Texas

Associate Claims Houston Firm Retaliated for Reporting Racist Directive

A former associate with a Houston law firm alleges in a lawsuit that she was fired for reporting the comments of a top partner who told her not to hire any more black lawyers. The former associate, Sandra Perez Ard, is suing Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, Texas Lawyer…

Jan 15, 2008 5:00 PM CST

Court Won’t Hear Sentencing Confrontation Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to decide whether the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause applies during sentencing. Defendant Sherman Lamont Fields had contended the right to confrontation should apply in sentencing hearings when capital punishment is an option, SCOTUSblog reports. The U.S. solicitor general had urged the court to decline…

Jan 14, 2008 4:08 PM CST

Bankruptcy Judges Question Countrywide Errors, Evidence

Bankruptcy judges are criticizing the business practices of Countrywide Financial, part of the legal headaches that Bank of America Corp. will be taking on when it acquires the troubled lender. Improper charges and suspect evidence have gotten the attention of judges overseeing the bankruptcies of Countrywide borrowers. The company is…

Jan 14, 2008 12:48 PM CST

Almost-Grand Champion Owner Has Cow Over Competition Counterclaim

A youth whose grand champion steer and goat lost their competition titles thinks the livestock association countersuit against him is, well, a lot of bull. The Pasadena Livestock Show and Rodeo pulled the 2004 title from the steer because of an anti-inflammatory medication administered for a rash and from the…

Jan 7, 2008 3:12 PM CST

DA Who Wrote Amorous E-Mail Won’t Run for Re-Election

The most powerful prosecutor in Texas has decided he won’t run for re-election in what appeared to be a last-minute deal with political leaders, the New York Times reports. District Attorney Charles Rosenthal of Harris County withdrew his name yesterday after the disclosure last week of intimate e-mail exchanges with…

Jan 3, 2008 3:10 PM CST

Julia Roberts Character Doesn’t Cuss So Much, Thanks to Houston Lawyer

Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin had a hand in making some script changes in the movie Charlie Wilson’s War—and was a guest at the premiere. The movie (video), which opens in theaters Dec. 21, is based on the true story of a Texas congressman who helped secure funds for the mujahedeen…

Dec 18, 2007 7:07 PM CST

K&L Gates Merges with Dallas Firm

After months of talks, New York-based Kilpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis voted today to merge with one of the largest firms in Dallas, Hughes & Luce. The combined firm will have more than 1,500 lawyers and 23 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia, according to a news…

Dec 17, 2007 8:06 PM CST

Suit Against PI Lawyer Disputes Fen-Phen Expenses

A class action lawsuit by former clients of Houston personal injury lawyer George Fleming and his law firm alleges the lawyers overcharged for expenses in a $29 million fen-phen settlement. The suit says Fleming & Associates improperly charged the fen-phen settlement plaintiffs for echocardiograms performed on clients that turned out…

Dec 17, 2007 11:34 AM CST

Case of Texas Man Who Killed Next-Door Burglars Goes to Grand Jury

A grand jury will decide next week whether to issue a homicide indictment for a Texas man who confronted and fatally shot two burglars breaking into a neighbor’s home. The case has set off protests for and against the man, 61-year-old Joe Horn of suburban Houston, who called 911 and…

Dec 13, 2007 7:25 PM CST

Texas Lawyer Starts Trial as Counsel, Finishes Up as Defendant

When Carlos Correa arrived in court on Monday, the 63-year-old criminal defense attorney was ready to go to trial. Instead, he quickly found himself in handcuffs, and, as of that evening, remained in jail awaiting his own trial, in lieu of $50,000 bail, reports the Houston Chronicle. Correa is charged…

Dec 11, 2007 9:01 PM CST

25th Birthday for Lethal Injections

Exactly 25 years ago today, strapped to a gurney in a Texas death chamber, 40-year-old Charlie Brooks Jr. became the first person in the U.S. to be executed by lethal injection. Since then, the method has been adopted by many states throughout the country, which considered it a humane alternative…

Dec 7, 2007 11:20 PM CST

Price Tag Is $100K-Plus for Texas Firms’ Lavish Holiday Bashes

Houston law firms have booked some of the city’s ritziest venues for holiday parties that can cost $100,000 or more. Some clients have criticized the big bashes, including some who complained last year about Baker Botts’ tab for overhead acrobats at the firm’s client appreciation party. As a result, many…

Dec 6, 2007 11:56 AM CST

Bar Group Sues Texas Lawyers Who Practiced With Businessman

A committee of the Supreme Court of Texas has filed suit in state court against five lawyers and a politically connected businessman, contending that they collaborated in the unlicensed practice of law. Because the businessman, Mauricio Celis, is not a lawyer and operated a law firm in Corpus Christi, the…

Dec 5, 2007 1:26 AM CST

New Law School in Texas?

A Texas judge with a history of promoting legal education to minorities is calling on the state university system and Texas legislators to establish a new law school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly Hispanic area. Judge Susan Criss, a former prosecutor who is now seeking a seat…

Dec 4, 2007 5:54 PM CST

Jenner & Block to Close Dallas Office

Jenner & Block has decided to close its four-lawyer Dallas office rather than renew its lease. The office opened in 2000 to house lawyers hired from McKenna & Cuneo who didn’t want to move, said Jenner’s managing partner Gregory Gallopoulos. Two government contracts lawyers there, William Stoughton and Kathy Weinberg,…

Dec 4, 2007 12:27 PM CST