Vinson & Elkins has hired Houston energy M&A partner Chris Bennett. He is returning to V&E after a couple of years as a partner at Weil.
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VSP Visions’ Two Lisas and Their Historic Constitutional Fifth Circuit Win
Lisa Fields and Lisa Hill, top corporate counsel at VSP Vision, faced a critical legal and business decision in 2023 that would have a monumental impact on the future of their companies. A new Texas law posed an existential threat to their business. Fields and Hill recognized that suing the state of Texas to block the law would be extremely expensive. “We knew we had to take a direct attack, and we knew it would be a bold move to sue the state. And we knew we had to make a statement that we would not have our constitutional rights trampled,” Fields told The Texas Lawbook.
On May 23, Hill and Fields received an email at 10:43 a.m. from Dykema partner Christopher Kratovil. The subject line: “Good news from New Orleans.” A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit had unanimously awarded Visionworks a complete victory. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Lawbook are honoring Fields, Hill and the litigation team at Dykema with the 2025 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for Business Litigation of the Year.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Lisa Fields and Lisa Hill
Fields and Hill identify common missteps for outside counsel and highlight “standout days” at VSP.
Litigation Roundup: Samsung Hit with $191M Verdict in EDTX
In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court files an amicus brief in the case where the governor is attempting to remove from office a Democrat who broke quorum in an attempt to block redistricting efforts, and a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wades into a circuit split involving the National Labor Relations Board’s ability to award full compensatory damages.
Competing Bills Governing College Sports Draw Unlikely Backers and Familiar Battle Lines
The ever-changing landscape of college sports left many yearning for stability. To get it, some have turned to Congress. Federal legislation could provide uniformity and finality, ending the patchwork of state regulations and settling college athletics on a fixed framework. And, depending on who you ask, it could provide an antitrust waiver — removing the gavel that has struck down a litany of NCAA rules (and empowered student athletes in the process).
But, as with all things involving Congress, there is disagreement on what that legislation should entail. The debate has pitted institutional NCAA interests against athletes’ rights groups, created unlikely bed fellows, and tested the influence of a prominent West Texas billionaire with the ear of the President.
Kimberly-Clark Buys Kenvue in $48.7B Deal that Forms Consumer Products Monolith
Kimberly-Clark Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to acquire Kenvue Inc. in a cash and stock deal that values the maker of Tylenol, which was spun off by Johnson & Johnson in 2023, at about $48.7 billion.
Kirkland & Ellis is Kimberly-Clark’s outside legal counsel and Grant McGee is the company’s general counsel. In-house lawyers for Kimberly-Clark who assisted McGee on the deal included vice president and deputy general counsel Courtney Roane on M&A activities and vice president and deputy general counsel Suzana Blades on litigation matters, as well as vice president, deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer Adam Crawford on regulatory matters.
SM Energy, Civitas Resources to Combine in $12.8B Transaction
Gibson Dunn and Kirkland & Ellis advised on the deal, which will create the 10th largest oil & gas independent in the nation.
The Sterling Group GC Joins Latham
Latham & Watkins has recruited private equity general counsel Max Klupchak. Houston office managing partner Nick Dhesi said Klupchak’s “experience with middle-market deals and the industrials and manufacturing sectors, in particular, enhances our leading private equity practice not only in Texas, but across the firm.”
UT San Antonio CLO Hailey Mullican Led ‘Historic Merger with Transformative Impact’
In September, the University of Texas San Antonio completed a merger with UT Health that legal experts agree was one of the most unique and complex deals of 2025 and will create the third-largest public research university in Texas and is expected to generate $7 billion in economic impact for San Antonio. “The merger is probably the most important decision the board of regents have made in the last 50 years,” UTSA CLO Hailey Mullican told The Texas Lawbook, pointing out that the deal was handled completely in-house. “Pretty quickly, the team realized that no one really knew how to do this. And I mean no one.”
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Lawbook are awarding the 2025 San Antonio Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year to Mullican and her legal team at UT San Antonio.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Hailey Mullican
Texas Lawbook: What are the critical factors you consider when deciding about hiring outside counsel and what are the biggest mistakes that outside counsel make in their relationship with in-house