Texas Lawyer Blog

This week in Texas Lawyer

Suggestions sunk: Reporter Miriam Rozen and senior reporter John Council hear from lawyers, including Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association president Nicole DeBorde (pictured), about the resounding defeat State Bar members handed proposed changes to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. 

Suit for fees: Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys examines a Houston firm's efforts to get paid and why a breach-of-contract suit isn't part on the docket.

Crowding on the launch pad? Senior reporter John Council finds out if a spike in false-marking suits is related to some slowdowns in the Eastern District of Texas' rocket docket.

Approach the bench: Senior reporter John Council wrangles a no-bull Q&A with U.S. District Judge Terry Means about Means' ranching past, the problems in briefing, and the federal procedural rules that most frequently cause lawyers to stumble. 

Written description: The Federal Circuit overturns a $1.67 billion EDTX jury verdict.

Inadmissible. VerdictSearch. Newsmakers. Case Summaries.

In practice: Richard B. Roper helps attorneys avoid a mistake that can sink their cases.

Junior J.D.: Kip Mendrygal has some points new attorneys should ponder before pressing the "record" buttons on their smartphones.

Special FOCUS Report: Immigration Law

Form fitting: Maggie Murphy and Michael X. Marinelli explain what lawyers need to know about a big change in the government's enforcement of the deemed-export rule.

Fast track: Jason Mills gets attorneys up to speed on expedited waivers of inadmissibility.

Goodbye, Goldilocks: Here's what lawyers for businesses should do to make sure immigration-compliance policies in the workplace are just right.

Accidental expatriates: Immigration, tax and Social Security problems lurk in the days of a globally mobile workforce. 

 

2010 numbers for Vinson & Elkins' gross revenue, net income, PPP and RPL

Gross revenue at Vinson & Elkins of Houston improved by 7.3 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, and net income at the Houston-based firm rose by 3 percent. The firm’s gross revenue was $602.7 million in 2010, compared to $561.9 million in 2009, and net income was $269.4 million,, compared to $261.5 million last year. 2010 was “a pretty strong year all the way around,” says Joe Dilg, the firm’s Houston-based managing partner. Dilg says the firm was busy with mergers and acquisitions and transactional matters in the energy sector, including many shale projects on the domestic side. The firm also did a considerable amount of energy work in Asia, with much of it for Chinese national oil companies, he says. Also, Dilg notes, the firm’s intellectual property group was very busy in 2010. Average profits per partner were $1,347,000 in 2010, and average revenue per lawyer came in at $844,000. PPP and RPL are calculated using a full-year average FTE (full-time equivalent) of 714 lawyers and 200 equity partners. (The 2010 PPP and RPL can’t be compared to 2009 numbers reported in Texas Lawyer’s Annual Report on Firm Finance, because those were calculated using Aug. 31, 2009, lawyer counts.) “Everything seems to be working very well. The Texas economy is good,” Dilg says. V&E has Texas offices in Austin, Houston and Dallas, and offices in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Palo Alto, Shanghai, Beijing, London, Tokyo, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Dubai and New York City.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Former Metro general counsel Pauline Higgins settles her defamation and whistleblower suit

On Feb. 24, Pauline Higgins, former general counsel of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Metro), announced she has settled her defamation and whistleblower suit. Higgins, who was fired on Feb. 23, 2010, sued Metro and Frank Wilson, the agency’s former president and CEO. Higgins, now a partner in Lam, Lyn & Philip in Houston, says she settled because Metro agreed to apologize to her as part of the settlement. She says her goal in filing the suit was to restore her reputation, not collect monetary damages from a taxpayer-funded agency. In the settlement, Metro agreed to pay up to $100,000 to cover Higgins’ legal fees and expenses. In a written statement, Metro CEO George Greanias writes that he is grateful Higgins agreed to forgo personal monetary damages. In the statement, Metro chairman Gilbert Garcia writes, “The new Metro regrets and disapproves of the inaccurate statements made about Ms. Higgins in the media regarding her departure from Metro. We appreciate Ms. Higgins’ efforts to help us conclude this legacy issue so that we can concentrate on safe, reliable, convenient and affordable public transit and mobility services that our customers and taxpayers deserve.” In her first amended petition in Higgins v. Wilson, et al., Higgins alleged Metro fired her because she had complained to Houston Mayor Annise Parker that the agency wasn’t complying with state laws governing document retention. She also alleged that Wilson had defamed her with statements he made at press conferences and by providing a newspaper editorial board with “questionable documents from an alleged ‘investigation’ into Higgins’ management practices.” Higgins sued Wilson alleging defamation and Metro alleging it violated the Texas Whistleblower Act; the defendants denied the allegations. In an interview, Higgins says she was “totally blindsided” by her firing and her job search was harmed by untrue media reports about her. Joseph Ahmad, a shareholder in Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Anaipakos in Houston who represents Higgins along with Rusty Hardin of Houston’s Rusty Hardin & Associates, says the settlement with Metro also covers former CEO Wilson. Robin Gibbs, a partner in Gibbs & Bruns in Houston who represents Wilson in the suit, did not return a telephone message.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

University of Texas School of Law student champions heart-healthy lifestyle

Linda Peña (pictured), a University of Texas School of Law first-year student, is a champion of a heart-healthy lifestyle. Peña is a Texas representative of the Go Red for Women campaign of the American Heart Association (AHA). Despite her busy student schedule, she attends educational and fundraising events for the AHA to share information about how she is trying to counteract her family’s history of heart disease. “Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in our country,” she says. One in three women will die from heart disease. Peña says that both of her grandmothers died of heart disease before they were 36 years old. “Being young is not good enough,” she says. “My family is a perfect example of how we are trying to eat better and conserve our culture.”  She says that tortillas are a traditional family favorite with a lot of eggs and beans and cheese. “My version, instead of frying the beans and adding oil, I just boil them and salt them slightly and use egg whites and forego the tortilla,” she says. February is American Heart Month and Go Red for Women is a campaign to promote heart disease awareness among women, such as knowledge about the symptoms of the disease, she says. “Usually you imagine a middle-aged man clutching his heart, but women have different symptoms like the lower back hurting,” she says. But Peña says she tries not to preach to people because “that can be annoying.” Instead, when fellow law students ask about the lunch she brings to school she simply describes what it is and how she made it. “Small things tend to get the message out there,” she says. “Mostly I try to advocate and tell people, 'Hey, if you eat healthy and work out, you’ll feel better.' ”  Peña says her physical activities have included kick boxing, yoga and a 5K race. Currently, she takes walks at the end of the school day. “Right after classes, I feel like I’m stressed and brain drained,” she says. “I like to just go for a walk. It helps me feel better, more relaxed.” She says that lawyers can suffer heart attacks while still in their 40s because of their high-stress jobs and a lack of exercise. “Sitting at a desk, working all day, you need to get out there and do yourself some good,” she says.

-- Jeanne Graham

Legislators to consider resolution on Barbara Jordan Freedom Week

Texas legislators today are considering a resolution declaring Feb. 21-27, from 2011 to 2020, Barbara Jordan Freedom Week in honor of the late Texas lawyer. The resolution will be read in both the Texas House and Senate today, says Jessica Kemp, legislative director for state Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, who introduced the resolution in the House. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, introduced the resolution in the state Senate, Kemp says. Jordan was the first African-American woman elected to serve in the Texas Legislature and the first African-American from the South to serve in Congress. A radio documentary, “Rediscovering Barbara Jordan,” broadcast on public radio stations in 2006, highlighted her life from a childhood in Houston’s Fifth Ward to her role on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton. There is a statue of Jordan on the University of Texas at Austin campus where she taught public policy in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Jordan died in 1996. Yesterday, Feb. 21, would have been her 75th birthday.

UPDATE: Resolutions paying tribute to the late Barbara Jordan were adopted Feb. 22 by the state House and Senate.  A concurrent resolution establishing Barbara Jordan Freedom Week will be submitted to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature later in the session, says Jeremy Warren, spokesman for state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.

-- Jeanne Graham

This week in Texas Lawyer

Lone Star laterals: Research editor Jeanne Graham finds out whether more or fewer lawyers were making moves in 2010.

Cortez v. Johnston: Judge Carlos Cortez seeks to seal the deposition he gave in his now-nonsuited defamation suit against Dallas lawyer Randy Johnston. Senior reporter John Council attends the hearing.

Fee forfeiture and fen-phen: Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys examines a disgorgement order against George Fleming and his firm, Fleming & Associates.

Dirty downloading: Senior reporter John Council examines why rejected joinder and the specter of ad litem expansion could complicate adult film companies' attempts to enforce their copyrights.

Applying the brakes: A Texas judge stays a contempt proceeding, and a plaintiff's lawyer wants to know why he didn't get the letter or the stay.

Approach the bench: Senior reporter John Council talks with a judge who has faced the toughest court in the land.

Inadmissible. VerdictSearch. Discipline. Newsmakers. Case summaries.

The literate lawyer: Michael P. Maslanka explores what poetry can teach lawyers about themselves.

In practice: Murray Fogler argues that lawyers should not forgo their opportunities to make the director's cut on deposition excerpts.

More developments in R. Allen Stanford's legal life

Houston financier R. Allen Stanford faces criminal charges in federal court in Houston related to an alleged conspiracy to defraud investors who bought about $7 billion in certificates of deposit sold through Stanford International Bank Ltd. He has pleaded not guilty. On Feb. 17, Stanford filed a civil rights suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against a dozen Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department, and Securities and Exchange Commission employees. He seeks $7.2 billion in damages in R. Allen Stanford v. Stephen Korotosh, et al. Stanford alleges the federal agents have “engaged in unfair, abusive law enforcement methods and tactics.” For more details and a copy of the complaint, see this story on the AmLaw Daily, an affiliate of Texas Lawyer.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

State Bar of Texas members vote down proposed amendments to Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct

The State Bar of Texas has just announced the results of the referendum on the proposed amendments to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Here's what the press release says: "State Bar members voted down the proposed amendments to the rules. Of those licensed attorneys eligible to vote, nearly 44 percent voted. 'Texas lawyers elected not to adopt these rules. We expect that this will not be the end of the Supreme Court’s interest in making revisions to these rules,' said State Bar of Texas President Terry Tottenham. 'It was the culmination of a long process that started in 2003. It was time to put these proposals before the lawyers of Texas,' Tottenham said. 'The debate was rigorous – from the time the Supreme Court first put the proposed amendments out for comment in October 2009 through today, the final day of voting.' ” For past Texas Lawyer coverage, click here, here, here and here. (Editor's note: This blog has been updated to reflect the State Bar's corrected information on the percentage of attorneys who voted.)

UPDATE: In an interview, Tottenham says, “Referenda have failed in the past and the issues have been reconsidered for future submission. But we do not know if this will happen in this case. But we will look to the Supreme Court for direction.” Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law professor Linda Eads, who is a strong proponent of the rule changes, believes the referendum’s defeat was the result of bad information that went out to lawyers “and the truth never caught up with it.” She says the result of the referendum is that Texas will be stuck with some inadequate disciplinary rules. “One is that we don’t have a sex-with-clients rule,” she says. “We will be one of the few states that doesn’t prohibit having sex directly with clients.” Eads also believes some lawyers voted against the rules because they don’t like the Texas Supreme Court, which promulgates the rules that regulate attorneys. “One person told me, ‘If these rules go down in defeat it will be a referendum on why we need to throw out the Texas Supreme Court.’ So, a lot of people voted for this as a political agenda as opposed to what are good rules and what are better rules,” she says. “They hate the Texas Supreme Court because plaintiffs lawyers view it as conservative. It’s a shame that better rules won’t get passed but the world will live,” Eads says. Chuck Herring, a legal ethics expert and partner in Austin's Herring & Irwin who opposed the proposed rules, says it's not a bad thing that they were rejected by Bar members. "I think what you saw obviously was that an overwhelming majority thought they [the proposed rules] had problems and flaws. What you did get was a very strong message to that effect," Herring says. "We heard from a broad cross-section of lawyers -- big firms to plaintiffs firms to solo practitioners to criminal-defense lawyers. It really cut across groups. It lets them go back to the drawing board and pull in those groups and stakeholders," Herring says. "It gives the Bar the opportunity to have better rules."

-- John Council

Lewisville solo was in the audience at the Grammys

Tamera Bennett (pictured), a Lewisville solo, munched on nachos beside rap star Dr. Dre (who was downing a Big Mac), bumped into entertainer Kathy Griffin in the powder room and waited with crooner Barry Manilow to get through security gates. All those celebrity moments happened during Bennett’s trip to the Grammy Awards. Bennett is a nonvoting member of the board of the Texas Chapter of The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, and opted this year to attend the glamorous event in Los Angeles. Bennett, whose clients are Texas recording artists and their families, says she dressed up in her best evening gown and got great seats. From her perch, she had the opportunity to see the mechanics of how the entertainers and crew put the Feb. 13 television show together; she says the laboriousness of the effort surprised her. She said a few unglamorous moments occurred. “We were, after all, sitting in seats [in the Staples Center in Los Angeles] where people usually watch basketball games,” she says. But she’s definitely thinking of going back next year.

-- Miriam Rozen

2010 numbers for Andrews Kurth's gross revenue, net income, PPP and RPL

Andrews Kurth had a very good year financially in 2010. The firm’s gross revenue improved 10.3 percent in 2010, compared to 2009, and its net income came in 28.6 percent higher than the previous year. “We were just busier sort of across the board. . . . It came from both transactions and litigation,” says Robert Jewell, the Houston-based firm’s managing partner. Jewell says the firm is Texas counsel to BP in litigation stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. On the transactional side, Andrews Kurth worked on some large deals in 2010, such as assisting General Motors Corp. of Detroit in its acquisition of AmeriCredit Corp. of Fort Worth. The firm also represented underwriters in initial public offerings for Oxford Resource Partners of Columbus and Houston-based Oasis Petroleum Inc. The firm also did a considerable amount of work for Enterprise Products Partners of Houston, Jewell says. “Activity levels were nicely improved over what we expected,” he says. Average profits per partner were $1,132,000 in 2010, while revenue per lawyer averaged $755,000. PPP and RPL are calculated using a full-year average FTE (full-time equivalent) of 355 lawyers and 91 equity partners. (The 2010 PPP and RPL can’t be compared to 2009 numbers reported in Texas Lawyer’s Annual Report on Firm Finance, because those were calculated using Aug. 31, 2009, lawyer counts.) The firm’s partners chose to prepay about $10 million in 2011 expenses with 2010 profits, and distributed extra bonuses to associates and counsel at year end, Jewell says. Andrews Kurth has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and The Woodlands, as well as in Beijing, London, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys