Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Brad Jorgensen, a government contracts partner, has joined Kirkland & Ellis in Austin from DLA Piper. He will focus his practice on government contractor focused mergers and acquisitions, compliance counseling and high-stakes disputes.
The Texas Lawbook caught up with Jorgensen about trends he’s seeing in his practice area and more.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison announced Monday that its Houston office has added two major deal lawyers: Aisha Lavinier, from Kirkland & Ellis, to its corporate department and Jim Cole, from Latham & Watkins, to tax.
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Hunton Andrews Kurth scores a win for Oncor in an appeal of a National Labor Relations Board decision, and the former head of internal audits for a defunct electric vehicle company strikes a deal to settle insider trading allegations.
Following a four-week trial, a jury determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association is liable for negligence in a lawsuit brought by the family of a former Southern Methodist University football player who died of chronic traumatic encephalopathy dementia.
W. Andrew Lanius is joining A&O Shearman in its energy, natural resources and infrastructure practice in Houston and will serve as the head of U.S. energy and infrastructure finance. He comes to A&O from Simpson Thacher & Barlett where he was a partner in that firm’s banking and credit practice.
Dallas data center development and investment platform Related Digital secured financing for its $16 billion campus in Saline Township, Michigan, being built for Oracle.
Kirkland & Ellis advised Related Digital with a team that included Julian Seiguer, Mary Kogut and William Zakhary in Houston with Ieuan List in Austin and Max Baird in Dallas.
For the week ended May 2, the CDT Roundup reported on 13 deals valued at nearly $37.9 billion. The prior week had 11 deals reported with a total value of about $19.7 billion, while a year ago at this time, the Roundup reported on 11 deals valued about $4.3 billion.
On the M&A side, the week proved to be all about power and energy and data centers. That and more in this week’s CDT Roundup.
The Texas Access to Justice Commission’s Champions of Justice Gala in Austin topped last year’s record-shattering haul with $1.05 million raised for legal aid and veterans. Co-chaired by Toyota Motor North America CLO Sandra Phillips and CenterPoint Energy GC Monica Karuturi, the event Thursday honored Texas lawyers for their contributions to advocacy.
In this edition of P.S., retired Fifth District Court of Appeals Justice Kenneth Molberg urged lawyers to defend the rule of law and ensure their efforts extend beyond the privileged to those most in need, while accepting the Dallas Bar Foundation’s 2026 Fellows Justinian Award.
“Our bar card is not merely a ticket to a better bank account,” Molberg said to a room of about 350 attendees.
In Austin, Jackson Walker is hosting the 5th Annual Hispanic National Bar Association Region XII Summit at the firm’s office there.
In Houston, the nonprofit outreach program Girls Inc. of Greater Houston honored Pye Legal Group President Stacy Humphries with its Melanie Gray Vanguard Award for her “unwavering commitment to community leadership and philanthropy” at its 2026 Strong, Smart & Bold Luncheon last week.
And back in Dallas, the much-anticipated opening of South Dallas’ Halperin Park is set for May 9 with lawyers from Greenberg Traurig, T-Mobile and Cienda Partners among those leading the transformative project.
Also, TODAY is the deadline to nominate an appellate lawyer or judge for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics 18th annual Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award. The award will be presented at the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Dinner in September. Find details for how to nominate in this column.
Clifford Chance announced Thursday that Joclynn Marsh and Kyle Kreshover, both of Houston, are among 28 lawyers across 11 of its global offices who have been promoted to partner.
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