With oil and gas prices high, older established fields are seeing a renaissance. That may explain recent deals involving North Dakota’s Williston Basin. This week’s CDT Roundup looks at what makes the Williston attractive, along with the firms and lawyers involved in deals there and elsewhere.
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Siltstone Capital’s Mani Walia Wins Houston Legal Innovation Award
When the Houston private equity firm Siltstone Capital decided to expand its investment portfolio beyond energy, minerals and real estate into the arena of litigation finance, it had the perfect advisor already in the house. Siltstone General Counsel Mani Walia has leveraged his background in Big Law, plaintiffs’ IP litigation and private equity to create a new model for litigation finance investments. Citing Walia’s creativity and achievements, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook awarded the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Legal Innovation to the Siltstone Capital general counsel.
Corban Addison’s Wastelands Gives Scoop Behind Pork Producer Nuisance Trials
A new legal thriller out this month details the story of some Texas plaintiff’s lawyers who took on the pork industry’s most powerful player, a formidable opponent that provoked death threats, had the legal team followed and even changed some laws in the middle of the five-year nuisance litigation that resulted in five jury verdicts totaling hundreds-of-millions. The Lawbook sat down with Wastelands author Corban Addison Thursday when his book tour brought him to Dallas.
Q&A: Mani Walia
Premium-Only Content: Mani Walia shares tips and pet peeves for outside counsel.
Texas Supreme Court Holds Against Texas A.G., Clarifies Rules for Soliciting Mail-in Ballots
The Texas Supreme Court has held a challenge to an “election integrity” law as too broad in its sweep to limit how Texas voting officials “solicit” mail-in ballots.
Archrock GC Stephanie Hildebrandt – A Lifetime of Achievements and a ‘Never-ending Education’
Stephanie Hildebrandt has been an in-house lawyer and general counsel at some of the nation’s largest energy companies and has been involved in some of the biggest and most complicated civil lawsuits and M&A transactions in Texas. For three decades, corporate executives from Texaco and El Paso Energy to Enterprise Products to Archrock have relied on Hildebrandt’s legal knowledge, ability to analyze an issue, wisdom and creativity to develop and execute a successful strategy.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook honor Hildebrandt with the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Baker Botts Secures Partial Win for Union Pacific in Environmental Lawsuit
The plaintiffs, according to court records, seek more than $100 million in damages for wrongful death, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish and loss of use and enjoyment of real property. Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals dismissed some claims against Union Pacific but sent the case back to Harris County District Court to determine the fate of the others.
SEC in Constitutional Danger Zone Following Several Recent Decisions
The constitutional spotlight is shining on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the last several weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case seeking broader federal jurisdiction for constitutional challenges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found multiple constitutional infirmities in SEC practice and procedures, and a petition for certiorari was filed seeking to end the SEC’s longstanding “gag order” requirement for settlements. Three cases — Cochran, Jarkesy and Romeril — represent three unique challenges to SEC practices. Here are some takeaways on what to look for next.
CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 10 Firms, 127 Lawyers, $2.9B
There have been a few big energy deals this year, but none quite as big as one that closed last week. The merger between Woodside Petroleum and BHP was announced last August. But that was long before the Ukraine war and $120 oil. Vinson & Elkins partner Kaam Sahely was in the thick of it all that time. He shed some light on what it took to get the deal done. That, and the weekly roll call of Texas dealmakers are in the CDT Roundup.
Q&A: Theresa Terrell
Premium-Only Content: Theresa Terrell discusses what she’d do if she won the Powerball lottery tomorrow and shares pet peeves regarding outside counsel.