Tenants’ rights nonprofit Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center is in a period of growth, both in staff and operations. Its newest employee, Bill Holston, joined today and will focus primarily on growing operations as COO. The Lawbook talked with Holston about why he joined DEAC as well as Mark Melton, who provided the latest on the nonprofit that he founded in the height of the pandemic.
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P.S. — A DBA Living Legend; A Planning Committee Invitation
This edition of P.S. features a Dallas attorney who has paved the way for female trial lawyers with her numerous courtroom wins and was recently named a living legend and a legal aid organization’s recruitment of lawyers to join the planning committee for its big fundraising event that honors lawyers and organizations for championing women and children.
Arbitrator’s ‘Undisclosed’ Christianity Prompts Motion to Vacate $603K Award
A Dallas-area pain management clinic, American Pain and Wellness, argues that the arbitrator of a dispute with a former employee over payment and reimbursement “intentionally” failed to disclose details about his education and religious preferences that amount to evident partiality and dooms the award. Fort Worth lawyer John Chalk of Whitaker Chalk served as the arbitrator.
AI Chatbots Are Useless for Bankruptcy Lawyering
Although the developers label these apps as “experimental,” some commentators suggest that AI be put to work now in the real world of business and commerce. Some even contend that AI applications can do the job of lawyers, implicitly jeopardizing law practice as a career. Is it true?
BakerHostetler, D.C. Solo Tapped in ‘The Ticket’ Noncompete Suit
The Ticket’s parent company is accusing Jacob Kemp and Daniel McDowell, the former hosts of popular sports talk radio show The Hang Zone, of violating a noncompete agreement by launching a new podcast after leaving the station in July.
Elite Law Firms in Texas Lead H1 2023 M&A Law Firm Rankings
The Corporate Deal Tracker M&A rankings of law firms in Texas witnessed a shake up during the first six months of 2023. Last year, Texas lawyers at two firms each worked on 80 M&A deals. No firm worked on more than 66 during the same period this year. Seven firms handled 30 deals or more during H1 in 2022, but only three did it this year.
Fifty-four law firms with attorneys in Texas reported M&A transactions during H1 and 17 of them worked on 10 or more deals. And 25 firms in Texas reported working on deals with combined values of $1 billion or more during H1 2023, up from 19 during the same period last year. The CDT top 10 has three new members. The top six also witnessed a shakeup.
Veteran Antitrust Expert Jumps to King & Spalding
Sean Royall, who has represented AT&T, Facebook, Allergan and JUUL Labs, joins King & Spalding as its global head of antitrust and consumer protection. Since 2019, Royall’s career has taken him from Gibson Dunn to stops at Kirkland and Sidley and now K&S.
CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 12 Firms, 118 Lawyers, $5.2B
In March and April, the market for M&A looked pretty thin. A few high-profile bank failures and strong employment figures fed worries about the future. That pessimism seems to have passed, according to Texas dealmakers consulted by the CDT Roundup. We have their forecasts for the coming months, as well as the usual listing of deals and dealmakers reporting last week.
Abutbul Leaves Paul Hastings for Allen & Overy
The deal lawyer’s departure follows that of tax expert Greg Nelson, who left last month as 11-year chair of Paul Hastings’ Houston office for Gibson Dunn.
Litigation Roundup: Fifth Circ. Clears Way for 5G Rollout, Impeachment Gag Order Draws Suit
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, mootness ends Surfside Beach property owners’ dispute with the Texas General Land Office in a 2-1 ruling from the Fifth Circuit, a challenge to the Inflation Recovery Act’s medication pricing controls keeps rolling and a conservative activist sues Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick over an impeachment-related gag order.