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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.

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The Texas Attorney General claims in court that the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 is outdated, unnecessary and an unconstitutional encroachment on the sovereignty of the state, but his legal efforts may have just assured the law’s survival.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.

Scott Schwind Joins Jones Day as Houston Energy Partner

An expert in the Latin American and African transaction markets for oil and gas, Schwind advises clients with upstream, midstream and downstream deals both in the U.S. and around the world.

The Texas Lawbook interviewed Schwind, who is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, about trends in his practice to discuss cross border oil and gas transactions and why he joined Jones Day.

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