Judge Christine Weems of the 281st Civil District Court in Harris County is ruling on cases by day and acting and directing by night. Weems’ new show, The Five Minute Mile, put on by a 13-person ensemble cast, is slated to open Feb. 15.
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Kirkland & Ellis Partner Launches IRISI, Empowering North Texas Teens Through Leadership Camps
Daniel Hernandez Alvarenga’s mother noticed a change in her 17-year-old son when she picked him up from the Dallas airport following a two-week stay at a rural camp nearly 2,000 miles away in Maine. Indeed, Hernandez had changed. The Dallas high school student gained energy, ideas and hope, he said in a testimonial video published by IRISI, a non-profit organization founded by Kirkland & Ellis Dallas partner Michael Considine and his wife, Megan Considine, that raises scholarships to send teenagers to camp. Irisi, which since 2023 has sent about a dozen North Texas students to the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine, officially launched this year.
P.S. — Meet The Lawbook’s New Pro Bono & Diversity Reporter
Throughout the world of corporate law, there have been attacks on diversity and inclusion, as the biggest companies and law firms in America have bowed to pressure to back off their public commitment to DEI. At the same time, some political leaders and media commentators openly shame lawyers for tackling unpopular defendants or policies. The Texas Lawbook is actually doubling down on our commitment to pro bono, public service and diversity in the legal profession. Today, we officially announce the hiring of Krista Torralva as a new pro bono and diversity beat reporter for The Texas Lawbook. Krista is a former Dallas Morning News courts reporter who has covered litigation for The Lawbook for more than a year.
Winter Storm Uri — Four Years Later, Zero Jury Trials for 30,000 Victims of Historic Storm
The ground had not yet thawed four years ago when the Texas courts were slammed with an avalanche of lawsuits. More than 30,000 individuals and small businesses filed wrongful death, personal injury and property damage lawsuits against ERCOT and the energy companies accusing them of gross negligence that caused much of the power blackouts. A separate class action accused energy companies and financial institutions of using Winter Storm Uri to manipulate prices and generate billions of dollars in profits. Four years later, not a single witness deposition has been taken and not a single case has been set for trial. And a growing number of legal experts predict that none of those cases will ever be heard by a jury of Texas citizens.
Master your Next Mediation: Advice for Attorneys
Crowded court dockets mean the interest in, and need for, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) continues to grow throughout Texas. How can you set the stage for successful mediation? When is the right time to mediate a case? What should you do before you arrive at the mediation? And why is having a settlement range important?
Latham’s Gamechanging 15 Years in Texas: How The Firm’s Houston Office Wrote the Playbook for National Firms to Storm the State
The Houston office of Latham & Watkins had not been open for a year when Ryan Maierson experienced a significant realization. The office opened in February 2010, and as the year progressed, he and the other partners at Baker Botts began to marvel at how easily this “non-native” firm from Los Angeles integrated itself into Texas’s established transactional law environment.
Other national firms had previously entered the Texas market. However, with Latham — the second most profitable law firm in the world — something felt different. In less than a year, Latham had achieved what no other national firm had managed to do: it instilled a sense of fear in the long-established Texas firms that had previously dominated corporate law in the Lone Star State.
Fifteen years later, this is the story of how Latham changed the game in Texas.
Exclusive Q&A: Why Houston M&A Powerhouse Stephen Gill Chose Skadden
When veteran Houston M&A lawyer Stephen Gill moved to Skadden last month, it was a seismic move on a national scale in terms of hiring skilled dealmaking talent. In this exclusive Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Gill took some time to talk about trends, why the time was right to make the move to Skadden and more.
New SCOTX Justice Sullivan Once Ran Afoul of the Fifth Circuit for Tone of Rehearing Petition
As an assistant attorney general, James P. Sullivan saw his petition in a habeas case struck for its tone and lack of respect. He says he apologized and learned from the incident. Gov. Abbott in January elevated Sullivan from his general counsel to the Supreme Court. Relatively unknown in the Texas legal community, Sullivan’s judicial application sheds some light on his judicial philosophy. Most of his litigation experience was in federal court, the document shows, with only 20 percent in state appellate courts.
Conservative Group Targets American Airlines’ Diversity Contracting Program in New Lawsuit
The American Alliance for Equal Rights, headed by political conservative Edward Blum, has filed a lawsuit against Fort Worth-based American Airlines and its supplier, alleging the airline’s diversity policy for awarding certain contracts violates civil rights law. Blum, who took down affirmative action in college admissions, has recently been targeting diversity programs in law firms and corporations, including Southwest Airlines in a lawsuit last year alleging a charitable program that provided free tickets to low-income Hispanic students flying home to visit their parents is illegally discriminatory.
Katten Lands PwC Expert to Grow Private Wealth Practice
John Collins III assists prominent families in multiphase estate planning, executing advanced trust and gift strategies, and working through complex tax, wealth transfer and business planning needs across a range of asset mixes, industries and stages of development.