Main Content
Top Stories
Top Stories
Litigation Roundup: Dallas Appeals to End White Rock Boathouse Suit - In this edition of Litigation Roundup, a San Francisco-based research and data company gets two qui tam wins in the Northern District of Texas, and an Irving man settles insider trading allegations lodged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 17, 2026
Mavs, Stars Reach Agreement to Vacate Biz Court Ruling - The two Dallas sports franchises filed a joint motion with the 15th Court of Appeals to vacate judgment and remand the case to the Texas Business Court for dismissal. The Mavericks sued the Stars to enforce the terms of partnership contracts the teams signed nearly 25 years ago. August 17, 2026
CDT Roundup: Texas Hits Pause on Hookups, Not Infrastructure - For the week ended Aug. 15, the CDT Roundup saw 15 deals worth about $11.3 billion. The week prior saw 13 deals with a value of $11.1 billion and for this same week a year ago the Roundup reported 13 deals worth more than $26.4 billion. August 16, 2026
Latham Lawyers Dominate CapM Count as Gibson Dunn’s Take Value Rankings - According to data from The Texas Lawbook's exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker, Texas capital-markets lawyers seperated themselves in two distinct ways in the first half of 2026: by staying busiest across a broad pipeline of offerings and by landing roles on the handful of transactions large enough to dominate the value leaderboards. August 16, 2026
Kirkland Texas Amps Up the Deal Machine (All the Way to 11) - The Kirkland & Ellis Texas team did not need long to make its case this week with a Texas Triangle deal blitz stretching from Canada to West Texas. In less than 24 hours, the firm’s public relations team, almost as busy as its deal team, rolled out a rapid-fire run of transactions involving its Austin, Dallas and Houston dealmakers. August 13, 2026
Here’s What the 5th Court of Appeals Financial Disclosure Forms Show - Stocks in technology companies and reimbursements are among the financial interests detailed in the 5th Court of Appeals justices’ financial disclosure forms for the past year. The Texas Lawbook made an open records request for the forms of the 13 sitting justices. August 13, 2026
Asked & Answered with Bell Nunnally’s Heath Cheek: State Fair & Texas Business Court Working Group - In this edition of Asked & Answered, Bell Nunnally partner Heath Cheek discusses his first trial and trial prep. He also shares how he got involved with the State Fair of Texas and how it became a piece of home for him in Dallas. August 12, 2026Judge’s Post-trial Recusal Throws Edgemere Dispute Into Limbo - After the attorneys argued their case at trial and submitted post-trial briefs to U.S. District Court Judge Ada Brown, she recused herself without explanation. Now, the attorneys may have to retry the case before a new judge. The bench trial between the trustee of a Dallas luxury senior living community and its landlord began in May. August 11, 2026
Centerpiece
Texas Immigration Court Backlog Tops 321,000 Amid Judge Shake-Up - Texas immigration courts are carrying one of the nation’s largest backlogs as the system has undergone a sweeping shake-up of more than 200 judges, coinciding with a rise in deportation orders. Nearly 3.2 million cases were pending before U.S. immigration courts as of June 2026, including 321,006 in Texas, the third-highest total in the country. August 17, 2026
Houston Litigator Bill Jackson Leads New Jersey to $2.4B Settlements of ‘Forever Chemical’ Litigation - A Houston lawyer in Kelley Drye & Warren’s environmental law practice group served as lead trial counsel for the state of New Jersey, guiding historic $2.4 billion settlements in “forever chemical” litigation against DuPont and 3M that were finalized via consent orders by a federal judge last week. Jackson previously represented the state of Louisiana in Deepwater Horizon litigation. August 14, 2026Expert Voices
A Front-Row View of Texas Corporate Law’s Evolution: From the First TBOC Drafts to ‘DExit’ and ‘Y’all Street’ - The recent phenomena of “DExit” reincorporations of Delaware corporations to Texas and the development of “Y’all Street” have highlighted the benefits of the Texas Business Organizations Code. The TBOC is the work product over the course of three decades by a dedicated group of volunteer Texas lawyers. Where did the TBOC come from? August 13, 2026
Sober as a Judge: One Year Without a Drink, and What Came Back - For most of my career, drinking wasn't a problem I had. It was a skill I was known for. I did my law school homework in the back booth of a pub. I've recruited lawyers over long dinners, courted reporters over scotch and raised the seed money for a nonprofit around my backyard fire pit while a bottle of whiskey made the rounds. A friend once described me, fondly: “Mark may be the drunkest guy in the room by blood alcohol content, but he'll appear as sober as a judge.” In our profession, that's practically a letter of recommendation. Nobody worries about the lawyer who never slurs, never misses a deadline and outworks the room.
That is the trap, and it is our profession's trap, specifically. August 12, 2026
That is the trap, and it is our profession's trap, specifically. August 12, 2026
Stories You Might’ve Missed
The Real Harry Potter’s ‘Magic Wand — Loyalty to the Law’ - “Your boss is a crook!” Arthur Golden, a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and a lawyer for Big Tobacco, screamed into the telephone in the fall of 1998. “A crook!”
On the other end of the line, Harry Potter, then a special assistant attorney general in Texas running the tobacco litigation, who was appointed three decades ago by then-Texas Attorney General Dan Morales to lead the historic lawsuit brought by the state of Texas against Big Tobacco. Potter and Golden had negotiated the details of the historic $15.3 billion settlement agreement between the state of Texas and large cigarette makers.
“Arthur was extremely angry — livid,” Potter said. “He talked about secret lawyer contracts. I didn’t know anything about it, but it sent chills throughout my body."
In Part II of The Texas Lawbook's series on the tobacco litigation, learn the story of the real Harry Potter, a Houston lawyer whose secret power was his ethics and commitment to the law. July 16, 2026
