Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
During the Summer of 1998, Dallas endured 56 days of 100-degree weather. That same summer Chris Kratovil entered Big Law at Hughes & Luce. The memory of that summer was the beginning of the Tyranny of the Tie and Kratovil, who now manages a law firm office, is glad not to go back.
In 1995, the Atlanta firm King & Spalding was asked by one of its major clients to open a Texas office. Oil was trading at $17 per barrel and natural gas below $2 Mcf. Still, Houston was on the rise and so K&S took the plunge. More than two decades later, its quiet, steady success has become the template for other national firms looking for a piece of the Lone Star State. Claire Poole tells their story.
The State Bar of Texas has released its May disciplinary report. Aside from standard infractions of case inattention and inappropriate political endorsements, breaches of the canons cited by the bar's disciplinary panels this month also include money-laundering, wire fraud, theft, income tax evasion and fixing tickets for friends of a musician named Fruity Villareal. The Lawbook has the list and the details.
The State Bar of Texas released its monthly list of disciplinary actions taken against Texas lawyers. Here are their actions and findings.
Corporate lawyers operating in Texas made a record-smashing amount of money in 2018. Exclusive new research by The Texas Lawbook shows that the top 50 business law firms with offices in Dallas, Houston and Austin generated just a hair shy of $6 billion in revenues in 2018 – a 6% increase from 2017. Twenty-six corporate law firms worked more hours and collected more dollars last year than ever before. Several elite legal practices had huge financial gains last year. A few large Texas legacy law firms experienced significant economic declines in 2018. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
At least 42 corporate law firms operating in Texas have experienced a “cyber incident” or an actual data breach during the past two years, according to an exclusive new Texas Lawbook survey. But 90% of law firms report that one of the vendors they use has been the victim of a cyber attack. GCs, including those at Match Group and Halliburton, say they are concerned about the safety of client information and law firms, according to the survey, are finally paying attention to cyber threats.
The number of out-of-state law firms that opened new offices in Texas grew significantly in 2018, but the actual number of lawyers working at big corporate firms operating in the state declined last year. The result is that nearly half of all corporate lawyers in Texas are employed at out-of-state law firms. The Texas Lawbook has exclusive numbers and analysis.
In their monthly account of disciplinary actions, the State Bar of Texas reports discipline taken against three judges: a Waco judge who appointed a police detective as foreman of a controversial grand jury, a Parker County judge who hired and promoted an assistant with whom he was having a sexual relationship, and a judge in New Braunfels who interrupted jury deliberations in a criminal trial by announcing that God had informed him a conviction would be a miscarriage of justice. In other actions, one lawyer resigned his license, eight lawyers were suspended from practice and three received public reprimands.
Todd Arritola previously worked in KPMG’s Deal Advisory group for five years.
The Texas Lawbook is conducting its annual survey of Texas law firms to gauge economic trends in the business law community. The deadline is March 15.
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