Twenty-six-year-old identical twins Socratis and Diamantis Zavitsanos often finish each other’s thoughts and sentences, although Diamantis talks a little more than his brother. Socs and DZ, as they’re known to friends, are both getting ready for law school in the fall, most likely at the University of Michigan, and they both speak passable Greek. But what they really want to do is make movies.
Legal Experts: River Inn, Mystic Camp and Others to Face Investigations and Litigation
Even as state and local officials deflect or even criticize questions seeking answers about the lack of flash flood warning systems in Kerr County that caused the deaths of more than 120 people, including 36 children, last weekend along the Guadalupe River, eight legal experts tell The Texas Lawbook that now is the time to begin seeking and preserving evidence and investigating what happened and how it happened. The lawyers, who specialize in representing victims and defendants in these kinds of catastrophic events, said the families and survivors are not thinking about money — only answers. “It is hard to even talk about this because it is so horrible and still so raw, but this tragedy, it just shouldn’t happen,” Dallas lawyer Andy Payne said. “When you’re dealing with little kids who can’t make decisions on their own, you’re relying on the camp to be responsible. There are [weather] alerts going out, and there’s nobody responding to it. It’s just incredible, honestly.” (Photo by Julio Cortez/The Associated Press)
Former Texas Solicitor Aaron Nielson: ‘Kirkland is the Perfect Place for Me’
Aaron Nielson, who resigned last month as Texas solicitor general, is joining Kirkland & Ellis’ Austin office as a partner in the firm’s appellate practice. A 2007 graduate of Harvard Law School and a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Nielson has argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and a dozen cases at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Kirkland now has four former U.S. Supreme Court clerks in its Texas offices.
Texas Lawbook Expands Civil Litigation Coverage, Adds Reporter from The Indiana Lawyer
A former reporter with The Indiana Lawyer in Indianapolis, Alexa Shrake joins The Lawbook team as the publication expands its efforts to cover complex commercial litigation and the trial lawyer community in Texas. “Alexa was hired after a nationwide search that yielded more than 200 applicants,” said Texas Lawbook senior litigation reporter and editor Michelle Casady, who leads a team of five journalists who cover litigation full- or part-time. “She was clearly the best reporter for the job.”