The circuit court certified a question to the Texas Supreme Court asking how far state law allows certain state officials, particularly licensing officials, to go in enforcing violations of Senate Bill 8.
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DBJ: Prosecution Rests, Defense Starts Calling Witnesses in UDF Trial
The Dallas Business Journal is providing continuous coverage of the trial. The defense put on its first witness yesterday and may call one of DFW’s largest developers of residential and mixed-use communities to the stand Wednesday.
Appellate 2021 Year in Review: SCOTX and the Fifth Circuit
Year two of the pandemic brought a gradual return to “normal” operations at the Texas Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit. Virtual arguments – in many cases – transitioned to in-person oral arguments. The Fifth Circuit issued important guidance on certifying FLSA collective actions, rejected the so-called fraudulent misjoinder doctrine and clarified standards for federal jurisdiction in the arbitration context. The Texas Supreme Court issued key contract formation cases, refined the standards for determining when courts and agencies have jurisdiction to decide tort claims in the electric-power context and provided guidance on key procedural questions under the TCPA. The Haynes and Boone appellate team has full details.
A Renaissance Lawyer: Glenn West
Glenn West considers himself a private equity lawyer. But over his 43-year career, he’s advised on everything from real estate and oil and gas to sports deals to acquisition finance to restructuring.
Corporate Deal Tracker: 2021 M&A Master List
The Corporate Deal Tracker 2021 M&A Master List had been updated through Sept. 30. The list has been designed to grow with firm contributions. Check in regularly as the list grows.
McKool Smith Snags Noted Houston Patent Litigator
Ryan McBeth, lawyer, inventor and former IBM engineer, joins McKool Smith as a principal from Bracewell, where he specialized in patent, trade- secret and trademark disputes in the energy and tech sectors.
DBJ Reporter’s Notebook: An Inside-Baseball Look at the UDF Trial Going Into Week 2
The Dallas Business Journal’s Bill Hethcock reviews what’s happened so far (and been left unsaid) in the criminal securities fraud trial of four United Development Funding executives, including a certain phrase that starts with a “P” and a Twitter feud between one of the defense lawyers and a certain hedge fund manager. Jurors return Tuesday for Week 2.
SCOTUS is Set to Consider Ted Cruz’s Campaign-Finance Law Challenge
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz returns to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as a party — not as a practitioner — to argue federal campaign-finance limits violate his First Amendment rights. At issue: a 20-year-old federal law that prohibits candidates from raising more than $250,000 after an election to repay a personal loan to their campaigns.
Kathy McCoy: ‘A Visionary in the Ranks of Corporate Counsel’
Lawyers in the world of natural gas know Williams Companies Senior Counsel Kathryn McCoy, a former FERC lawyer who has led groundbreaking legal work developing a partnership involving LNG bunkering for ships in the U.S. She played a leading role in Southern Company’s sale of subsidiary Pivotal LNG to Dominion Energy, tackled legislation involving efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and handled major force majeure issues related to Winter Storm Uri. McCoy’s knowledge of the energy industry is unparalleled and her value to her new employer, the Williams Companies, is immeasurable. She is the 2021 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
Fifth Circuit Reverses Houston Lawyer’s Tax Evasion Conviction
Although the case “facts were difficult,” the Fifth Circuit vacated a tax evasion conviction of Houston lawyer Jack Stephen Pursley on a simple premise: a statute of limitations defense that the three-judge panel said was erroneously shot down by the trial court without analysis.