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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.

DFW Celebrates Two Legal In-house Rookies and a Lifetime Achiever

Elaine Rodriguez has been a corporate general counsel, including the past 14 years at DFW Airport, longer than Cameasha Turner and Nur Kara have been alive, but all three are being honored by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook.

ACC-DFW and The Lawbook are pleased to announce that Rodriguez is being recognized with the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement. Past DFW Lifetime Achievement Award recipients include Gary Kennedy of American Airlines, Leanne Oliver of PepsiCo, Chris Luna of T-Mobile, Derek Lipscombe of Toyota and Marita Covarrubias of Tenet Healthcare.

Turner, who is corporate counsel at Brinker International, and Kara, who is the legal director for marketing and advertising at PepsiCo North America, are the finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.

Litigation Roundup: Founder, CEO of McKinney Aerospace Company Named in Wrongful Discharge Case

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a group of wildfire survivors, represented by Susman Godfrey, are awarded $62 million in damages by a jury in Oregon, federal indictments against the former executives of Dallas-based Tricolor are unsealed and the founder and CEO of an aerospace company in McKinney is accused by former executives he hired of firing them after they refused to commit a $1 million “theft.” 

Harbour Energy Buys LLOG Exploration for $3.2B

Harbour Energy said Monday that it agreed to acquire Louisiana-based LLOG Exploration Co. for $3.2 billion, including $2.7 billion cash and $500 million of common stock, giving the U.K. oil company its first deepwater presence in the U.S. Bracewell advised Harbour with a team led by partners in London, Houston and Washington, D.C.

Troutman Pepper Locke Leads Pro Bono Nuisance Suit Against Fort Worth Motel

A pair of Fort Worth residents face “imminent and irreparable harm” if the nuisance caused by a long-beleaguered motel is not stopped, a pro bono legal team from Troutman Pepper Locke and the Dallas-based nonprofit Advocates for Community Transformation are arguing in Tarrant County. The lawsuit, brought by two residents of the West Meadowbrook neighborhood, follows other suits brought by the city of Fort Worth and the state of Texas.

CDT Roundup: $10B Week Fueled by Fusion

For the week ended Dec. 20, The CDT Roundup saw 11 transactions reported with a total value of about $10.2 billion, which is roughly on par with the prior week’s 15 deals for nearly $10 billion, though up from the 11 transactions at $3 billion this time last year. The week’s top transactions and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

Energy Lenders Fall Back in Credit Survey

Energy-lending banks are projecting 2026 average oil prices of $55.44 per barrel, a $1.50/BBL decline from projections six months ago, according to the latest Energy Bank Price Deck Survey from Haynes Boone released Dec. 17.

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