Unfortunately, the steady decline of civil jury trials has shaped the litigation landscape in Texas and across the nation for decades. Although multiple factors contribute to this trend, the emergence of reliable artificial intelligence tools may offer a realistic path to reversing it. This article discusses research on AI in the courts, explains how generative and predictive systems could reinvigorate the Texas trial docket and proposes concrete steps for judges, law firms, corporate counsel and the Legislature to harness AI’s upside to increase jury trials and expand justice access.
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Sorrels Law Adds Trial, Appellate Partner in Dallas
E. Lawrence “Larry” Vincent joined the firm after nine years at Burns Charest. During his time there, he was the co-lead attorney in a successful representation of a group of Houston homeowners alleging government mismanagement of reservoirs lead to flooding of their properties during Hurricane Harvey.
Citi Law Firm Expert: ‘Fairly Optimistic Outlook for Rest of 2025’
Texas-based corporate law firms started 2025 strong, but they face multiple headwinds over the next several months. The largest law firms headquartered in Texas achieved 35 percent revenue increases during the first quarter of 2025 — triple the amount of their national competitors — even though legal demand grew less than one percent during the period, according to the nation’s leading legal industry financial analyst.
Litigation Roundup: Made-Up Cases Net Real-Life Sanction for Plano Lawyer
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, an attorney who cited made-up cases to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas gets sanctioned, American Airlines is sued by a former pilot who alleges he was shortchanged on disability benefits, and the Texas Supreme Court answers a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in one of the final weeks of its term.
Holland & Knight’s Recent Lateral Partner Additions Strengthen RE, Financial Services Offerings
The firm has announced three new partners this month recruited from three different firms.
Susman Godfrey Leads Lawsuit by ABA Against Trump Administration
The nation’s largest and one of its oldest legal organizations has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a restraining order to prevent President Donald Trump and his cabinet members from implementing a policy of “intimidation and coercion” against law firms that has created a “chill of blizzard proportions [that] continues to grip most of the top law firms and lawyers in the country,” the complaint states. The American Bar Association accuses President Trump of using “the vast powers of the Executive Branch to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes, and policy positions the President does not like.” Susman Godfrey, including Houston partners Justin Nelson, Neal Manne and Harry Susman and Dallas partner Barry Barnett, are leading the litigation for the ABA.
CDT Roundup: The Streak Ends, But It’s Not All Quiet as Key Deals Still Stirring
After five weeks in a row logging transactions valued at $20 billion or more, deal values finally hit the wall. Of course, part of the reason is that all of the M&A and funding deals involved private equity firms, deals whose terms are often undisclosed. Still, there were only six transactions reported. But the deals that were reported were not without importance.
Toyota Motor North America Names New GC, Compliance Officer
DFW-based Toyota Motor North America has named a new general counsel and a new corporate compliance and ethics officer — both will report to chief legal officer Sandra Phillips Rogers. The automaker has named former deputy general counsel Elizabeth Gibson to the GC position and assistant GC Dawn Pittman Collins to the corporate compliance and ethics officer post. Gibson has been a lawyer in the legal department at Toyota for more than 19 years. In her previous position, she oversaw complex litigation, government investigations and regulatory compliance.
Anatomy of an Acquittal — Delayed Vindication
At the very end of the series Mad Men, the yoga instructor encourages his class, which includes the show’s protagonist, Don Draper, with the following words: “A new day. New ideas. A new you.” From the perspective of the defense team at least, that’s a fitting introduction to the retrial of United States v. Hamilton, which resulted last week in an acquittal on all charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and two substantive counts of bribery. In the retrial, the government tried precisely the same case it tried four years ago. And why not? That case resulted in a conviction on three of four charges, which led to an eight-year prison sentence imposed by the district court.
Weil Advises PE Firm in Selling Stake as Part of $1.2B Deal
PSG Equity said it completed the sale of a minority stake in SevenRooms on June 16 to DoorDash as part of the food delivery service’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the customer relationship management technology company. Weil acted as legal counsel to PSG, with David Gail leading the transaction from Dallas. Madeleine Carpenter, an associate in Weil’s Dallas office, was also on the team.