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Three Banks Standing, Billions in Damages – The Final Stanford Ponzi Scheme Case Goes to Trial

HOUSTON – Fourteen years ago, on Feb. 16, 2009, lawyers for the SEC stood on the front lawn of a federal judge seeking an emergency order to freeze all assets of R. Allen Stanford and his investment firm, accusing the Houston financier of perpetrating a massive $8 billion fraud. Next Monday, exactly 14 years and 10 days later, a Houston jury will be chosen to decide whether three banks aided and abetted Stanford in the fraud.

The court-appointed receiver is expected to ask the jury to order Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank), HSBC Bank and Independent Bank (formerly Bank of Houston) to pay $4 billion to $10 billion to the thousands of victims of Stanford’s Ponzi scheme. The Texas Lawbook examines the 14-year journey this case took to get to trial.

February 23, 2023 Mark Curriden & Bruce Tomaso

Frost Brown Todd Renames Diversity Scholarship After Late Houston MP

Frost Brown Todd has renamed its diversity scholarship after Zenobia Bivens, the late managing partner of the firm’s Houston office who unexpectedly passed away last year at the age of 40. The scholarship aims to support law students who are excelling academically and demonstrating a commitment to diversity and serving the community.

February 22, 2023 Natalie Posgate

Chesapeake Sheds Eagle Ford Properties to Ineos for $1.4B

Haynes and Boone advised the Oklahoma company and Holland & Knight assisted the British chemical multinational, which marks its entrance as operator into the U.S. onshore oil and gas market.

February 22, 2023 Claire Poole

Oral Argument Re-Do: Texas Justices Focus on German Automakers’ Conduct in Emissions Scandal Suit

The Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case for the second time Tuesday, this time with two justices from the intermediate appellate court stepping in for two high court justices who recused themselves. The major issue in the dispute is whether Texas courts have jurisdiction to hear the state’s case against Volkswagen Germany and Audi Germany.

February 21, 2023 Michelle Casady

Swiss Bank Settles Stanford Ponzi Scheme Lawsuit for $157M

The court-appointed receiver in the R. Allen Stanford massive Ponzi scheme litigation scored another victory Tuesday when one of five banks accused of aiding and abetting the Houston financier agreed to settle claims against it for $157 million. The agreement comes just days before four banks are scheduled to go to trial in Houston.

February 21, 2023 Mark Curriden

CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 12 Firms, 158 Lawyers, $5.7B

This week the CDT Roundup gives a tip of the hat to Winston & Strawn’s Mike Blankenship, who has begun the first two months of 2023 on fire in what has become a rare form transaction: the traditional IPO. More on that, as well as the week’s roundup of Texas-related transactions.

February 21, 2023 Claire Poole

Q&A with GM’s Juli Greenberg

General Motors lawyer Juli Greenberg’s tireless work in improving diversity in the legal profession recently landed her as the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion, presented by The Texas Lawbook and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter.

This article includes Greenberg’s comments on the current state of diversity while accepting her award and a Q&A covering challenges legal departments face regarding diversity, which diversity programs she finds effective and the significance of the pipeline.

February 20, 2023 Natalie Posgate

Q&A: Texas Instruments’ Debbie Bartlett

Debbie Bartlett discusses challenges facing future GCs, advice for young lawyers seeking to go in-house, the changing relationships between in-house counsel and outside lawyers and law firm rate increases.

February 20, 2023 Mark Curriden

TI’s Debbie Bartlett: A Lifetime of Achievements

Debbie Bartlett’s college psychological profile gave her two career options: Be a lawyer or a movie director. Texas Instruments has been the beneficiary of Bartlett deciding to go to law school. For the past 27 years, she led or played a critical role in 208 domestic and international transactions, including 54 acquisitions at TI with a combined deal value of more than $15 billion.

In January, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honored Bartlett with the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement. This is her story.

February 20, 2023 Mark Curriden

Taking Depositions for Effective Use at Trial

Depositions should never be treated as simply “the next step” in litigation. Instead, there should be a plan as to whether depositions will be used to explore unknown facts or at trial. Too often, lawyers default into a fact-finding mission at a deposition and neglect to solidify the deponent’s sworn testimony in a way that can be used during a cross-examination at trial. This article focuses on key issues attorneys should consider when taking depositions for effective use at trial.

February 20, 2023 Angela Zambrano & Chandler M. Rognes