Just east of Austin, Martin Marietta Materials and TXI Operations operate a sand and gravel mine on the banks of the Colorado River. Their neighbor across the river, on the northern bank, is Good River Farms, a 377-acre pecan farm containing about 8,000 trees that has been owned and operated by the Wimberly family since 1959. This lawsuit was spawned from a major rain event — described as a 120-year flood — that hit the area on Oct. 30, 2015.
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Former U.S. Trustee Trial Attorney Goes to Ross, Smith & Binford
J. Casey Roy’s experience in regulatory and healthcare matters presents a “truly unique breadth of expertise,” firm partner Jason Binford said in announcing the lateral move. Roy also previously served as an assistant attorney general for Texas.
A New Shift in Candidate Assessments
Recent trends show that firms are facing a new wave of lawyers doing more due diligence of firms prior to accepting (and even rejecting) offers. While law firms scrutinize resumes of potential candidates, they may themselves be subject to deeper review.
Bloomberg Law: Alfredo Perez to be Next SDTX Bankruptcy Judge
If approved, Perez would join his former Weil Gotshal law partner, Judge Christopher Lopez, as one of the bankruptcy judges handling big cases in Houston.
Susman Godfrey’s 2023: The Best Financial Year Ever for a Texas Law Firm
Susman Godfrey co-managing partner Vineet Bhatia told The Texas Lawbook that the Houston-based firm “had a pretty good year in 2023.” In fact, it was the single best financial year for any law firm’s Texas operations in history. Texas Lawbook 50 data research shows that the 110 lawyers for Susman Godfrey in Texas doubled their revenue and nearly doubled their profits per partner over 2022. Keep in mind, 2022 was also a record financial year for the firm.
The firm’s Texas lawyers scored some monumental courtroom victories — most of them coming with hefty contingency fee paydays. Bhatia called it “an alignment of the stars” and added, “We had a lot of happy partners.”
FW SEC Office Penalizes NY Investment Firm $6.5M for Failure to Preserve Electronic Records
According to an SEC order, employees of Senvest Management, which oversees $3 billion in assets, repeatedly discussed company business in personal texts and other “off-channel” platforms in violation of federal securities laws.
SEC Assistant Director of Enforcement Joins Kirkland in Dallas
A veteran enforcement lawyer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has joined Kirkland & Ellis’s Dallas office as a partner.
Fifth Circuit Zeroes in on ‘Act of State Doctrine’ in Fight Between Heirs, Museum Over Painting
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.
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.