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P.S. — A Renamed Fellowship, A Barefoot Sanders Scholarship, A Congressional Request

This edition of P.S. features a firmwide volunteer day that yielded thousands of meals for Texas families in need, a five-day program hosted at a Dallas law school that educated high school students on the law school experience and life as a lawyer, a recent letter to Congress by law firm managing partners that expresses their grave concern for the underfunding of civil legal aid, a scholarship that a Dallas trial boutique recently awarded to two Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet high school students, and the story behind a renamed diversity fellowship at a large Houston-based firm and the names of this year’s fellows.

Firms and corporate in-house departments mentioned in this week’s column include AT&T, American Airlines, Gray Reed, Lynn Pinker, Baker Botts, Bracewell, Haynes Boone and Vinson & Elkins.

Pictured: The 2024 class of SMU Dedman School of Law’s Rising Scholars Program.

Court Rejects Billion-Dollar Legal Challenge to PUC Rates During Winter Storm Uri

Legal efforts by some of the largest energy companies in Texas to force the Texas Public Utility Commission to reprice the record-high electricity rates it charged during Winter Storm Uri three years ago were flatly rejected Friday by a unanimous Texas Supreme Court. The state’s highest court ruled that the PUC did not exceed its legal authority in February 2021 when it ignored market competition to set electric rates at $9,000 per megawatt-hour because the Texas grid faced an emergency crisis and possible collapse “that would have plunged the state into darkness for weeks, maybe months.”

The unanimous 30-page opinion reverses the decision of the Austin court of appeals in 2023 that the PUC overstepped its legal authority by ignoring integrated market competitive procedures and instead manually set electric rates during the four days of Winter Storm Uri.

SCOTX Says No Ambiguity in Contract Underpinning UT’s $51M Royalty Dispute

Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, writing for the unanimous court, explained that when the royalty provisions are read “together, not separately” and are considered in the context of the parties’ agreement, they are not ambiguous. But the ruling that sided with the University of Texas System Board of Regents did not give the university an outright win.

Jury Sides with Developer in Trial Over Collin Creek Mall Property

C. Gregory Shamoun of Shamoun & Norman, who represented 13MC in the trial, told The Texas Lawbook in a recent interview that from the beginning, he tried to “keep it simple” for the jury that was given what he said was “one of the most complex” charges he’s seen in 35 years of practicing law. It took the 12-person jury that heard a week of testimony about three hours on Monday to determine Megatel waived its right of first refusal to purchase the property from 13MC via a breach of contract.

Governor Appoints Justices to San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth Business Courts

Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed two judges each to the new business courts in San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin, leaving only the division in Houston without inaugural appointees.

The governor made appointments to the San Antonio court Thursday, while on Wednesday he appointed the judges in Dallas and Fort Worth and on Tuesday he appointed jurists to the newly-created Fifteenth Court of Appeals as well as the Austin division of the business courts.

Exxon Mobil Names Former Fox Lawyer as New GC

Following its pattern of promoting former top federal prosecutors and regulators to leading corporate positions, Exxon Mobil announced Wednesday that former Fox Corporation general counsel and former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeff Taylor, will be the energy giant’s next top lawyer. Exxon Mobil announced Wednesday that Craig Morford, also a former federal prosecutor who has been the company’s general counsel since 2020, will retire on July 1 and that Taylor will be his replacement.

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