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TX Chief Justice ‘Urgent Memo’ to Legislature: Texas Judicial Pay is an ‘Embarrassment’ and Pleads for 11th Hour Pay Hike - New Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock sent a last-minute email on Saturday to members of the state house and senate with the subject line “Urgent Memo”, begging them to hike the compensation of judges, which currently ranks 49th in the U.S. — only West Virginia pays its judges less. May 31, 2025Mark Curriden
Motion: Gateway Church Lead Counsel David Middlebrook ‘Must Be Disqualified’  - Lawyers for Robert Morris, the former Gateway Church pastor who had an inappropriate relationship with a teenager decades ago, asked a Fort Worth judge to remove one of the lead attorneys representing the church in litigation over disputed financial payments. In court documents filed Friday, Morris’ attorneys want the judge hearing the case to disqualify David Middlebrook, Gateway’s longtime outside general counsel, because he previously represented Morris in several matters, including giving Morris legal advice about the issues that are at the heart of the current dispute. May 30, 2025Mark Curriden
President Names Career Prosecutor as NDTX U.S. Attorney - President Donald Trump has named Nancy E. Larson, a career federal prosecutor, as the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. May 30, 2025Mark Curriden
GATX, Brookfield to Purchase Wells Fargo Railway Fleet for $4.4B - The deal, advised by Skadden and Mayer Brown, involves 105,000 rail cars, a potential 10-year buyout by GATX and a separate purchase of Wells Fargo rail leasing assets. May 30, 2025Allen Pusey
EOG Resources to Acquire Encino Acquisition Partners for $5.6 Billion - The deal, which makes Houston-based EOG one of the largest producers in Appalachia's Utica shale play was advised by Wachtell, Akin and Latham & Watkins. May 30, 2025Allen Pusey
Dykema DQ’d in PE Dentistry Suit - Dykema Gossett has been disqualified from representing a group of plaintiffs suing a dentist and his many practices after a judge in Dallas determined the law firm had previously represented the dentist in other legal matters that are “substantially related” to this case.  May 29, 2025Michelle Casady
SCOTUS Grants Stay to Highland Capital in Dispute with Ex-CEO - The U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay to Highland Capital Management, halting a lower court decision that allowed former CEO James Dondero to sue parties involved in the firm’s bankruptcy. Justice Samuel Alito issued a one-page order that pauses a March ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had permitted Dondero to pursue litigation against individuals previously deemed protected by a North Texas bankruptcy judge in relation to Highland Capital’s bankruptcy and restructuring. May 29, 2025Mark Curriden

Centerpiece

2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards Celebration - More than 225 leaders of the corporate legal profession in Houston celebrated the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Awards, which recognized general counsel and senior managing counsel from companies ranging from Phillips 66 and Shell to Enbridge, Baker Hughes and Transocean. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook hosted 20 corporate in-house counsel who had been nominated for awards in 14 categories, from Rookie of the Year and Lifetime Achievement to M&A Transaction and Business Litigation of the Year. May 27, 2025Mark Curriden
How Waste Management and Charles Boettcher Sealed the Stericycle Deal - Waste Management’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Stericycle was highly complex, merging WM’s $20 billion solid waste business with Stericycle’s $2.6 billion medical waste operation. The deal faced hurdles including class action litigation, a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation, and major integration challenges. Over several years, WM’s Chief Legal Officer, Charles Boettcher, played a key role in strategy, evaluation, and execution — culminating in one of 2024’s most significant transactions, with outside counsel Vinson & Elkins. As a result, Waste Management's acquisition of Stericycle is one of two finalists for the 2025 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year. The award will be presented by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook today at the Four Seasons in Houston. May 22, 2025Allen Pusey

Expert Voices

Defamed by a Llama — Legal Consequences of AI-Generated Falsehoods - There are many ways to be defamed: verbal rumors, print news stories, television news stories and social media posts, just to name a few. But now — based on a newly filed lawsuit against Meta for its “Llama” AI program — we have to add “defamation by artificial intelligence” to our lexicon.  May 29, 2025Heath Cheek & Shane Thomas

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Stories You Might’ve Missed

  • Lawbook 50 — Texas Firms Reap Financial Benefits of a ‘Perfect Storm’ - Corporate law firms in Texas had another blockbuster year in 2024. Record revenues. Record profits. The top business law firms operating in Texas in 2024 worked more hours for more corporate clients and charged those clients record-high rates — some now topping $2,600 an hour for premium services. The demand for high-dollar elite legal expertise and services in Texas came from companies and private equity firms involved in dealmaking for infrastructure and energy transition projects and businesses engaged in bet-the-company disputes, often battling other businesses or government agencies in court. The Texas Lawbook 50, which tracks the revenue generated by lawyers and law firms operating in Texas, found that 34 of the 50 largest corporate firms achieved record-high revenues in 2024, and an even higher percentage achieved record profits. Eight law firms grew revenue by 25 percent or more. May 22, 2025Mark Curriden

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