never ever go back to practicing law. Gregg Costa, the Houston federal prosecutor who sent billionaire financial fraudster Allen Stanford to prison in 2012 and then was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Obama, is doing both. Costa is giving up his black robe and the lifetime job security of a federal judgeship to join the Houston office of Gibson Dunn as co-lead of the firm’s global litigation and trial practice.
Costa is moving his Houston office seven blocks. His new Gibson Dunn office at is about one-tenth the size of his 3,000-square-foot suite at the federal courthouse, but he is getting a bit of a compensation boost. The Texas Lawbook talked with Costa exclusively and has the details.
Remembering Harold Kleinman, ‘A Giant of the Legal Profession’ and a Lion of the Texas Bar
Harold Kleinman, a pioneer of the modern-day corporate M&A law practice in Texas, lawyer to some of the state’s biggest businesses and a founding father of Texas Access to Justice, died Friday. He was 91.
For five decades, Kleinman was a lawyer and leader at Thompson & Knight, guiding the firm through extraordinary growth and turning it into a powerhouse in the energy sector. Bar associations, community groups, Jewish organizations and businesses honored Kleinman with award after award. In fact, the State Bar of Texas and Texas Access to Justice named its top honor for commitment to the legal profession the Harold F. Kleinman Award. “I was just a lawyer who represented clients and believed everyone deserved a fair shake under the law,” Kleinman told The Texas Lawbook in 2015. The Lawbook looks at the life and career of one of the greatest corporate lawyers in Texas history.
GT Recruits Gruber-led Litigation Team
Mike Gruber and two young shareholders have left Dorsey for Greenberg Traurig. The Texas Lawbook spoke with the lawyers on Day One at GT.
Cynthia Mabry Leaves Akin for Gibson Dunn
Mabry was the co-lead of the climate change group at Akin Gump, where she made partner in 2020. She is the fourth corporate lateral partner hire Gibson Dunn has made in Texas this year.