Main Content
Top Stories
Centerpiece
A ‘One-Man Hands-on Army’: Valero’s Alex Miller on Managing a Nine-Figure Docket and Taking the EPA to SCOTUS - Valero Energy Corp. senior counsel Alex Miller, an appellate specialist who initially joined the refiner on a two-day-a-week schedule, now directs a worldwide nine-figure docket spanning environmental, commercial and tax disputes. Over the past 18 months, his strategic oversight guided complete defense trial verdicts in Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as a 7-2 victory at the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller has been named Senior Counsel of the Year for a Large Legal Department by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s San Antonio Chapter and The Texas Lawbook. October 23, 2026
For Jackson Walker’s Robert Soza, Ethical Leadership is a Family Legacy - When Jackson Walker partner Robert L. Soza Jr. accepts the prestigious C. Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life and Leadership Award on Oct. 29, he’ll be thinking of two people who won’t be there to celebrate with him — his father, a small-town pharmacist from far West Texas who died in August, and his brother, an Odessa lawyer known for providing free legal services to those in need, who died in 2023.
Growing up in his father’s Alpine pharmacy, Soza learned lessons about trust, compassion and service that would shape his decades-long legal career. Today, the San Antonio lawyer has built a distinguished litigation practice while devoting much of his time to expanding access to justice, including helping establish the San Antonio Legal Services Association.
For Soza, this year’s recognition is as much a tribute to his family’s legacy as it is to his own accomplishments. “Any ethical life I’ve managed to live, I learned from them first,” he said. October 22, 2026
Expert Voices
In a World Drowning in AI Content, Trust Wins Cases - In an era saturated with synthetic content, the outcome of high-stakes trials will once again turn on "personal advocacy"—where candor, mastery of the record and unshakeable human credibility will decide cases. October 23, 2026
Contractor, Employee or Something New? The Classification Questions Facing College Athletic NIL Collectives - With booster-funded collectives accounting for the vast majority of college athletic NIL compensation, universities and third-party collectives face mounting legal exposure over whether student-athletes are independent contractors, common-law employees or an entirely new legal hybrid. In Part 2 of a series for The Texas Lawbook, this article examines how clearinghouse scrutiny, performance benchmarks and IRS control tests could trigger joint-employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act. October 21, 2026
