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Rice University GC Omar Syed: ‘A Calm and Steady Hand’ in Tumultuous Times

Omar Syed’s path to representing educational institutions came during the summer before his senior year in college while participating in a program designed to train future schoolteachers and education leaders. He realized he would “better help those schoolchildren as a public advocate and counsel than as a classroom teacher.” 

Now the GC at Rice University, Syed is still advocating and counseling during one of the most tumultuous periods in higher education. Citing his extraordinary successes, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook are awarding Syed the 2026 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Nonprofit.

Bitcoin Depot Hires V&E to Lead Bankruptcy

One of the largest bitcoin ATM operators filed Monday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas, but company executives say they plan to use the bankruptcy process for “an orderly wind-down of operations and a sale of the company’s assets” because the company’s “current business model is unsustainable.”

Litigation Roundup: ActBlue Taps Lynn Pinker to Defend AG Suit

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Justice Evan Young, in a concurrence, says the services of a pro bono lawyer sure would help a pro se litigant trying to amend her son’s inaccurate death certificate and American Airlines will have to face some claims arising from a 14-year-old’s in-flight death after the Fifth Circuit partially reversed a summary judgment win. 

Dallas Judge: Mask Mandate Protects Her ‘Personal Health Condition’

Dallas County Court at Law Judge D’Metria Benson said the mandatory mask mandate that she ordered for all participants in her courtroom is necessary to protect a personal health condition that makes her “highly susceptible to infection.”

But the lawyer who originally made the allegations said he has recently witnessed Judge Benson at campaign fundraisers and events where neither the judge nor anyone was wearing a mask.

Dallas Commercial Litigation Partners Move from Spencer Fane to BakerHostetler

Jason Cross and Preston Enoch, commercial litigation partners, have joined BakerHostetler in Dallas from Spencer Fane. The pair joined the firm’s litigation practice group and commercial litigation team and will focus their practices on complex commercial disputes, trials and arbitration matters. The Texas Lawbook caught up with them about trends they are seeing in their practice areas and more.

TI, Tech Firms Want Ukrainian Lawsuit Dismissed

Texas Instruments, Intel and two other semiconductor and technology companies are asking a Dallas federal judge to dismiss lawsuits brought by five Ukrainian citizens who claim that microchips, processors and programmable devices made by the four companies are being used by the Russian military in its war against Ukraine. A star-studded crew of trial lawyers on both sides of the litigation will present arguments Tuesday to U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater.

NextEra, Dominion Energy Merge in Stock Swap Valued at $66.8B

NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced Monday an agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction valued at $66.8 billion. Kirkland & Ellis advised NextEra with a team led by Zach Savrick and Andy Calder in Houston with David Feirstein, who works from Houston and New York, and Brooksany Barrowes in Washington, D.C. Dominion Energy is being advised by McGuireWoods.

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