The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday that it is recommending a fine of more than $9.6 million against a Houston-based company for a November 2023 deepwater oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. The penalty is the result of an investigation by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safe Administration and the recommended levy of $9,622,054 is described as the “largest civil penalty ever proposed” by the agency.
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Vistra Buys Cogentrix Energy in Deal Valued at About $4B
Vistra Corp. said Monday that it acquired Cogentrix Energy for about $2.3 billion cash, about $925 million in common shares and the assumption of $1.5 billion of debt. Vistra used Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as outside legal counsel. King & Spalding advised Cogentrix.
Biggest Texas Verdicts of 2025
Billions of dollars were awarded by juries in Texas last year in personal injury and patent infringement trials. The largest damage awards were doled out in Bexar and Harris counties.
The Key Deals of 2025: Business-As-Usual, With a Mona Lisa Smile
The undisputed dealmaker of the year 2025 was artificial intelligence.
Its needs, whether for infrastructure, software, data, cooling, tubing for cooling, electrical parts, real estate or any other basic or specialized situation, seemed to play a role, directly or indirectly, in nearly every deal reported to The Texas Lawbook this year.
Allen Pusey and Jason Philyaw sifted through the more than 1,200 M&A transactions that have passed across our desks over the last 12 months to pick the most significant deals from last year.
CDT Roundup: A Quiet End to a Busy Year
The week ending Jan. 3 — the day Larry David claims is the last day you can wish someone Happy New Year — had just two deals reported, with one of DFW’s favorite Tex-Mex chains acquiring one of DFW’s favorite Cajun spots through bankruptcy court and the announcement of an ATM offering by a Michigan energy company highlight this edition of the CDT Roundup.
Top 10 Legal News for 2025
In 2025, the Lone Star State was once again at the forefront of some of the biggest legal stories of the year. Join Androvett Legal Media & Marketing as we take a look back at the Top 10 Texas Legal Stories that shaped the past year, including the immigration court crisis, fallout from the 2024 election, and threats to the judiciary.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Stephen Myers, Match Group
In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Stephen Myers discusses the traits he seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with him and more.
Stephen Myers Leads Match Group in String of High-Stakes Wins
Last December, Match Group’s Stephen Myers and his legal team convinced a federal judge to rule that a class action lawsuit accusing Match’s Tinder app of being intentionally addictive and seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages needed to be handled by arbitration rather than a jury trial. None of the plaintiffs, however, pursued the dispute in arbitration. Match promoted Myers to associate GC and he responded with a handful of extraordinary successes in 2025, including obtaining a highly favorable settlement in a deceptive advertising practices case brought by the Federal Trade Commission and convincing a federal judge in Delaware to grant Match’s summary judgment motion in a long-running patent infringement case.
The ACC’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Myers a finalist for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department.
Pro Bono Work Can be a Bulwark Against Burnout, Business Litigator Says in Return to Practice
There was a point in Jeffrey Price’s litigation career when he got a bad case of burnout. He left both his job and Dallas, ultimately turning to volunteer work with The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, where he represented former military service members before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. After more than a year of volunteering, Price joined the National Veterans Legal Services Program as an appellate attorney. It was through pro bono work on behalf of veterans that Price found the sense of purpose he had sought. Now, Price is returning to business litigation, joining Stinson as of counsel with a renewed perspective on the profession and a continued commitment to veterans pro bono work. He also hopes to encourage fellow lawyers to seek out pro bono opportunities that genuinely resonate — something he believes might have helped prevent his own burnout had he done so earlier.
Asked & Answered with Reid Collins & Tsai’s William Reid: Books, Teaching and Trial
In this edition of Asked & Answered, Reid Collins & Tsai senior founding partner William Reid discusses his new book, Fighting Bullies: A Case for a Career in Plaintiffs’ Law.
In late November, Reid led a team in South Carolina that secured a $112.3 million jury verdict for their client. He is also part of the team representing the court-appointed litigation trustee in the GWG Holdings bankruptcy. Reid and the firm have also has represented Elon Musk’s X Corp. in litigation.
Reid recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss his career and more. (Photo by Dave Cross)