Criminal charges probably should never have been brought against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but now that they have been, he could be at serious risk of going to prison, according to legal experts following the case. More than a dozen former prosecutors and former judges interviewed by The Texas Lawbook say there is little to no evidence that the charges against Paxton are the result of political motivations and they believe there’s a significant chance that the case will go to trial.
More Stories
Mollie Duckworth – The Queen of Securities Offerings
Mollie Duckworth has been a partner at Baker Botts for only 19 months, but has led seven separate securities offerings that raised $3.8 billion during the first seven months of 2015, which was nearly twice as many offerings as any other lawyer in Texas, according to The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. Duckworth talks trends and what she sees for the rest of the year.
Corporate Deal Tracker: Ranking Texas Law Firms and Lawyers on M&A and Securities Offerings in 2015
No corporate transactional lawyers have been busier in 2015 than Mollie Duckworth and John Goodgame.
No Texas law firm came close to advising in more deal making during the first seven months of 2015 than Vinson & Elkins, though Baker Botts, Andrews Kurth and Latham are battling for second place.
Seven months into 2015, The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker leaderboard shows which Texas lawyers are doing the most business mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and securities offerings. We have all the details.
A Word with John Goodgame: The Top M&A Dealmaker in 1H 2015
John Goodgame is having a very good year. The corporate partner at Akin Gump has led more mergers and acquisitions (11) during the first seven months of 2015 than any other lawyer in Texas, according to The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. Learn why he’s doing so many energy transactions.
Locke Lord Advises NextEra in Purchase of NET Midstream
Florida-based NextEra Energy Partners made a huge splash in the Texas energy market Monday when it announced is acquiring seven natural gas pipelines owned by Houston-based NET Midstream for $2.1 billion.
NextERA General Counsel Mitch Ross turned to the energy M&A group at Locke Lord to advise the company on the highly complex transaction.
Former UT President Bill Powers Joins Jackson Walker
Bill Powers, the former law dean at the University of Texas in Austin, said he will continue teaching at UT but will also work with appellate lawyers and those who specialize in corporate governance at Jackson Walker. The firm’s managing partner, Wade Cooper, said that Powers “would top just about anyone’s list of the most influential attorneys” in Texas.
JC Penney Slashes Corporate Legal Dept. Staff
The Plano-based retailer laid off about two-dozen lawyers and staff last week. The company had about 50 in-house lawyers just three years ago, but now has less than 25 after deciding to outsource most litigation, employment and labor law and tax law needs.
Inside the Case Against Ken Paxton: The Lawyers
The criminal securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is only getting started, but it already features some of the best lawyers in the state. At the same time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has conducted its own inquiry into Servergy.
The two cases have attracted A-list white-collar lawyers, including former federal judge Joe Kendall, Houston criminal defense lawyers Kent Schaffer and Brian Wice, SEC enforcement attorneys Samantha Cox Martin and Matthew Gulde, and securities litigators Jason Lewis and Kit Addleman. We have all the details.
XTO and BofA Score Mandamus Win in Derivative Royalty Trust Lawsuit
XTO Energy and Bank of America scored a win this week in a Dallas appellate court when a three-judge panel ruled that a trial court abused its discretion by allowing a derivative action lawsuit to continue with an investor of XTO’s publicly-traded royalty trust.
Meet the 2015 Class of New Partners and Shareholders
The Texas Lawbook takes a look at 145 newly minted partners and shareholders in Texas.