Longtime environmental enforcement attorney David Terry has left the Texas Attorney General’s office for a position at Hunton Andrews Kurth in Houston.
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McKool Smith Brings Former Dallas Associate Back as a Principal
Erik Fountain, a former clerk of Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s, has represented high-profile clients including Ericsson, Halliburton and Freddie Mac.
Cofounder of Dallas Energy Boutique Joins Munsch Hardt
With Clif Squibb, Munsch Hardt is adding depth to its middle-market energy transactions capabilities.
City Electric Supply’s Clinton Willett is ‘Not Afraid to Get into the Weeds’
Clinton Willett was a teenager when his mother waged a mighty battle against cancer — a fight she heartbreakingly lost. “Being a lower-middle-class family, I saw the devastating financial implications of such a fight,” said Willett, noting that his father was a career U.S. Postal Service employee. “I knew I had to find a career that would allow me to provide a different lifestyle and comfort level for my family if I worked hard enough.”
Fifteen years later, Lynne Willett would be mighty proud of her son. Willett earned a bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University, graduated cum laude from the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law and is now corporate counsel of City Electric Supply in Dallas. He has been so successful during his first two years at City Electric that the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Willett as one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel of the Year Award for Rookie of the Year. This is his story.
Q&A: Clinton Willett of City Electric Supply
For Premium Subscribers Since joining the City Electric Supply legal team in November 2021, Clinton Willett has “successfully risen from a driven new attorney to the ‘go-to’ finance, corporate structure
Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Asks SCOTX 2 Questions; Ex-SBA Head Goes to Prison
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Fifth Circuit determines 2-1 that the city of Mineral Wells can’t be sued for breaching an “illegal” contract, the Texas Supreme Court is asked to answer two certified questions in a royalty dispute involving Hilcorp Energy, and an Austin company agrees to forfeit $4.5 million for misbranding dietary supplements.
Steptoe Acquires Smyser Kaplan & Veselka ‘Lock, Stock and Barrel’
Craig Smyser, who cofounded SKV in 1995, said his firm had been approached several times over the years by national and international firms looking to expand into Texas. There’s one reason in particular why the negotiations with Steptoe, which began in May, ended with this merger: Steptoe was willing to take on every member of the SKV team.
“It’s an amazing law firm with a lot of magic,” Gwen Renigar, Steptoe’s chair, said in an interview with The Lawbook. “The magic they had is magic I did not want to disturb.”
Q&A: Diane Hornquist of Hunt Realty
For Premium Subscribers As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500
For 25 Years, Diane Hornquist Has Been Hunt Realty’s Go-To Problem Solver
As nearly 300 Dallas leaders gathered at 2323 North Field Street just north of downtown on Oct. 10 for the official groundbreaking of Goldman Sachs’ new $500 million, 800,000 square-foot complex, Diane Hornquist sat on the front row just absorbing it all. Hornquist never took the stage but she was critical in the 11-acre North End mixed use development becoming a reality. “This deal involved a complicated build-to-suit lease, entitlement work, master development work, a joint venture, a mortgage loan and a mezzanine loan, and Diane led and was deeply involved in all aspects of it,” said Baker Botts partner Jeremy Gott. “I can easily say that without Diane’s leadership and tenacity, it would have been next to impossible to have successfully concluded this transaction in a timely manner — or perhaps at all.”
Law Firms Promote Twice as Many Men as Women in 2023-24 Partnership Class
The new partnership class of 2023-24 in Texas is big on litigation and trial lawyers, leans heavily toward Houston offices and is overwhelmingly male-dominated. Business law firms have voted 143 Texas lawyers into their partnerships during this partner promotion season — down slightly from the 146 the same firms boosted into their elite ranks a year ago, according to data collected by The Texas Lawbook. Fifty-two law firms have announced their new partnership classes during this cycle. Half of the 52 firms promoted more attorneys than they did last year, while 17 firms named fewer new partners and nine named exactly the same number as a year ago. The Lawbook has the details.