Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
“Study history. Study history. In history lie all secrets of statecraft.”
That was the response Henry Kissinger recalls Winston Churchill giving a student who asked how best to prepare for the challenges of leadership. This advice is especially useful for lawyers in the 21st century.
Civil jury trials all but disappeared across Texas for 18 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the reopening of the courthouse in 2022 has meant a blockbuster year for most civil litigation-focused law firms. Boutiques specializing in complex commercial disputes report they are experiencing a record number of trials, depositions and courtroom battles in 2022. The result, according to legal industry insiders, is that Houston and Dallas litigation boutiques are projecting record revenues, profits and associate bonuses for 2022.
Four Houston-area men were among eight social media influencers accused Wednesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of using Twitter, online chat rooms and a podcast to manipulate stock prices in a $100 million trading scam. The SEC complaint filed in federal court in Houston accuses the eight of promoting stocks via social media and then dumping shares they’d purchased once their promotional efforts drove up the stocks’ prices.
A team led from Houston advised the airline in a widebody aircraft inventory overhaul that will include as many as 200 Boeing 787s over the next decade. Along with earlier announced acquisitions, the company says it will be accepting delivery of some 700 new aircraft, averaging delivery of as many as two per week in 2023.
The panel deliberated for about eight hours before returning the verdict finding Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound 69 percent liable for the permanent injuries suffered by Judy “Jessie” Adams.
If 2021 was the year of the corporate M&A lawyer in Texas, this year has been equally good for attorneys who specialize in complex commercial litigation. After being closed for two years due to Covid-19, Texas courthouses reopened in 2022 and many litigation firms experienced record numbers of trials, depositions and courtroom battles. The result, according to experts, is that Houston and Dallas litigation boutiques large and small are projecting record revenues, profits and associate bonuses for 2022. The Texas Lawbook looks at four trial firms as examples.
The Texas Lawbook family this past weekend lost two of its extended family – Dallas Business Journal photographer Jake Dean and former Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News writer and editor Michael Lindenberger.
Houston-based NRG Energy made news last week with their $5.2 billion acquisition Vivint Smart Home Inc. The deal included the assumption of $2.4 billion in debt, and was immediately unpopular with the market, but the company says the deal’s expansion of its retail utility product line is worth the price. The CDT Roundup has the lawyers behind that deal, as well as 13 others and a bonus Q&A with Latham partner Ravi Purohit, who has reported several high-profile deals in recent weeks.
In this week’s edition of litigation roundup, a team from Norton Rose Fulbright wins dismissal of a lawsuit over a never-realized business acquisition, Oncor wins an appeal in Austin in a suit over the valuation of its transmission lines, and a constitutional challenge to a state law governing transmission lines gets expanded by the Fifth Circuit.
In this week’s P.S., we have the details of an inaugural ball put on by the Dallas LGBT Bar Association, updates on the Dallas Bar Association’s Equal Access to Justice Campaign and a reminder of a food drive currently being commissioned for one of Dallas’ poorest areas.
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