UPDATED: Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson Retires
Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson, a conservative voice on the court for the past 13 years, has announced that he is retiring at the end of the year. Mark Curriden has the details.
$49M Battle Over Fracking Sand Container Designs Heads to Next Phase
It started with a client-vendor deal. A nondisclosure agreement was signed. The deal took the back burner, and the parties went their separate ways. But now, they are reunited in the courtroom in the thick of a $49 million legal battle. Neither side is backing down. Natalie Posgate tells the story.
V&E, Latham Aid on Vantage’s $1.65B purchase of QEP’s Williston Properties
Vinson & Elkins and Latham & Watkins advised on Vantage Energy Acquisition Corp.'s $1.65 billion purchase of oil and gas properties in North Dakota's and Montana's Williston Basin from a unit of QEP Resources Inc. Claire Poole has the details.
Updated – Democrats Seize Control of Dallas Court of Appeals, Win Houston Appellate Judgeships; TX Lawyers Score Big Congressional Upsets
Democratic candidates for appellate judgeships in Texas scored historic victories in Tuesday’s election. Every Democrat running for the judgeships on the First, Third, Fifth and Fourteenth courts of appeals won. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 13 Law Firms, 183 Texas Lawyers, $17.3B
Observers have long said that the oil and gas industry needs to consolidate, given the number of players and investors’ push for companies to generate free-cash flow and higher dividends and stock buybacks. This week they got their wish with three different $1 billion-plus deals. Claire Poole has the details of those deals, and more.
Rowlett Condemnation Case Tests Post-Kelo Statute
Amid a flurry of amicus briefs from property rights advocates, business groups and municipal planners, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments last week in an eminent domain dispute from Rowlett. The case is a test of a Texas statute designed to protect private property rights following Kelo v. City of New London.
Kirkland Advises Newfield on $7.7B Purchase by Canada’s Encana
Encana’s $7.7 billion purchase of Newfield Exploration is the third billion-dollar-plus merger between publicly traded oil and gas producers announced this week. Kirkland advised The Woodlands-based Newfield. Claire Poole talked with Kirkland partner Sean Wheeler about the deal.
KRCL Paves Departure of 20-Lawyer Litigation Group
In an era characterized by the zig of headlong expansion, the Texas-based firm of Kane Russell Coleman Logan has found a way to zag. In unusually amicable fashion, senior director Zach Mayer is departing from the 26-year old firm and, with the blessing of its founding management, taking as many as 20 lawyers with him. More in The Texas Lawbook
Chesapeake Energy Buys WildHorse Resource Development in $4B Deal
In a second merger this week between publicly traded oil and gas producers, Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Tuesday that it had agreed to buy WildHorse Resource Development of Houston for nearly $4 billion in cash, stock and debt. Claire Poole has the names of Texas lawyers involved in the deal.
V&E, Skadden and Gibson Dunn Assist on Denbury’s $1.7B Penn Virginia Purchase
Texas lawyers from three different firms had a hand in Denbury Resources’ $1.7 billion purchase of Penn Virginia Corp., the first of what’s expected to be a wave of mergers between publicly traded oil and gas producers. Claire Poole has the details in The Texas Lawbook.