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.
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Patience, Process and Persistence — Using Sequential Mediator’s Proposals in Commercial Contractual Negotiations
Two recent successful mediations of commercial contractual disputes were implemented by using successive, iterative mediator’s proposals under the time pressure of approaching arbitration deadlines and increasing cost deposit invoices. Mediators frequently use these confidential proposals to close the final gap in a financial negotiation.
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.
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.
UPDATED: At Justice’s Request, Stephen Hammer Argues First SCOTUS Case
A fourth-year associate in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher made his first oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday when he defended a ruling by a lower court that neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the defendant in the case believe was correct.
Q&A with Trial Lawyer Whitney Wendel
Rounding out the five-lawyer Reese Marketos team that secured a $150 million false claims verdict against Janssen Products last summer was a young, chipper associate named Whitney Wendel, who joined the Dallas-based firm in 2023. In her short career, she has fortified herself as a litigator, her colleagues said. Wendel enjoys preparing for trial, which she compares to memorizing lines and building sets before a stage play, she said in a November interview with The Texas Lawbook.
P.S. — Food from the Bar Campaign Benefits North Texas Food Bank, $5M Gift Creates Law School’s Business and Transaction Law Center, Firm Covers Lyft Rides from Rodeo Houston
Let the competition begin. In this week’s P.S. column, the North Texas Food Bank is set to soon start its annual “Food from the Bar” campaign, a friendly competition among the Dallas-area legal community to raise food for children while they’re out of school this coming summer. Also, St. Mary’s University School of Law got a generous gift to create a center for business and transaction law. And one law firm is making sure Houston Rodeo participants get home safe with free Lyft rides.