Amid the boardroom battles and backroom scheming of HBO’s Succession, the character Gerri Kellman — general counsel of media empire Waystar Royco — delivers one of the most compelling portrayals of in-house legal work in recent years. Unlike the show’s headline-grabbing characters, Gerri operates in whispers and carefully chosen words. For general counsel and in-house attorneys, she offers a unique case study in navigating gray areas — a study that reveals how complex, high-stakes corporate law is navigated not just by rules but by relationships, judgment and discretion.
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Pandemic Loan Consultant Pleads Guilty in $300M Scam
Nathan Reis entered his guilty plea on the day his trial was to begin before U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth. Reis’s wife, former Phoenix TV news anchor Stephanie Hockridge, was convicted by a jury in Judge O’Connor’s court in June.
Sidley Austin Helps Secure Landmark Pro Bono Victory After 15-Year Legal Battle
After a 15-year legal battle, Robert Velevis and Yvette Ostolaza led a Sidley Austin team to a landmark pro bono victory in a class action lawsuit against the state of Texas for unlawfully confining people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in nursing homes. A federal judge issued a sweeping 475-page opinion finding that Texas caused “irreparable injury” by failing to offer community-based living alternatives. Sidley Austin represented the plaintiffs alongside the Center for Public Representation and Disability Rights Texas.
Big D and Big Ben: London Partner Discusses Haynes Boone’s Rising Global Reach
Haynes Boone’s lateral partner activity in 2025 has been a case in point that no corporate law firm headquartered in Texas is expanding faster outside the state. One-fourth of the firm’s 20 lateral partner additions this year have been in London. The Lawbook met in person with office co-leader Nick Davis, one of those 2025 recruits, earlier this summer. “The epicenter of the world seems to be heading towards Texas right now,” he said in the interview.
Dykema in Dallas Snags Two More Veteran U.S. Prosecutors
Tiffany H. Eggers, a former criminal chief in the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas, and Sarah R. Douglas, a former prosecutor in the fraud section, are reuniting with Leigha Simonton, the immediate former U.S. attorney, and Scott Hogan, Simonton’s former first assistant, who joined Dykema in April.
DigitalBridge, Crestview to Take Colorado Broadband Company Private for $1.5B
Simpson Thacher, Wachtell and Davis Polk advised the parties on the transaction which takes private the regional internet, cable and telecommunications provider.
Litigation Roundup: Energy Giants Seek SCOTUS Review in High-Stakes Colorado Climate Case
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Exxon petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to halt climate change cases, a former Honeywell International employee had religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine, Tesla faces a federal class action lawsuit over robotaxi safety, a $15 million jury verdict was reversed in favor of CenterPoint Energy and more.
JSX GC Kerrie Forbes: ‘Law and Aviation in My Blood’
Kerrie Forbes stood behind a huge red ribbon on the tarmac at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport with a 30-seat JSX jet behind her. It was 11 a.m. on April 28, the grand opening of JSX’s new Southern California airport terminal, which Forbes describes as her best day on the job since she joined JSX as chief legal officer in January 2024. Orange County was the 2016 birthplace of JSX — a now Dallas-headquartered public charter jet operator offering business-class service to more than 350,000 passengers last year — and the site of its rebirth of sorts nine years later. Legal industry experts say that Forbes, who was an in-house lawyer at Southwest Airlines for 16 years, was the perfect lawyer to be JSX’s first general counsel. She recently discussed her career and more in an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Kerrie Forbes
In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, JSX CLO Kerrie Forbes discusses her biggest accomplishments at JSX and what she looks for in hiring outside counsel.
Texas ER Docs Win Fifth Circuit Reversal Against the Blues
Fifty-six Texas emergency medical physician groups will get to pursue legal claims that two dozen Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans underpaid them for treating patients. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that a Texas federal judge wrongly dismissed hundreds and hundreds of claims for tens of millions of dollars by ER doctors from Texarkana to Port Arthur and from Collin County to Odessa.