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HF Sinclair’s Vaishali Bhatia Balances Concerns of Business and Law, and Wins a Green Apatosaurus

Vaishali Bhatia experienced five crazy months in 2022. As HollyFrontier’s GC, she and her team closed the $400 million acquisition of the Puget Sound Refinery, negotiated and closed the $2.7 billion acquisition of Sinclair Oil Corporation and Sinclair Transportation, which required multiple regulatory approvals and the creation of an entirely new publicly-traded entity. That was immediately followed by a $400 million senior notes offering and a new credit facility.

Citing those extraordinary successes, the ACC DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Bhatia as the 2022 DFW General Counsel of the Year for a Midsized Legal Department.

January 31, 2023 Mark Curriden

Hogan Lovells Files Pro Bono Lawsuit on Behalf of TX Death Row Inmates

Solitary confinement nearly 24 hours a day without adequate recreational time is violating the federal and state constitutional rights of 185 male Texas inmates on death row, according to a new lawsuit in Houston federal court. The suit also says current prison conditions don’t allow for adequate medical attention or legal assistance. Natalie Posgate has the details.

January 30, 2023 Natalie Posgate

Litigation Roundup: A $52M Insurance Settlement, FAA Rule Knocked Down at 5^th Circ., SCOTX Grants More Cases for Arguments

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a bankruptcy judge in Houston approves a $52 million insurance settlement for victims of factory explosion, the Texas Supreme Court adds several cases to its oral argument calendar and a Jackson Walker nets a win against the Federal Aviation Administration.

January 30, 2023 Michelle Casady

ChatGPT as a Pocket B.S. Detector

ChatGPT can be a valuable tool to avoid the constant occupational hazard for litigators of “groupthink.” All of you have to do is ask it some simple questions and you’ve got the opposing point of view, well-explained. Here’s why I think of it as my “Pocket B.S. Detector.”

January 30, 2023 David Coale

Legislative Debate Coming Over Need for Business Specialty Courts

Business groups plan a renewed push to create a separate system of trial and appeals courts to handle complex commercial litigation. A Texas House committee that studied the issue says the Texas Supreme Court first should follow through on a pandemic-delayed pilot program. The Texas Lawbook previews the coming battle and other judiciary and civil justice issues expected to be discussed during the 2023 legislative session.

January 30, 2023 Janet Elliott

Keurig Dr Pepper, MB2 Dental, Black Mountain Sand, OpTic Gaming Winners at 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook announced the winners in four competitive categories – Business Litigation of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department and General Counsel of the Year for a Solo Legal Department – and presented awards to in-house counsel in a dozen different categories.

January 27, 2023 Mark Curriden

P.S. — Dallas Legal Clinics Announced for Feb; A Bankruptcy Becomes Charitable — UPDATED

In this week’s P.S., Natalie Posgate highlights a sizable donation one firm and one company gave to the Houston Food Bank, upcoming free legal clinics in Dallas and a group of new sponsors of the Lawbook Foundation.

January 27, 2023 Natalie Posgate

The Gifts of Mentorship

For Mentorship Month, Greenberg Traurig attorneys Lindsey Groos, who is a mid-level associate, and Lou Ann Brunenn, a shareholder, share perspectives from both sides of the mentee-mentor relationship.

January 27, 2023 Lou Ann Brunenn & Lindsey Groos

Lawmakers to Consider Ending Mandatory Judicial Retirement Age

Currently, judges and justices in Texas are required by the state’s constitution to retire at age 75 in most instances. A legislator from Angleton has authored a resolution that would give voters an opportunity to amend the constitution and do away with that requirement.

January 27, 2023 Michelle Casady

Tuesday Morning’s GC Jennyfer Gray’s Life in the Fast Lane

Jennyfer Gray knows what it means to take it to the limit one more time. As interim general counsel of Tuesday Morning, Gray is helping lead the Dallas-based retailer through turbulent times. Facing severe economic challenges like most retailers, Tuesday Morning and Gray went through multiple financings and credit facilities, including a $110 million asset-based loan, and the transition to a new executive leadership team and corporate board. In recognition of Gray’s achievements, she is the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award recipient for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.

January 26, 2023 Mark Curriden