Retired Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht has joined the Dallas-based law firm Jackson Walker as a partner in its Austin office, the firm announced Friday.
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First CEO of San Antonio Legal Services Association Steps Down from Non-profit, Board Initiates Search
Sarah Dingivan, the founding CEO and Executive Director of the San Antonio Legal Services Association otherwise known as SALSA, is stepping down after leading the nonprofit since 2019. SALSA’s Managing Attorney Robert Mihara will serve as interim executive director while a search for her successor is underway. A former Air Force JAG, Dingivan guided the organization through challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uvalde school shooting and a recent funding crisis.
Appeals Court Upholds Part of Verdict for Fired Southwest Flight Attendant, Tosses Religious Training Order
Southwest Airlines won partial relief from a jury verdict in a case involving the firing of a flight attendant over antiabortion messages she sent to her union president. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday that while the airline violated Charlene Carter’s right to religious expression, it did not break federal laws banning religious discrimination in the workplace. The court also struck down U.S. District Court Judge Brantley Starr’s order requiring three of the airline’s attorneys to attend religious liberty training with a Christian legal group.
Susman Godfrey: President Trump Executive Order is ‘Unconstitutional — Full Stop’
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge Thursday that President Donald Trump was legally exercising his executive authority by prohibiting lawyers with the Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey from entering federal buildings or representing clients who had contracts with the federal government and suspending their security clearances. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan of Washington, D.C., repeatedly asked U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General Richard Lawson to provide evidence supporting the president’s April 9 executive order condemning Susman Godfrey for racial discrimination in their hiring practices and for “spearheading efforts to weaponize the American legal system and degrading the quality of American elections.”
M&A Newsmaker: Katherine Terrell Frank Never Became Perry Mason, But It Still Worked Out
Katherine Terrell Frank has fond memories of growing up watching Perry Mason with her grandfather. “I imagined the life of a lawyer as theatrical and dramatic, with cases neatly resolved within an hour,” Frank said. But it was while she was with V&E that she discovered something different while working in their capital markets and M&A practice. “It turns out I really enjoy transactional work,” Frank said.
Trade and Tariffs Specialist Joins V&E
V&E Chair Keith Fullenweider said Joyce Adetutu is the “perfect fit” as clients “face fast-evolving trade and national security regulations.”
Sheppard Mullin Adds Tax/Executive Comp Partner in Houston from Kirkland
Jared Whalen’s career also includes nearly six years in-house at Waste Management.
Troutman Pepper Locke Bolsters Energy Regulatory Practice in Austin
Former Texas Administrative Law Judge Casey Bell has joined the firm from Duggins Wren Mann & Romero.
Julia Wright ‘Sets the Example for All General Counsel Globally’
Julia Wright was a third grader when she did a book report on Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “I didn’t know women could be lawyers until I read that book,” Wright told The Texas Lawbook. “I knew then that it was what I wanted to do. Throughout the 1980s, my dad would cut out newspaper articles showing the data of increased enrollment in law schools of women, showing me it was possible.” Forty-two years later, Wright is the general counsel at ChampionX, where she is one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston General Counsel of the Year Award for a Midsized Legal Department.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Julia Wright
In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Julia Wright discusses the traits she seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with her and more.