Stating that their “abiding commitment to preserving the integrity of the American legal system leaves us no choice,” 504 law firms across the U.S. signed an amicus brief Friday supporting the corporate law firm Perkins Coie in its battle for survival against the Trump administration. Of those 504 law firms supporting Perkins Coie, only nine are based in Texas and not a single law firm with a corporate transactional practice signed the brief. The firms include Yetter Coleman, Susman Godfrey, Graves Dougherty, Nachawati Law Group, Aldous Law, Crain Brogdon and Waters Kraus.
P.S. — Law Firm Delivers with Hams for Easter; Houston’s Legal Rockers Battle for Charity Glory
In this week’s P.S. Column, one Dallas-Fort Worth law firm is putting $50,000 toward feeding families this Easter with a ham meal giveaway. Also, Law Rocks is making its way to Houston, where lawyers face off in a battle-of-the-bands style competition for charity. Meet the Houston bands who are competing. Finally, The Texas Lawbook continues to invite submissions on pro bono collaborations between corporate legal departments and law firms for a new monthly column.
Texas Law Professors Join Amicus Brief in Support of Perkins Coie Challenge to Trump Executive Order
More than a dozen professors from Texas law schools joined an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order targeting the firm. The president’s executive order is unconstitutional and poses a grave threat to the rule of law, the professors argue.
Texas AG Sends Piggyback Demands to Law Firms on DEI Info
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a two-page letter to 20 large corporate law firms — 13 with operations in Texas — seeking information about their diversity and inclusion initiatives related to their hiring and promotion efforts that Paxton alleges may have violated state and federal laws regarding discrimination.
P.S. — Reed Smith’s Global Managing Partner Celebrated, Volunteers Needed in San Antonio
In this week’s P.S. column, the San Antonio Legal Services Association and another nonprofit are seeking volunteer lawyers to participate in a housing rights workshop on Saturday to educate tenants on housing rights and show them how to draft repair requests. Also, the Center for Women in Law will honor Reed Smith global managing partner Casey Ryan with the Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award at its April 4 luncheon, featuring BBC journalist Katty Kay as keynote speaker. Finally, The Texas Lawbook invites submissions on pro bono collaborations between corporate legal departments and law firms for a new monthly column.
P.S. — Food from the Bar Campaign Benefits North Texas Food Bank, $5M Gift Creates Law School’s Business and Transaction Law Center, Firm Covers Lyft Rides from Rodeo Houston
Let the competition begin. In this week’s P.S. column, the North Texas Food Bank is set to soon start its annual “Food from the Bar” campaign, a friendly competition among the Dallas-area legal community to raise food for children while they’re out of school this coming summer. Also, St. Mary’s University School of Law got a generous gift to create a center for business and transaction law. And one law firm is making sure Houston Rodeo participants get home safe with free Lyft rides.
Self-Reflection, Growth, and Guiding the Next Generation
Preparation and curiosity will carry you further than perfection. As you grow, you outgrow certain mentors and find new ones who challenge and shape you in different ways. It’s a lifelong process — and that’s one of the greatest lessons I can share with the next generation of women attorneys: mentorship, learning, and growth are never one-and-done. They’re constant companions on your career journey.
EEOC Targets 13 Law Firms Operating in Texas for DEI Initiatives
The new acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sent a 10-page letter to 20 different corporate law firms — 13 of them with operations in Texas, though no Texas-based law firms — demanding detailed information about their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and decision making. The letters, which are addressed to the leaders of each of the law firms, demand that they “fully identify all clients that have diversity preferences or any demographic-related requirements for matters, including but not limited to race or sex requirements for the employees staffed on their matters.”
O’Melveny, SMU Law Clinic Secure Pro Bono Win for Permanent Injunction Over Jail’s Mail Policy
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant entered a permanent injunction in a First and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit against Grayson County and its sheriff that requires the jail to allow books, magazines and other correspondence sent to incarcerated people from the nonprofit prison advocacy Human Rights Defense Center. The Florida-based group is represented on a pro bono basis by O’Melveny & Meyers and the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.
P.S. — Toyota and Baker Botts Bring Legal Aid — and Laughter — to Exploited Victims
For several weeks that a woman found refuge at Dallas’ New Friends New Life for formerly trafficked and sexually exploited victims, the staff hadn’t seen a small measure of her joy: laughter.
Finally, at a pro bono legal intake clinic with attorneys from Toyota North America and Baker Botts, staffers caught a glimmer of hope as they heard the woman laugh after receiving legal aid. It was a moment that resonated with the staff and the volunteer lawyers, said Scott Young, managing counsel of Toyota North America in Plano.
“That is more than just turning a page,” Young said. “That’s like freeing her from her limitations.”