Before there was a Texas Lawbook, there was Sally Selio. And she is almost certainly the reason there is a Texas Lawbook.
Born and raised in Texas, the hardworking mother of one took a huge risk in September 2011 by quitting her job and tackling a new position doing something she knew nothing about and had never done before, all on behalf of an online legal news publication that had zero readers, zero subscribers, zero advertisers, zero revenues and had not yet published a single word.
“What the hell was I thinking?” Sally jokingly said at a staff retreat (which was really an excuse to get together at Louie’s for pizza and Old Fashioneds).
Eight years later, I am pleased to announce that The Texas Lawbook has reached and surpassed more than 13,000 paid subscribers, which includes more than 2,500 corporate in-house counsel.
The Lawbook has extraordinary exclusive partnerships with the DFW and Houston Chapters of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Our reach far exceeds our own subscribers, as tens of thousands of more business leaders regularly read select Lawbook articles in the Dallas Business Journal and the Houston Chronicle, which pays The Lawbook to handle their coverage of business law in Texas.
A year ago, The Lawbook unveiled a website redesign, which we believe better showcases our unique and substantive content and is easier to navigate. The new website is also mobile friendly.
The single biggest reason for The Lawbook’s success is our team.
Brooks Igo is our publisher and is based in Dallas. He leads our subscription, advertising and program sponsorship efforts. Brooks also handles our “GCs, Lawyers & Firms” column, which features the lateral moves, law firm announcements and lawyer successes.
Natalie Posgate is our lead litigation reporter and is based in Dallas, but can frequently be spotted on Southwest Airlines or the Vonlane headed to Houston, Austin or even Pecos. Natalie loves being in the courtroom covering trials, and our goal is to have her there more often.
Claire Poole is our senior M&A reporter and is based in Houston. The lead M&A writer for The Deal in Texas for more than 16 years, Claire writes a column each week called the Corporate Deal Tracker Weekly Roundup, which identifies all M&A transactions and securities offerings of the past week, as well as the lawyers and financial advisors who worked on them.
Allen Pusey is our senior editor and lives in Dallas. Allen was a senior projects editor and U.S. Supreme Court correspondent for The Dallas Morning News for many years before he joined the ABA Journal as editor. Allen joined The Lawbook in January 2017. He oversees special projects and data collection, including the Corporate Deal Tracker database.
Janet Elliott lives in Austin and covers the Texas Supreme Court and does special feature writing for The Lawbook. Janet wrote for many years for the Wall Street Journal and the Houston Chronicle.
Bruce Tomaso covers special projects for The Lawbook and he lives in Dallas. Bruce provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of the federal bribery and kickback trial of surgeons and health care officials at the Forest Park Medical Center, and he will continue to cover related appeals.
My beat is simple: I cover trends and developments in the business-law community and the corporate in-house legal community, as well as white-collar crime.
As the founder and owner of The Texas Lawbook, I am here to tell you that no individual deserves more credit for the success of The Lawbook or more of my personal gratitude than my amazing friend of 20 years, Sally Selio.
Sally is so much more than our office manager. She is my most senior advisor and the person whose judgment I trust most. She is the reason that you are reading this dispatch.
Here is an abbreviated list of Sally’s duties and responsibilities:
- She developed the database that tracks all law firm and lawyer subscriptions;
- She processes all new and renewing subscribers, including sending out invoices;
- She makes sure that we have correct email addresses so that our readers receive out regular news ecomms;
- She makes sure that we have law firm IP addresses and that lawyers have updated user names and passwords so that they are able to open and read Lawbook articles (Sally will frequently provide subscribers with access in the middle of the night or weekends, as part of her customer service-first attitude.);
- She supervises our CLE programs and other events, including handling RSVPs, parking and catering; and
- She handles all payroll and expenses and manages our relationship with our accountants.
But mostly, Sally keeps me straight, tells me when I am full of shit and is the glue that keeps The Lawbook staff a team.
I join Sally, Natalie, Brooks, Allen, Claire, Janet and Bruce in thanking you for making The Texas Lawbook the most influential legal publication in Texas. Every member of our team works hard to provide you with unique, substantive, well-written and well-presented content.