In the last edition of P.S. for 2023, the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program announces January dates for pro bono legal clinics, Witherite Law Group donates tens of thousands to support families and seniors in need during the holidays, the VA rolls out a new program supporting homeless veterans (or those facing homelessness) and the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association announces its 2024 president and other new leadership.
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Top Litigation Matters in 2023
In this article, The Texas Lawbook looks back at some of the most significant litigation Texas lawyers handled in 2023, as well as a rundown of major changes to civil litigation practice in the state wrought by lawmakers who this session created a new system of business courts and a new appellate court.
Latham, Jackson Walker Lead Mark Cuban’s $3.5B Sale of Mavs; Deal to Close This Week
On Wednesday, the NBA Board of Governors approved the majority stake sale from Mark Cuban to the families of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and Sivan and Patrick Dumont, who serves as president and COO of the casino company and is Adelson’s son-in-law. A Houston partner from Latham and Dallas lawyers from Jackson Walker played key roles in the deal.
Litigation Roundup: Dallas Lawyers Get $30M Mesothelioma Win; Jury Awards Revenge Porn Victim $450K
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a jury in Dallas awards a woman $450,000 in a revenge porn lawsuit, Dallas lawyers secure a $30 million win in an Illinois mesothelioma case and a federal judge in Houston brings a rare, early end to a patent case following a Markman hearing.
CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 13 Firms, 219 Lawyers, $4.2B
Want to know what 2024 will look like? Just take a hard look at 2023, according to many of the respondents to the Dallas Fed’s quarterly energy survey. Buoyed by a belief that oil prices will remain more than $70 per barrel, even with depressed natural gas prices, energy producers in the Fed’s Region 11 expect consolidations to continue in East and West Texas including a few blockbuster deals. That’s what 2023 looked like. The CDT Roundup looks at the details of the Dallas Fed survey along with the usual list of lawyers and firms behind the 23 transactions reported during the next-to-last week of the year.
Biden Nominees Bring Prosecutorial, Judicial Experience
Nominees for vacancies in the Western District of Texas would be among the first under the current administration. Sens. Cornyn and Cruz are on board with Ernest Gonzalez and Leon Schydlower for courts in Del Rio and El Paso. Former president Trump had a considerably larger impact as he addressed a backlog of vacant benches in Texas.
For Haynes Boone, New Elementary School Pipeline Effort is a ‘Mood Lifter’
This month, Haynes Boone’s Dallas office launched a new community project that works with educational nonprofit United to Learn to support an underserved elementary school in the firm’s backyard. Beyond bolstering student achievement and helping to erase systemic inequities, the new partnership provides the opportunity to diversify the legal industry pipeline by reaching kids at an earlier age at a school that feeds into a high school Haynes Boone has a longstanding relationship with.
CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 13 Firms, 280 Lawyers, $16.4B
Oxy’s back. With its $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock last week, Occidental Petroleum not only joined other energy giants in the great consolidation of Texas oil production, but in the process seems to have shaken off the burden of its nearly disastrous $57 billion absorption of Anadarko Petroleum in 2018. Still, some observers think some of the same risks of overcommitment — not to mention regulatory concerns — are lurking in even this more modest deal. The CDT Roundup looks at those concerns, as well as the other deals reported from Texas by 280 lawyers.
Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circuit Ruling Unravels $7.1B Deal; SEC Goes After $191M Cowtown ‘Ponzi Scheme’
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused a Fort Worth company of operating a $191 million Ponzi scheme involving the purchase and sale of cattle, and a trial team from Susman Godfrey secured an $86 million defense win. Also highlighted is a Fifth Circuit panel’s holding that the Federal Trade Commission used an incorrect standard in determining a $7.1 billion acquisition of a cancer test maker would harm competition, but the court also agreed with the agency’s conclusion, which was enough to prompt Illumina to announce it would divest Grail anyway.
Constitutional Danger Zone Redux: SEC’s Latest Supreme Court Battle Presents Significant Collateral Implications
Kokesh. Lucia. Lorenzo. Cochran. The echoes of these recent Supreme Court cases continue to reverberate through the halls of the Securities and Exchange Commission, with their holdings impacting the forum of their cases and the relief they can obtain. On Nov. 29, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in SEC v. Jarkesy, a matter that could have an even greater impact than its predecessors depending on how the Court rules. With the Supreme Court considering the scope and application of the Seventh Amendment to agency administrative proceedings, the parameters of Congressional delegation of authority to administrative agencies, and whether removal restrictions for SEC administrative law judges violate the Constitution, Jarkesy threatens not only SEC enforcement efforts but also those for several administrative agencies.
While all will need to wait until 2024 for the Court’s opinion and its true implications to the “administrative state,” a review of the oral argument provides some insights into the potential impacts.