Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Refineries, pipelines, oil and gas rigs and energy and petrochemical production facilities are suddenly subject to suspension or shutdown as a result of a major shock in oil prices combined with the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Baker McKenzie partners C. Thomas Kruse and J. Denmon Sigler analyze how these events impact current contracts and customer relationships and how disputes over these shutdowns will be treated.
The Texas Supreme Court issued a new emergency order Wednesday that officially stays or tolls “any statute-of-limitations deadlines for the filing or service of any civil case” between March 13 and June 1. The new order takes discretion away from trial judges.
The State Bar of Texas has made its April update on disciplinary actions. Violations include an injudicious quarrel, a judicial threat and a lawyer with an apparent penchant for forging official documents.
Dairy Farmers of America will acquire 44 of Dean’s fluid and frozen assets for $433 million in cash. The Dallas Business Journal has more on the story.
The results contrast with Haynes and Boone’s fall survey, which found the largest share of respondents predicting a 10% decrease during redetermination season.
A widely monitored and hotly contested patent dispute in the oil patch likely ended Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled that energy giant Schlumberger did not infringe on the intellectual property of legendary Houston energy inventor and lawyer, Dr. Claude Cooke.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is expected to announce that Trey Cox, a name partner at Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst, is joining the firm as a partner in its trial section. Cox, who is married to Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Erin Cox, was a lead lawyer representing Purdue Pharma in litigation over the opioid epidemic in Oklahoma and had been with the Lynn Pinker law firm for 23 years.
Arbitrators in commercial civil disputes may change their minds and reverse their own final decisions without the worry of any review by federal judges, even in cases in which judges believe the arbitrator committed “grave error.” The Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of AT&T, which has been in a five-year-long labor dispute with one of its labor unions, the Communications Workers of America.
Preliminary data shows that global deal value slid 28% in the first quarter, with private equity firms making up a bigger chunk. Texas dealmakers haven’t been immune, although last week saw flat activity year-over-year with deal closings, restructuring work and private equity reloading to hunt for opportunities.
Corporate law firm leaders across Texas are scrambling to figure out what to tell the hundreds of increasingly nervous law students scheduled to participate in summer associate programs scheduled to start in about six weeks. Sidley is delaying its summer clerks arrival for two weeks. Other firms are not sure.
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