Texas legal news in 2019 reflected the debates and court disputes being heard all across the country, according to this year’s list of Top 10 stories highlighted by Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

Each year the Texas-based marketing and public relations agency follows news developments and develops a list of the biggest legal stories.

“Selecting the Top 10 is never easy,” said Androvett founder and CEO Mike Androvett. “There is no question that Texas is at the forefront of national debate over everything from the border wall to gun control measures. But just as important are the local issues directly affecting the lives of Texans.”

The Androvett team has compiled its annual top 10 legal news list since 2011.

Among the headlines featured:

• Court battles have played out in the lawsuits against Austin-based InfoWars TV show host Alex Jones for promoting conspiracy theories claiming the horrific 2012 mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary never happened. He has lost some recent rulings.
• A new federal judge took the bench in Waco and immediately positioned the Western District as a challenger to the Eastern District’s stronghold on the patent litigation “rocket docket” title.
• Houston homeowners earned a federal court win against the Army Corps of Engineers over its management of the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs which resulted in catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Harvey.
• On death row for more than 20 years on a murky murder conviction, Rodney Reed was less than a week away from the death chamber when the state granted an indefinite stay of execution to consider new evidence.

The complete Top 10 Texas Legal Stories of 2019 can be found at https://www.androvett.com/news/the-top-texas-legal-stories-of-2019.

The Eight Circuit has rejected a plaintiff’s claim that an arbitration clause in a retainer agreement she signed with a law firm was unconscionable, according to Carlton Fields’ Reinsurance Focus.

The plaintiff claimed she had received a call from a purported agent of the firm informing her of a purported life-threatening medical condition, leading her to have surgery that she considered to be less than successful. She sued the law firm and other defendants, and the firm sought to compel arbitration pursuant to a retainer agreement.

The district court found the arbitration agreement was unconscionable and refused to compel arbitration. Despite acknowledging that the circumstances that gave rise to this lawsuit were “troubling,” the Eighth Circuit determined that the retainer agreement was not procedurally unconscionable.

Read the article.

Farrell Fritz announced the promotions of Robert M. Harper and Franklin C. McRoberts to partner and Jennifer Gebbie and Jacklyn A. Zitelli to counsel in the firm’s Uniondale office, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

Rob Harper, a Garden City, NY, resident, is an estate litigation attorney. He earned his J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and his B.S. from Boston College Carroll School of Management.

Frank McRoberts, an Old Westbury, NY, resident, is a commercial litigation attorney. He earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.A. from Colgate University.

Jennifer Gebbie, a Wantagh, NY, resident, is a real estate attorney. She earned her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and her B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University.

Jacklyn Zitelli, a Jericho, NY, resident, is a real estate attorney. She earned her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. from Syracuse University.

American Lawyer Media and The National Trial Lawyers have named the Aldous\Walker law firm a finalist for a 2020 Elite Trial Lawyers Law Firm of the Year honor, based on the firm’s continuous winning record in court.

The finalist honor recognizes the firm for courtroom wins in two categories, dram shop litigation and child abuse. Winners will be announced Jan. 20 at the NTL Summit in Miami.

“These are very important results for the individuals and families involved,” said Brent Walker of Aldous\Walker, who along with firm founder Charla Aldous tried both cases. “To be recognized for achieving some measure of justice in the courtroom for our clients is a tremendous honor.”

Aldous\Walker and other firms are being recognized for having “demonstrated repeated success in cutting-edge work on behalf of plaintiffs over the last 15 months,” as well as a track record of client wins through the preceding three to five years, according to ALM and The National Trial Lawyers.

One of the firm’s cases cited for the honor involved representing Stacey Jackson, mother of Dallas Cowboys player Jerry Brown, who was killed in a rollover accident in 2012. A Dallas County jury determined a club had overserved alcohol to the car’s driver, Dallas Cowboys lineman Josh Brent, and delivered a verdict on damages in the amount of $25 million.

In the second case, the firm represented a young woman who was raped in 2012 by two high school football players. In February 2019, a Denton County jury awarded her $32 million for aggravated sexual assault.

Earlier in 2019, American Lawyer Media cited those two cases and a third in naming Aldous\Walker a finalist for Elite Trial Lawyers. The third case involved a $37.6 million verdict against Honda for the defective design of a third-row seat belt that failed to protect a young Dallas woman in an accident and left her a quadriplegic.

BitPay, the largest global blockchain payments provider, announced Eden D. Doniger has joined the company as general counsel and chief compliance officer.

A BitPay release said that she is responsible for building and innovating the company’s legal, compliance and government affairs programs, as the company and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole continue to expand.

Donigerjoined BitPay after more than eight years as assistant general counsel at Cox Enterprises, a Fortune 100 global company.

Prior to Cox, Doniger practiced law at top tier law firms in Atlanta and New York and was an adjunct professor at Georgia State University. She began her legal career as a clerk for a federal district court judge in New Orleans.

Doniger received her Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the Emory Law Journal. She is a J. William Fulbright Scholar and received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, where she studied Slavic Literature and Languages and competed as an NCAA Division I Scholar-Athlete on the women’s squash team. She serves on the board of Hands On Atlanta, the largest non-profit organization in Atlanta serving the community’s civic needs.

Upneet S. Teji, an officer in the Business Services practice group and co-leader of the Financial Services industry group at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., in Chicago, is among the 2019 “Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting & Law” as determined by Crain’s Chicago Business.

According to Crain’s, the 2019 honorees have shown the ability or power to effect change in their role or area of practice, serve as a role model or mentor, and have assumed a leadership position outside their organization. Many are members of diversity committees that seek to recruit and retain minority candidates and groom them for leadership.

Teji is a member of Greensfelder’s Equity, Retention and Advancement committee and in 2017 was named as a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow.

Inn a release, the firm said Teji serves as a role model and mentor for the associates who are members of Greensfelder’s Financial Services industry group in the firm’s Chicago and St. Louis offices. He also is involved with initiatives to further equity, inclusion and diversity efforts among Greensfelder’s clients. This summer, he organized a presentation on “Dismantling Assimilation in the Legal Profession” that was attended by the entire North American legal team of a major international commercial bank.

Teji also serves on the board of the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education.

The firm said Teji represents businesses in corporate transactions and commercial real estate matters in a variety of industries. He represents clients in M&A transactions, day-to-day corporate counseling, and the acquisition, disposition, leasing and financing of all types of commercial real estate. This includes retail spaces, oil and gas assets, office spaces, industrial properties, health care facilities, and mixed-use and multifamily properties. In the area of financial services, he represents regional and national lenders in complex financing transactions involving commercial real estate, asset-based lending, and other types of secured lending in both single-bank and syndicated financing transactions. His practice also covers industries that include energy (oil and alternative energy), technology and health care.

Teji joined Greensfelder in 2015. He received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Freeborn & Peters LLP announced that Lawrence P. Ingram, managing partner of the firm’s Tampa office, has accepted an invitation to join the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), an invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

The firm said Ingram is a member of Freeborn’s Litigation Practice Group and Insurance and Reinsurance Industry Team. He concentrates his trial practice in professional business disputes involving trade secrets and restrictive covenants, professional liability defense, third-party insurance coverage, qui tam, and health care fraud. He has experience in litigation and resulting trials arising from professional business disputes involving restrictive covenant/trade secret cases. In the area of professional liability, Ingram’s practice focuses on the litigation and trial defense of professional malpractice claims against insurance agents and attorneys.

Founded in 1920, the IADC has members who hail from six continents, 51 countries and territories, and all 50 U.S. states. The core purposes of the IADC are to enhance the development of skills, promote professionalism, and facilitate camaraderie among its members and their clients, as well as the broader civil justice community.

A new international alliance of law firms and lawyers called the Concilium Global Compliance, Investigations & Defense Network officially launched today, offering cross-border representation in matters involving corporate compliance, internal investigations and government enforcement defense, according to an announcement by Foley.

The Concilium Network can help multinational businesses find counsel qualified to provide representation across national boundaries, Foley said in a release.

Concilium Network currently counts 15 international law firms as members and intends to expand to other jurisdictions, subject to its firm-vetting process. The firms currently part of the Concilium Network include:

• Advokatfirmaet Selmer (Norway)
• Blake, Cassels & Graydon (Canada)
• Creel Garcia-Cuéllar Aiza y Enriquez (Mexico)
• FieldFisher (UK)
• FeldensMadruga (Brazil)
• Foley & Lardner (U.S.A.)
• J. Chan, Yip, So & Partners (China)
• Kammeradvokaten / Poul Schmith (Denmark)
• Navacelle Law (France)
• Panag & Babu (India)
• Posse Herrera Ruiz (Colombia)
• Preda Del Puerto & Asociados (Paraguay)
• Raczkowski Paruch (Poland)
• Schellenberg Wittmer (Switzerland)
• SvS Rechtsanwälte (Germany)

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Michelle I. Schaffer, a member at Campbell Conroy & O’Neil, P.C., in Boston, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

The firm said Schaffer focuses her trial practice on product liability, premises liability, pharmaceutical and medical devices, and toxic torts/mass torts defense matters.

Schaffer is the immediate past president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In addition, she is a past president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association and the Massachusetts chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She has served as a member of the Massachusetts Joint Bar Committee on Judicial Appointments and currently serves on the Massachusetts Bar Association Civil Litigation Section Council. She is a former chair of the Defense Research Institute’s Lawyers Professionalism and Ethics Committee.

Schaffer received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Tufts University.

Venable LLP announced that Craig A. Gilley has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, DC, where he will lead the firm’s communications practice.

In a release, the firm said Gilley works with regulated communications entities, as well as information technology, education technology, investment, and private equity companies.

Gilley has experience counseling on a range of legal, regulatory, operational, and transactional issues affecting cable operators, broadband providers, internet service providers, video programmers, satellite providers, and wireless/wireline telecommunications providers. He also provides transactional, operational, compliance, and strategic advice to information and educational technology firms

Gilley received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.A. in History from Brown University.

J. David Pugh, a partner in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Birmingham office, has been elected to serve as the Southeast Region chair on the executive committee of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), beginning Jan. 1, 2020.

ABC is a national construction industry trade association representing more than 21,000 members. ABC and its 69 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. ABC’s membership represents all specialties within the U.S. construction industry.

In a release, the firm said Pugh, a member of Bradley’s Construction Practice Group, has represented owners, general contractors, subcontractors, engineers, architects, insurers, and sureties throughout the United States. He has advised clients at every stage of a construction project and has participated in trials, hearings, appellate arguments, mediations, and arbitrations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Mexico, among other locations. He also has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and has experience with both private and government construction projects.

Bradley was named the nation’s “Law Firm of the Year” for Construction Law in the 2020 and 2018 editions of U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” The award is particularly significant since only one law firm in the United States per legal practice area receives this recognition each year, the firm said.

More than 20 percent of associates at Texas-based litigation powerhouse Susman Godfrey will have total compensation of at least $500,000 for 2019, the firm announced.

Above the Law reports on the firm’s new scale:

“Susman has a history giving out massive bonuses. 2019 has brought another year of big bonuses at the firm. But they didn’t just repeat the big bonuses from last year, they actually added to them.”

Bonuses range as high as $235,000 for Susman Godfrey associates in the 2011 law school graduation class.

Read the Above the Law article.

The ABA Journal reports that a Biglaw partner who relied on her assistant to create first-draft billing records based on her work product has been suspended for six months for overbilling.

The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers sought a two-year suspension for Boston lawyer Doreen Zankowski for her billing practices when she was at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr. The firm had opened an investigation after Zankowski told her department chair that she worked 3,173 billable hours and more than 720 nonbillable hours in 2015, according to the opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court justice hearing the case.

Zankowski conceded to a hearing committee that “her billing practices were inadequate, careless, rushed and error-prone,” according to the justice’s finding.

Read the ABA Journal article.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s longtime general counsel Allan Rauch is among six senior executives departing the company as part of a corporate restructuring announced Dec. 17, reports Bloomberg Law.

The home goods retailer named a former subordinate of Rauch’s to succeed him as general counsel on an interim basis.

Bloomberg’s Brian Baxter writes that the new interim GC, Michael Callahan, is a former vice president and corporate counsel with more than 25 years of experience in the company’s law department.

Rauch joined the company in 1994 and became general counsel in 1996.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A NAVEX Global webinar will address the top 10 risk and compliance trends for 2020.

The complimentary event will be Wednesday, Jan. 15. 2020, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.

In 2020, several critical issues are sure to impact the business landscape, including: election year turmoil, updates to regulatory requirements, digital environment impact, new agency guidance, data privacy, workplace behavioral shifts, and more, NAVEX says in its invitation.

Participants in the webinar will hear how experts are predicting these upcoming trends will provoke, shape and inspire organizational shifts and program improvements.

Register for the webinar.

A forecast from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group and Hildebrandt Consulting expects law firm revenue growth to rise between 5.5% and 6% in 2020.

The Citi 2020 client advisory offers this partial overview:

“Looking forward, we know that many firms are concerned about the risk of a recession and the underlying macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility. However, we do not anticipate a recession in 2020. That said, we believe it is now prudent for law firms to prepare for less certain times ahead. We also note that firms are facing many talent-related challenges: retention at all levels, the rising cost of talent, and how best to plan for the departure of rainmakers and senior partners.”

Read the Citi report.

Blomberg Law is reporting that a real estate developer is suing New York City litigation boutique O’Shea & Partners for breach of contract, alleging it charged “grossly excessive” and padded fees when it represented the developer beginning in 2013.

Plaintiffs claim the firm charged “almost $1.9 million over a three year period, without engaging in any discovery, or document collection, whatsoever.”

In the complaint in the New York court, plaintiffs Madison Equities LLC and the group’s principal, Robert Gladstone, are seeking at least $900,000 over the “fraudulent” billing, writes Bloomberg’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The University of Phoenix — a for-profit college chain that has been under scrutiny for years — has reached a landmark settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission following accusations of unfair and deceptive practices that will result in widespread student loan forgiveness, Forbes reports.

“Too often, students would graduate from the University of Phoenix with dismal career prospects, minimal ongoing support, and a lot of student loan debt that could be impossible to repay,” writes Adams S. Minsky, a Forbes contributor. “The University allegedly specifically targeted people of color and military veterans.”

Under the settlement, the university will pay $191 million, of which $141 million will be used to forgive some student loans for certain borrowers who attended the university.

Read the Forbes article.

Schiff Hardin’s Environmental Group took a look prospects for renewable energy in 2020 and determined that development is expected to continue through 2020 and beyond.

Authors of the post in the Energy & Environmental Law Adviser blog are Alex Garel-Frantzen, Amy Antoniolli and Brett Cooper.

They discuss three key issues facing the industry for the coming year: waning federal government incentives; siting renewable energy projects at such locations as retired power plants and landfills can lower costs; and local communities can be slow to get on board with renewable energy initiatives.

See the article.

Before agreeing to a real estate sales contract or lease, the parties may prepare a letter of intent, term sheet or other form of preliminary agreement (together, called here an “LOI”), writes Stephen Siegel of Novack and Macey.

An LOI reflects that the parties have agreed on certain important terms of a deal, though not on all of its provisions or details.

“A well-crafted real estate LOI should address the parties’ intentions on such questions in clear terms. An LOI that is unclear as to what, if anything, it obligates the parties to do can invite uncertainty, disagreements and even litigation,” Siegel writes.

Read the article.