Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
For the week ended Nov. 1, the CDT saw 20 deals come across the wires with a total value of $25.9 billion.
If you care to be really picky, that’s a drop from the 19-deal $61.5 billion stretch the week prior, and less again than the 12-deal $52 billion week at this time last year.
But that’s being really, really picky. In the eight weeks since mid-September, we’ve seen six with values over $20 billion, and two of those over $40 billion.
That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
Two East Texas real estate entities owned by Dallas hedge fund operator Kyle Bass have sued the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District seeking to force the agency to rule on their request to conduct exploratory drilling for East Texas’ most precious commodity: water.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals heard arguments in disputes over taxes and trade secrets while at the Texas A&M School of Law in Fort Worth Thursday. One of the cases originated from the Texas Business Court.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals held oral arguments at Texas A&M School of Law Thursday afternoon. Classes were canceled for first-year students to attend the oral arguments and watch the attorneys and justices in action.
For 33 years as a trial lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright, Steven Jansma has scored huge courtroom victories in highly complex lawsuits for dozens of Fortune 500 clients, including a German automaker, an Ohio tire manufacturer, a Japanese chemical company, a national trucking operation and a major petroleum refinery, to describe a few, in state and federal courts across 26 states.
“It is his ability to see through the clutter, distill the complex into simplicity and then communicate in a way that is devoid of the emotion that one often sees in complex litigation matters,” said Vulcan Materials senior counsel John M. Floyd.
But it is Jansma’s deep commitment to public service in the San Antonio community that stands out the most, including Child Advocates San Antonio, Clarity Child Guidance Center, Catholic Charities and The Ecumenical Center, where he has helped shape programs that support vulnerable populations, Cody said. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Lawbook are honored to award Jansma with the 2025 C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award.
Citing $2.5 billion in liabilities, Office Properties Income Trust and 75 of its affiliated operations — including two in Plano — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 30 in the Southern District of Texas. OPI, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, has hired Latham & Watkins and Hunton Andrews Kurth as its bankruptcy legal advisors, Alix Partners as its restructuring advisor and Moelis & Company as its investment banker.
In this edition of P.S., we report on national spotlights, local honors and pro bono achievements.
Travis County’s newest district court judge issued an order this week in a nearly 2-year-old dispute, stemming from a soured joint venture that was formed to buy and sell a luxury home in Austin, while granting and denying certain motions from both parties.
But the real news in the three-page order entered Wednesday in Brandon Becker v. UpEquity Title came in the final three paragraphs, where Travis County District Judge Cory Liu, appointed to the bench by Gov. Greg Abbott in March, took to task the Travis County central docket system.
No one knows Chamberlain Hrdlicka, which turned 60 in October, better than Campagna, and so The Lawbook asked him to reflect on the firm’s legacy, consider how the practice of law has changed, and elaborate on why being “mid-size” is just right for the firm.
Valero Energy GC Rich Walsh watched in astonishment in 2022 and 2023 as major petroleum-related companies were silent as the EPA allowed California to set more stringent fuel admission standards than required by federal law, creating an existential threat to their businesses. The California rules would force consumers to purchase vehicles that run on electricity instead of liquid fuels. Walsh led the charge to file lawsuits challenging these regulations. On June 20, Walsh’s efforts paid off when the U.S. Supreme Court handed Valero a sweeping victory.
“Sometimes it is very evident when we are very right, and I knew from the start that this was one of those times,” said Walsh, who is the recipient of the 2025 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.
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