The high-stakes trial between Williams and Energy Transfer over their failed $38 billion merger concluded with testimony from several high billable hour tax lawyers from Cravath, Latham, Wachtell and Gibson Dunn. Natalie Posgate reviews their testimony, which will help a Delaware chancery court decide which party is on the hook for a $410 million merger breakup fee.
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Best Practices to Preserve the Integrity of Remote Testimony
While lawyers continue to adjust to practice during the pandemic, it is increasingly clear that certain new ways of doing things will become standard when we return to working in person. This includes remote witness testimony. Remote practice has exposed a heightened risk of unethical behavior, including undisclosed communications between the witness and counsel mid-testimony in violation of controlling federal and Texas law. Because it is harder to uncover such misconduct in a remote setting, counsel should take necessary steps to manage these risks effectively and efficiently.
Texas-based Core-Mark Snapped Up in $2.5B Deal
A handful of Dallas-based Weil lawyers aided in the proposed $2.5 billion sale of Core-Mark, a large convenience store distributor headquartered in Westlake, Texas.
Litigator Mary Nix Moves To Lynn Pinker
Mary Goodrich Nix, a major league litigation partner with all-star credentials, is leaving Holland & Knight for Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann. Her last day at H&K was Monday.
The move comes more than a month after the Miami-headquartered firm publicly acknowledged merger talks with Dallas-based Thompson & Knight. But that’s not the reason for the move, according to Nix. The Texas Lawbook has the story.
Express Negligence and Fair Notice Limitations on Risk-Shifting in M&A Transactions
The shifting of risk from one party to another is an important aspect of any merger and acquisition transaction. Jackson Walker attorneys Byron Egan and Zachary Ward look to Texas law for guidance in writing effective indemnification provisions, waivers and releases.
Southwest’s Mark Shaw: ‘Breadth of Issues the Past Year was Unimaginable’
Mark Shaw has seen a lot of crises during his 21 years as a lawyer at Southwest Airlines, but nothing like the Covid-19 pandemic. Shaw and his legal team were front and center in dealing with nearly all aspects of the pandemic. Critical were multiple securities offerings, convertible notes and federal loans and grants from the federal government that allowed Southwest to raise an extraordinary $18.5 billion in capital in a period of a few months – moves that allowed the airline to avoid drastic budget cuts.
Q&A: Mark Shaw
PREMIUM CONTENT Mark Shaw has seen his share of crises. Maybe more than his share. Mark Curriden, founder of The Texas Lawbook, grabbed an opportunity to chat with Shaw about what he looks for when hiring a law firm: what he values most in making those decisions, as well as what turns him off in working with other lawyers.
Dallas’ AT&T Gets Creative to Alleviate Debt in WarnerMedia Spin-off Agreement With Discovery
AT&T’s Troy Hatch, Michael Pratt, Terry Velesiotis, Brandon Satterwhite and David McAtee led the Dallas company’s internal team in a $43 billion transaction that would see WarnerMedia combine with Discovery Inc. for an all-new, standalone entertainment entity.
Two More Corporate Transactions Partners Leave TK for Akin Gump
Akin Gump has added two new partners to its corporate transactions practice, including the former leader of Thompson & Knight’s Fort Worth office.
Kimberly-Clark’s Shonn Brown: ‘Using the Same System, Same Practices Yields the Same Results’
Shonn Brown was 12 years old and walking home from school when a car of white men called her the N-word and sprayed her with orange soda. Fast-forward 35 years – a Friday night last May – Brown learned that a Sonic manager threatened to call the police on her 17-year-old son and his friends – all African American – if they didn’t leave the premises.
“This is my life. This is my Black son’s life. This is our reality,” Brown wrote on Facebook. Now a year later, Brown, a highly successful commercial trial lawyer and deputy GC at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, has become one of the strongest voices for diversity and inclusion in Texas. This is her story.