In this edition of Litigation Roundup, Exxon Mobil sues two activist investors, a propane company draws a $150 million lawsuit over a fatal crash and the Texas Supreme Court issues an opinion clarifying premises liability law.
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GC Mark Robinson Navigated GameStop Through Memes, Short-squeezes, NFTs and Seven CEOs
When Mark Robinson joined GameStop in 2015, the Grapevine-based gaming retailer needed him to be an absolute generalist handling garden-variety contracts, basic commercial disputes and employment issues. All that changed in 2020 and has continued changing ever since.
There was the Covid pandemic in 2020, which exacerbated steep declines in retail brick-and-mortar operations. Then GameStop became the poster child for both short-squeezes and meme stocks, even as Robinson was promoted to GC. He navigated the company through complex regulatory issues related to the new NFT marketplace and digital assets business. He temporarily served as GameStop’s principal executive officer after the company’s board fired its CEO. And then there’s the movie on GameStop starring Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Updated — Weil, V&E, Wachtell, Sidley and Bracewell Advise on $7.3B Texas Energy Deal
Dallas-based fuel distribution giant Sunoco LP announced it intends to purchase pipeline and terminal company NuStar Energy in an all-equity transaction valued at approximately $7.3 billion.
Updated: Toyota’s Kelly Chen is a DEI ‘Doer’
When it comes to DEI, Kelly Chen of Toyota is a person whose actions match her words. She says hiring diverse outside legal teams is important; she gives legal work to diverse teams. She values mentoring young diverse attorneys and law students because she didn’t have anyone to ask questions (“whether they looked like me or not”) when she was starting her career. She says the legal industry is full of people with smarts, advocacy and creativity to figure out how to move the needle forward despite a challenging DEI climate. And she doubles down to do her part to lead programs and collaborate with outside counsel on solutions.
“When I think about what ‘commitment and service to diversity’ means, what comes to mind is a person who shows up, rolls their sleeves up — in ways both big and small, and works — over and over again — not for one time, one event, one year … Kelly Chen comes to mind,” said Toyota’s Mey Ly Ortiz.
The Texas Lawbook and Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW chapter have named Chen the recipient of the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion. This is her story.
(Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comments from a law student mentored by Chen).
Q&A: Kelly Chen of Toyota
When it comes to DEI, Kelly Chen of Toyota is a person whose actions match her words. She says hiring diverse outside legal teams is important; she gives legal work
Envoy Air’s Chris Pappaioanou — ‘Doing the Right Thing’ and Getting Results
Chris Pappaioanou was a customer service agent with Great Lakes Airlines at Telluride’s airport in 2001 when he handed his résumé to Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein, who was boarding a plane. Weeks later, Pappaioanou was hired to be Mesa’s vice president of legal affairs. Two decades later, he is one of the most influential and respected lawyers and executives at Irving-based Envoy Air. During the past two years, Pappaioanou negotiated a transformative, industry leading collective bargaining agreement that reversed attrition within Envoy Air’s pilot ranks and attracted hundreds of new pilots to the airline. He also led several legal victories, including the resolution of a biometrics privacy suit in Illinois and a successful resolution to a wage and hour class action suit in California. And he was instrumental in the restructuring of Envoy Air’s human resources and legal departments to better align with the airline’s current needs as it continues to experience growth. But it all points back to the cold Colorado day when Mesa’s CEO saw something special in the guy loading his luggage.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announce that Pappaioanou is one of two finalists for the 2023 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department, which is less than five attorneys. This is his story.
Q&A: Chris Pappaioanou of Envoy Air
For Premium Subscribers Chris Pappaioanou was a customer service agent with Great Lakes Airlines at Telluride’s airport in 2001 when he handed his resume to Mesa Airlines CEO Jonathan Ornstein,
One Guess on Which Firm Led the Most Billion-Dollar M&A Deals in Texas in 2023
Texas lawyers for 29 law firms worked on 130 M&A deals in 2023 that had deal values of $1 billion or more. Twenty-two of those firms were the lead legal advisors for the buyers, sellers or targets, according to new data from The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker. A handful of Texas lawyers — Sean Wheeler, Debbie Yee, Ryan Maierson and Steve Gill — led or co-led more billion-dollar-plus transactions than any other lawyers. In fact, the four deal lawyers — all partners in Houston —led more transactions than 25 of the 29 firms on the list. But it was Dallas lawyer Jeff Chapman who landed the biggest deal of 2023. The Lawbook has the details.
Takings Fight Between Texas, Landowners Now in SCOTUS’ Hands
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a case where a group of about 75 Texas landowners are fighting to revive their lawsuit against the state seeking compensation for the repeated flooding of their property that they say is the result of a public highway project. The case came to the high court after a Fifth Circuit panel sided with the state and the court declined to rehear the case en banc over the dissent of five judges. The question the justices are tasked with answering in this case is:
“May a person whose property is taken without compensation seek redress under the self-executing Takings Clause even if the legislature has not affirmatively provided them with a cause of action?”
Prominent White-Collar Attorney Bill Mateja Takes Helm Of Dallas Bar Association
In a Q&A with The Lawbook, Bill Mateja shares what shakeups he’s got in store for the bar association and the advice he gave former DBA president Aaron Tobin. The DBA will host an inauguration ceremony Sunday for Mateja, a partner at Sheppard Mullin.