The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

More Stories

Asked & Answered with Reid Collins & Tsai’s William Reid: Books, Teaching and Trial

In this edition of Asked & Answered, Reid Collins & Tsai senior founding partner William Reid discusses his new book, Fighting Bullies: A Case for a Career in Plaintiffs’ Law.

In late November, Reid led a team in South Carolina that secured a $112.3 million jury verdict for their client. He is also part of the team representing the court-appointed litigation trustee in the GWG Holdings bankruptcy. Reid and the firm have also has represented Elon Musk’s X Corp. in litigation.

Reid recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss his career and more. (Photo by Dave Cross)

Texas Lawbook Law Firm of the Year

There were scores of multibillion-dollar corporate mergers and some landmark commercial trial verdicts in 2025. The year was filled with big stories.

But hands down, the biggest story of the year was the Trump administration’s executive orders against large corporate law firms, including a handful that have offices in Texas.

Unsealed: Judge Mazzant’s ‘Coffee Cake for Jurors’ Recipe

Jury duty is no piece of cake. But at least it comes with one in the court of U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas.

An avid baker, Judge Mazzant likes to treat juries in his Sherman court to a homemade coffee cake. He shares with The Texas Lawbook his recipe, and his thoughts behind the kindly gesture.

Rethinking the Investor-Broker Relationship in Tokenized Real Estate Markets

Illiquidity has always been a feature (and a bug) of real estate transactions. That prime piece of retail space is one of a kind, and you can’t click “sell” on that multifamily asset the same way you can on a share of a blue-chip company. Tokenization is changing that premise by turning the economics of property ownership into fractional tradable units that can be bought or sold through digital exchanges at the touch of a button. This shift matters for corporate counsel because once something trades like a security, the market structure becomes an additional risk on top of the investment itself.

In AI Gold Rush, Capital Markets Learn to Live Off Data

In the shengxiao, the year 2025 was represented by the snake. As the sixth of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, the snake represents both mystery and transformation.

For capital markets lawyers that is exactly what 2025 was supposed to be, a year of pipeline deals, AI-driven demand and a new presidential administration primed to relieve public companies from the inordinate burdens associated with their public-ness.

Well, it was. And it wasn’t.

It’s been a busier year than those passed. But capital markets have changed and are changing. The yearly stats say so. And so do the lawyers who make their living assembling them.

CDT Roundup: Coal Gets Reprieve, Wind Gets Rejected in Quiet Week

Not much was reported for the holiday inflected week that ended Dec. 27. The Roundup saw only two transactions. Only one had a reported value.

However, one Houston-based utility got a Christmas week gift from the U.S. Department of Energy.

That and a bit more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

P.S. — Austin Bar Foundation Honors Legal Leaders, Witherite Law Brings Holiday Cheer 

The Austin Bar Foundation has announced the recipients of its annual gala awards, which will be held Jan. 24 in Austin. Proceeds from the gala benefit the Austin Bar Foundation, a nonprofit that funds law-related community initiatives aimed at expanding access to legal services, promoting public legal education and supporting attorney well-being. 

Meanwhile, The Witherite Law Group and 1-800TruckWreck recently made a $30,000 donation to Minnie’s Food Pantry and supported its Dec. 20 Christmas Food and Toy Giveaway in Plano. 

The Texas Lawbook‘s Krista Torralva has that and more in this edition of P.S.

John Nance Garner: The Texas Lawyer Who Was a Heartbeat Away

The famous saying that characterized the American vice presidency as “not worth a warm bucket of spit” was first uttered about 85 years ago. 

However, the man behind that famous aphorism is largely forgotten. Lost in the tranquility of history’s footnotes stands a West Texas frontier lawyer and judge whose impact extended far beyond the courtroom. He left a significant mark on the judicial, legislative and executive branches of America’s constitutional republic. That country lawyer from the southwest who became America’s 32nd vice president was John Nance Garner.

In this special feature for The Lawbook, historian and author James Lumley offers an important review of Garner’s 50-year legal and political career.

© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.