Texas is at the forefront of a new era in corporate governance. As businesses question decades of wisdom that led to an unflinching resolve to incorporate in Delaware, everyone seems to be asking the same question about Texas, Nevada and other states: “What do you offer that’s better?” A recent decision from the Texas Business Court helps answer that question.
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Anti-SLAPP Law’s Automatic Stay Under Fire at Capitol
The Texas Citizens Participation Act has helped media defendants and public advocates fight meritless lawsuits aimed at intimidating them into silence. Now, legislators are reviewing the anti-SLAPP law’s automatic stay of trial proceedings during an interlocutory appeal of a motion to dismiss. Critics of the 2011 law say it is too broadly written, allowing unscrupulous defendants to delay cases that have nothing to do with free speech. The high-stakes battle is playing out at the Capitol where supporters from across the political landscape face off against powerful business interests — with observers wondering if a compromise is possible.
Patience, Process and Persistence — Using Sequential Mediator’s Proposals in Commercial Contractual Negotiations
The goal of mediation is not always compromise. Rather, the goal of mediation is agreement, and compromise is only one tool to achieving that goal. Another tool is a change
Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Revives Coast Guard Vaccine Mandate Challenge
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, we give readers one guess as to why Buc-ee’s filed a new lawsuit in Missouri, CBS moves to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump, and we detail two new state court lawsuits each seeking more than $100 million in damages.
Vertical Farming Company Hires Sidley, Jefferies to Advise on Bankruptcy
Plenty Unlimited Incorporated, a Wyoming-based vertical farming company, and six of its affiliated entities, announced Sunday that it had voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas.
How This Third-Year Haynes Boone Associate Became ‘Professor Potts’
Haynes Boone associate Bradley Potts credits a high school teacher for making him believe he could and should become a lawyer. But that teacher instilled something else in Potts: a love for teachers and teaching. And starting this semester at the UT School of Law, his students are learning what the real world of finance practice looks like from the ground up. Nick Peck explains how that happened after only three years of actual practice.
Paul Weiss: Competitor Law Firms Came for Our Clients, Not to Help Us
The chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison — a global corporate law firm that has been working to open an office in Houston — said in a memo to its lawyers Sunday that he tried to get other large law firms to join together to fight against the Trump administration’s attacks on his firm and other law firms, but none did. “Disappointingly, far from support, we learned that certain other firms were seeking to exploit our vulnerabilities by aggressively soliciting our clients and recruiting our attorneys,” Brad Karp wrote in a 1,620-word letter, which was first obtained and published by The American Lawyer. The firm counts Texas energy giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Noble Corp. as major clients. The firm is currently the lead legal advisor for Party City in its bankruptcy case in Houston.
Texas Lawbook Online Forum: How Should Lawyers, Firms and GCs Respond to President Trump’s Challenges?
This weekend, President Donald Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate law firms engaging in what he termed “frivolous litigation” against the U.S. government. Concurrently, the EEOC has reached out to 20 law firms — 13 of them operating in Texas — demanding transparency on diversity policies. Despite the gravity of these developments, the response from the legal community has been largely silent. Lawyers at multiple firms have refrained from speaking out, fearing repercussions from political leaders or the administration, particularly in sensitive cases. How should lawyers respond? The Texas Lawbook invites lawyers, general counsel, law professors and judges to participate in our online forum.
CDT Roundup: First Quarter Deadline for Filing Deals is Two Weeks Away
In this edition of CDT Roundup for the week ending March 22, the Corporate Deal Tracker saw 18 deals with an aggregate value of $5.2 billion. That eclipses the prior week in volume (13 deals) but falls far short in value ($13.7 billion). Still, the week parses well against the same week last year which saw 18 deals for $5.4 billion. Also, The Lawbook has new 2025 quarterly deadlines for deal submissions to qualify for its annual firm and lawyer deal rankings. Firms and lawyers who wish to be considered for the first quarter and year-end Lawbook leaderboards for M&A and CapM must submit all of their first-quarter deals by April 7 at 5 p.m.
SCOTUS Asks Stephen Hammer to Defend Federal Appeals’ Court Ruling in Immigration Case
A fourth-year associate in the Dallas office of Gibson Dunn will make his first oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday by defending a ruling by a lower court that neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the defendant in the case believe was correct. The nation’s highest court appointed Stephen Hammer, a former clerk to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and a military veteran, to argue the merits of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s opinion about appellate filing deadlines related to removal orders if the defendant claims he will be killed or tortured if he is deported.