Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
If the Texas Legislature wanted the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to be immune from civil lawsuits, it would have passed laws stating so, lawyers representing two large energy companies told the Texas Supreme Court during oral arguments Monday. The justices clearly understood the full stakes of the decision before them.
“Are you arguing that ERCOT is too big to fail?” Justice Boyd asked.
“In essence, yes,” former Texas Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, representing ERCOT, answered.
One of five banks facing a multibillion-dollar fraud trial next month in Houston for providing financial services to Ponzi scheme perpetrator R. Allen Stanford and his investment firm has agreed to settle its part of the case for $100 million. Mississippi-based Trustmark Corporation, the parent of Trustmark National Bank, agreed late New Year’s Eve to pay the $100 million instead of facing a federal jury alongside four other banks accused of “aiding, abetting and participating in the fraudulent scheme” perpetrated by Stanford and his associates.
Boosted by a huge burst in complex commercial litigation in 2022, many of the largest corporate law firms operating in Texas predict they scored another record year of revenues and profits, according to a new survey of law firm leaders by The Texas Lawbook.
The new survey, which also looks at revenues from firms’ 2022 litigation and M&A practices in Texas, builds on other recent evidence of the successful year for corporate law firms in 2022, including rates of promotion to partner and year-end bonuses for associates. In addition, several law firm leaders openly declare their firms experienced record revenues and profits in 2022.
The Texas Lawbook has exclusive details.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have announced the finalists for the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Awards for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion, General Counsel of the Year for a Solo Legal Department and the Lifetime Achievement Award. The legal departments include Texas Instruments, General Motors, Black Mountain Sand and Civitas Capital Group.
The year about to elapse may not have been a year for record-breaking deals, but it was a year of more than a few notable deals. Tracking the most important transactions is, at best, a fool’s errand. But here are ten deals that the CDT Roundup considers the most significant. Not everyone will agree with the choices, but they are worth arguing for or against as we toast the New Year.
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