A doctrine intended to keep courts from second-guessing official actions of foreign governments was front-and-center during oral arguments Tuesday before a Fifth Circuit panel tasked with deciding whether to revive a lawsuit brought by a family that alleges a work of art sold under duress to a Nazi art dealer in the 1930s belongs to them and not the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
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Houston GCs of the Year — Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Finalists
Phillips 66 General Counsel Vanessa Allen Sutherland and Vopak General Counsel Hugo Teste have been named the Houston GCs of the Year for large and small corporate legal departments, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook. ACC Houston and The Lawbook also announce that McDermott Chief Legal Officer Rachel Clingman and Mitsui U.S.A. General Counsel Linda Primrose have been named finalists for the 2024 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department, while Cardinal System Holdings GC Sara-Ashley Moreno and PURIS CLO Thomas Gottsegen are finalists for the Houston General Counsel of the Year for a Solo Legal Department. The Lawbook previously announced the finalists for M&A Transaction of the Year, Business Litigation of the Year, Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion and Senior Counsel of the Year for small, midsized and large corporate legal departments.
Akin Adds Energy Transactions Depth in Houston
The firm announced that Ian Goldberg, the former head of the energy transactions group at Hunton Andrews Kurth, has joined the firm.
Jones Day Fortifies Financial Markets Practice in Houston
The firm announced this week that corporate finance partner Matthew Jones has lateraled over from Latham & Watkins, where he was on the deal teams for three billion-dollar-plus transactions in the first quarter.
Bracewell Continues Building Up Tax Practice
Dallas partner J. Dean Hinderliter is the second tax partner in Texas that Bracewell has added this year as the firm seeks to build out its capabilities to steer clients through the energy transition.
Tesla Urges Fifth Circuit to Revive Suit Over Louisiana Direct Sales Ban
Texas’ direct-to-consumer sales law is similar to Louisiana’s. A decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel could have implications for Texas, where Tesla has unsuccessfully lobbied to overturn the law.
Houston Appeals Court: Winter Storm Uri Cases Against Transmission and Distribution Giants to Move Forward
The Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston ruled Tuesday that 20,000 plaintiffs in wrongful death, personal injury and other Winter Storm Uri-related lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages from Texas electric transmission and distribution utilities may move forward to trial. The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that trial judge Sylvia Matthews was correct in allowing allegations of gross negligence and intentional misconduct to proceed against the TDUs, which include CenterPoint Energy, Oncor Electric Delivery and American Electric Power, but that charges of common-law negligence and strict-liability nuisance are prohibited by state law. Legal experts say the Fourteenth Court’s opinion is a partial win for both sides.
SLB Scoops Up ChampionX for $7.7B
Latham & Watkins was the main outside counsel advising SLB while Weil assisted ChampionX. The combination is expected to expand SLB’s presence in the less cyclical and growing production and recovery space.
Three Partners Named to Lead Simpson Houston Office
There’s a change coming in the Houston office of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The firm announced this morning that Houston managing partner David Lieberman is stepping down and will be succeeded by a trio of partners: Matthew Einbinder, Breen Haire and Christopher May.
CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 8 Firms, 136 Lawyers, $9.3B
The end of Q1 this week suggests a healthy M&A market during the opening round of 2024, with deal volumes rising globally by 26 percent, with the U.S. volumes even high and topping the $400 billion value mark, according to data from Dealogic. Claire Poole examines the deals behind the data in this week’s CDT Roundup and reviews the Easter week action on the Texas M&A front.