Latham partner Jeffrey Munoz represents Plains. Gardere partner Douglas Eyberg advises BP.
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Big Dallas Law Firms Get “F” for Diversity
Only one percent of the 840 equity partners at the 20 largest Dallas law firms are black. Thirteen of those law firms have no African-American partners at all. Nine law firms have no Hispanic partners, according to a new report by the Dallas Diversity Task Force. Overall, lawyers of color comprise 12 percent of all the attorneys working at the 20 biggest firms, which is actually an increase from eight percent just six years ago.
Two major Dallas law firms – Weil, Gotshal & Manges and K&L Gates – received a passing grade.
V&E Leads Riverstone’s Investment in Sage Midstream
Private equity firms continue to invest big money in the oil patch, and that is good news for Texas energy lawyers.
V&E Leads Riverstone’s Investment in Sage Midstream
Private equity firms continue to invest big money in the oil patch, and that is good news for Texas energy lawyers.
Did Greg Abbott Just Save the Voting Rights Act?
The Texas Attorney General claims in court that the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 is outdated, unnecessary and an unconstitutional encroachment on the sovereignty of the state, but his legal efforts may have just assured the law’s survival. Election law experts say that the VRA rose from near death – or at least irrelevance – last week when a federal court ruled that Texas legislators committed intentional racial discrimination when they drew new voting districts in 2011.
“It is amazing that Texas officials intended to kill the Voting Rights Act, but because of the evidence of intentional discrimination, they may have just resurrected it,” says University of Michigan law professor Ellen Katz, a nationally recognized election law expert.
Texas Justices Reverse $46 Million Award in Defective U-Haul Truck Case
The Texas Supreme Court threw out a $46 million award to a man who was crushed by a rolling U-Haul truck, finding that evidence of safety problems in Canadian trucks was improperly admitted in a Dallas County trial.
The justices said there is enough evidence for a re-trial on negligence and actual damages, but rendered a take-nothing judgment on the jury’s gross negligence findings and punitive damages. The six-person jury’s initial award of $84 million in the case was the fifth largest verdict in the nation in 2008, according to Dunn & Bradstreet. V&E’s Tom Leatherbury represents U-Haul.
Marathon Oil’s Richard Horstman is Poster Child for Pro Bono – UPDATE
Richard Horstman, who is widely recognized as one of the leading lawyers for international oil exploration and production, didn’t do much pro bono during his first 30 years at Marathon Oil. Five years ago, the energy giant implemented a formal pro bono effort. The assistant GC now performs more than 200 hours of pro bono a year handling child immigration cases.
“Pro bono certainly changed my view of myself as a lawyer,” says Horstman. “I realized that I am one of the few who can do this because of my expertise as a lawyer.”
William Toles Moves to Fee Smith
A trial lawyer with 15 years of experience and more than 75 trials under his belt, Toles joins the trial boutique firm Fee, Smith, Sharp & Vitullo in Dallas as a partner. Toles, who is a former assistant Dallas City Attorney, focuses his practice on commercial and business litigation, personal injury, professional and premises liability litigation.
Baker Botts Leads $850 million TPC Group Deal
Two private equity firms are paying $850 million to take publicly traded Houston-based TPC Group private.
Vince Murchison Forms Energy Pipeline Boutique
Murchison, who worked on Longhorn Pipeline legal matters for 15 years, says starting his own shop will make him more affordable for energy clients.