Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Prominent Dallas trial lawyer Paul Genender joined Paul Hastings as a partner Monday to be the firm’s head of litigation in Texas and co-chair of its Houston office. Genender, who had been a partner at Weil Gotshal in Dallas for the past seven years, will split his time between Houston and Dallas.
Reggie Hedgebeth has been named as the next chief legal officer at Canadian-based midstream oil and giant company Enbridge Inc.
On Thursday, Caitlin Halpern will host a pizza party to commemorate the re-launch of a program that teaches public speaking and critical thinking through debate to incarcerated people in Harris County. Natalie Posgate collected details on the event, the program and the organization behind it that marries Halpern’s passions for debate and criminal justice reform.
The firm’s new top inclusion, diversity and equity official talked with The Lawbook about her background, the challenges the DEI industry is facing, how to retain diverse talent and why the firm leads with “inclusion” in her job title.
The UT Law grad joins the firm's energy and infrastructure practice. Her past clients have included Neste, Mitsui and Kimmeridge as well as various consumer brands.
The Lawbook recently spoke to Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program director Michelle Fontenot, who elaborated on the range of mental health and substance abuse services TLAP offers and shared her thoughts on the pandemic’s effect on lawyers’ mental health, the billable hour, best ways for the legal community to support TLAP and what firms and corporate legal departments could be doing better to support the wellness of their employees.
Ravi Purohit becomes co-head of Paul Weiss’s infrastructure practice. There has been speculation that Paul Weiss is planning to open a Houston office and has been out trying to recruit lawyers.
On Friday, Texans will no longer pay sales tax for menstrual products and an array of family care products. While lawmakers passed SB 379 only a few months ago, the new state law is the product of years of work by a coalition of young Texas women and their lawyers at Baker Botts. In a Q&A with The Lawbook, the lawyers talk more about their work on this pro bono matter and SB 379's significance.
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