Leaders at corporate legal departments in Texas appear ready to use their considerable influence to push – or possibly even force – law firms to recruit, retain and promote minority and women lawyers. Corporate general counsel – also known as the clients paying the bills of the lawyers – are growing impatient with the lack of law firm diversity and many are considering taking hard-line approaches against firms that are not aggressive enough. Corporate legal departments at AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, Liberty Mutual, MetroPCS and other major businesses are speaking out.
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Dems: GOP Suit Like ‘Ice on a Sidewalk in Dallas in August’
The Dallas County Democratic party has retained Randy Johnston and Chad Baruch of Johnston Tobey Baruch to defend it in the lawsuit the GOP filed against it seeking the removal of 128 Democratic candidates off the March 6 primary ballot. Johnston has a few things to say about it. Details here.
BARBRI Settles Litigation with Blind Law Students
Lawyers for a group of blind law students said Wednesday that they have settled their claims against Dallas-based bar examination preparation course giant BARBRI. The students alleged in a lawsuit filed two years ago that BARBRI failed to address issues that prevented them from adequately preparing for the bar exam despite spending thousands of dollars on the course.
CHC GC Hooman Yazhari Finds Solutions & Survival in Chaos
Hooman Yazhari has an amazing story to tell. His family was forced to flee their native Iran in the revolution of 1979 or face imprisonment by the Revolutionary Guard. He’s guided three billion-dollar businesses through bankruptcy and restructuring, including one where he discovered the CEO was stealing from the company. But Yazhari’s amazing legal work in the CHC Helicopter restructuring earned him a spot as a finalist for the the Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award for GC of the Year for a Small Legal dept.
Vistra’s Ashlie Alaman & Dan Kelly Lead by Example on Pro Bono
One could have forgiven the lawyers at Vistra Energy if they didn’t go overboard on their pro bono requirements. With the the $45 billion bankruptcy, the spin-offs of Luminant and TXU Energy and the move from Downtown Dallas to Irving, it’s not like there wasn’t enough to do. But Dan Kelly, Ashlie Alaman and the rest of the Vistra legal department did far more than enough. They’re now finalists in the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards. The Texas Lawbook shows how they give their volunteer work a personal touch.
Corp. Deal Tracker Weekly Round-Up: 15 Firms and 129 Texas Lawyers Toil on 19 Transactions Worth $9.4B
A surge in deal-making over the last few weeks has observers believing that 2018 may be a strong one. Tax reform and a rise in oil prices fueled a week that saw 129 Texas lawyers from 15 different firms and in-house teams working on 19 transactions worth $9.4 billion. That was up considerably from the previous week when 49 Texas lawyers worked on 10 transactions worth $6.28 billion. Claire Poole has her weekly update in The Texas Lawbook. and the news is good.
Trump Nominates Four to Federal Judgeships in Texas
President Donald Trump has nominated three lawyers to serve as U.S. district judges in the Eastern District and one to serve in the Western District, his office announced Tuesday. Three are currently in private practice and one works in the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Locke Lord Provides Insight on Combating Workplace Sexual Harassment
With new sexual harassment scandals surfacing nearly every week, companies are increasingly reevaluating whether they have the proper protocols to handle any incidents that occur in the workplace. A group of labor & employment experts from Locke Lord are here to help. The Lawbook tuned into the firm’s comprehensive webinar and laid out the takeaways that every in-house legal department and their HR teams should consider.
Locke Lord Chooses Laura Edrington to Lead Houston Office
Edrington, who succeeds David Taylor, will lead an office of more than 130 attorneys. She is the first woman to head the Houston office.
DVAP Endowment Ensures the Future of Access to Justice in Dallas
Last year, Dallas Bar Association President Michael K. Hurst grew concerned about the stability of funding for legal aid to the poor in Dallas County. In response, he led the charge to create the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program Endowment to help fund the DVAP’s services should state or federal funding streams dry up. Though Hurst was only officially inaugurated as the DBA’s 109th president over the weekend, he and others have already pledged nearly $500,000.