In Netflix’s Lincoln Lawyer, Law is a Source of Fun – and Storytelling Style

Created by David E. Kelley, adapted from the Michael Connelly novels, The Lincoln Lawyer series piles up legal and ethical dilemmas in the service of drama and suspense. The key ingredient: Manuel Garcia-Rulfo's Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defense attorney who stays likable even when he seems to slither as much as he strolls. Texas entertainment and arts critic Chris Vognar provides a peek into Season 2, which resumes Aug. 3. 

August 1, 2023 Chris Vognar

Texas Stands Apart — And That’s Not a Good Thing: ‘Concurrent Causation’ in Texas Coverage Litigation

Texas prides itself on its rugged, independent spirit. Often, that’s a good thing. However, there is an aspect of insurance law in which Texas stands gloomily distant from the other 49 states. They are united, and Texas is a stuck-in-the-mud outlier rather than a paragon in its isolation. Ironically, it’s an area in which the Texas jurisprudence is distinctly detrimental to Texas businesses.

July 27, 2023 Marc Gravely

Schlumberger Cleared in Female Field Engineer’s Harassment, Retaliation Suit

The jury of five women and three men heard six days of testimony before beginning deliberations around 1 p.m. Wednesday. About three hours later they determined Schlumberger had not discriminated against Jessica Cheatham based on her sex, had not subjected her to a hostile work environment, had not retaliated against her and had not constructively discharged its former field engineer.

July 26, 2023 Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Waco Jury Slams Google in Patent Case, American Airlines Taps O’Melveny for Class Action Defense

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, closing arguments are coming soon in a $55 million pharmacy fraud trial, Porter Hedges gets $15.35 million for a developer client in an eminent domain fight and a jury in Waco on Friday unanimously determined Google owes $339 million for patent infringement.

July 24, 2023 Michelle Casady

Judgment & Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs

In 1951, Judge Irving R. Kaufman wrangled to get the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, charged with stealing the “secret” of the atomic bomb and handing it to the monstrous Joseph Stalin. Judge Kaufman was 40, one of the youngest federal judges in America and only sixteen months in office. During the trial, he often intervened in ways that helped the government. Upstairs in his chambers, he conducted secret, ex parte meetings with prosecutors, including the infamous Roy Cohn. No one knows what they discussed. Once jurors convicted, he deftly advertised his anguish over the sentence and alluded to solitary soul-searching in his empty, dimly lit synagogue. Now the hour for judgment had come.

The Texas Lawbook is pleased to publish an excerpt of Houston lawyer Martin Siegel's new book about the judge he clerked for decades ago.

July 24, 2023 Martin J. Siegel

Litigation Roundup: Oral Arguments Set in Paxton Disciplinary Case, Fifth Circ. Won’t Rehear En Banc ‘State Created Danger’ Case

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Dallas Court of Appeals sets the panel and date for oral arguments in the state bar’s disciplinary lawsuit against Ken Paxton, an oilfield services company’s trade secrets suit against its ex-president gets rolling and an East Texas jury hits LG with a $1.68 million patent infringement verdict.

July 17, 2023 Michelle Casady

Dallas Lender Owes Millions for Wrongful Foreclosure in ‘Business Coup D’état’ Case

Dallas County District Judge Monica Purdy presided over a seven-day bench trial in May before determining that PrimaLend violated the terms of a loan agreement when it changed the locks and foreclosed on an Ohio car dealership before first exhausting attempts to recover its money by pursuing the business’ assets. Judge Purdy is expected to enter final judgment awarding the Benit family about $6.7 million within the next week.

July 13, 2023 Michelle Casady

Litigation Roundup: Horizon Bank Challenges Texas Law, ESG Class Action Against American Airlines Moves Forward

In this edition of Litigation Roundup, the Fifth Circuit asks the Texas Supreme Court to answer two certified questions, a team of Austin lawyers are hired to represent Twitter in a $90 million suit against Wachtell and Texas Instruments sues a slew of insurers over damage to its clean room.  

July 10, 2023 Michelle Casady

Getting Schooled on Mediation

Tapping a Texas-based legal scholar for insights into alternative dispute resolution.

July 5, 2023 Angela Downes

What Does it Mean? Trial Lawyers Talk SCOTX Gregory Ruling

Trial lawyers who spoke to The Lawbook said the ruling in Gregory v. Chohan didn’t offer much clarity on the proper evidentiary standard for noneconomic damages awards. Justice John Devine, who agreed with the plurality that an improper closing argument likely influenced the damages award and mandates a new trial, decried the new evidentiary standard advocated for by three justices as “impossible” to meet.

June 29, 2023 Michelle Casady