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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Y! Alert: Texas Lawyer


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Beer Wars: Toil and Trouble May Lead Brewers to Victory in Alcoholic Beverage Battles Top
Michael Peticolas capped off his law practice last year so he could do what he really loves: brew fresh craft beer and sell it to bars. But he is finding out that the law is as important an ingredient in his business recipe as hops and barley. And, thanks to his own lawyering and the work of some kindred spirits in Austin, the legal landscape for Lone Star State brewers might just change.
 
Baker, Donelson Enters Texas With Spain Chambers Merger Top
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz has entered the Texas market by merging with Houston's Spain Chambers. "Ever since we entered Louisiana in 2004, it has been very apparent that there is an economic integration between Louisiana and Houston," says Ben C. Adams, chairman and chief executive officer of Baker, Donelson.
 
VerdictSearch Top
Doctors didn't damage patient's liver, jury finds. Jury sides with driver who struck pedestrian fleeing cops. Plaintiffs awarded $13,022 for back, neck, shoulder injuries. Jury sides with driver's "sideswipe" defense. No award for cop who claimed injuries in crash. Jury sides with driver injured in head-on crash.
 
Newsmakers Top
 
TSU Denies Assistant Dean's Discrimination, Retaliation Allegations Top
Texas Southern University, one of the nation's historically black universities and home to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, is fighting back in its Oct. 17 answer to a race discrimination and retaliation suit filed by law school Assistant Dean Patricia Garrison.
 
Pretty Power: Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful Top
Femininity: It's a calculated risk that pays off in today's legal market, says Melissa DuBose. Perhaps the anti-femininity crowd feels women should hide their femininity to gain access to the boys club. News flash: Most men find themselves attracted to women and enjoy their company. Men don't want to spend all their time with other guys or with women acting and dressing like men.
 
New Howrey Trustee Says Firm's Bankruptcy Will Get Litigious Top
Allan Diamond, the managing partner of Texas-based Diamond McCarthy, says he already had a full caseload of his own when he became the government-appointed Chapter 11 trustee of defunct law firm Howrey on October 7. Since then, "It's been all Howrey, night and day," says Diamond, whose firm focuses on bankruptcy, litigation, and real estate work.
 
New Associate Hires Drop 13 Percent Top
For the third year in a row, Texas' largest firms have brought on fewer first-year associates than they did the previous year. That's presumably because the economy still isn't rocking and rolling enough to make most large Texas firms ramp up new associate hiring. But Bracewell & Giuliani had to ask its incoming associates to report to the office as early as mid-August, instead of on Oct. 24 as planned, because business picked up during 2011, says Phillip Sampson, co-hiring partner in the firm's Houston office.
 
The Law of The Streets Top
Lawyers representing Occupy protesters and several Texas cities have had their hands full in recent weeks, but they say their objective is the same: to minimize conflict. In Texas, lawyers are working with protesters to help them avoid arrests, while city attorneys are balancing free-speech rights with municipal codes that bar overnight camping in downtown areas and forbid sidewalk obstruction. Dallas lawyer Jonathan Winocour represents three protesters.
 
Inadmissible Top
 
Discipline Top
One lawyer was suspended for two years, another was publicly reprimaned, and another was placed on probation, the State Bar of Texas announced recently.
 
Handling Clients With Personality Disorders Top
In contemporary law practice, particularly in litigation, the expert witness in psychology — psychiatrists, forensic psychologists, psychotherapists and so on — increasingly is a member of the teams on opposite sides of a courtroom. Litigators need at least a passing sense of some of the language used by experts in this field, writes James Dolan.
 
Let "Jersey Shore" Pick Your Practice Top
For the benefit of recent law school graduates, Kip Mendrygal has created a personality test to help new lawyers match themselves to the right fields. For the test, he picked a platform the intended audience would relate to: MTV's "Jersey Shore," the heartwarming tale of eight soft-spoken and introspective men and women brought together to live in a house and, mostly, fight and party.
 
Law Clerks Offer Big Opportunities for Small Firms Top
In this difficult economy the legal job market is an increasingly competitive place, says Raymond L. Panneton. There are more law students seeking clerk positions than the larger firms can handle or want. Small firms might not have the financial resources to hire a full-time associate, but they may need additional manpower in the office to stay on top of the caseload. Although the notion of hiring a part-time clerk may be daunting, the benefits received by both parties make the experience more than worth it.
 
I Like Being a Lawyer! Top
 
Commentary: Three Lessons From Two Trials for One Great Performance Top
Perception is not reality, writes F. Daniel Knight. Sadly, Texas has experienced a sharp decline in civil jury trials over the past 20 years. According to an Office of Court Administration report, the percentage of cases resolved by jury verdict was 0.4 percent in district courts and 0.6 percent in county courts in 2010.
 
Commentary: Should Firms Take Ownership in Patents? Top
McKool Smith has declined opportunities to take an ownership position in the patents the firm litigates, write Mike McKool and Ryan Hargrave. While the law is unsettled as to the ethical boundaries, they say their firm has avoided such investments because of potential ethical concerns, as well as strategic considerations related to the attractiveness of the case to the jury.
 
Commentary: Keep Lawyering at the Office, Not at Home Top
The best tools deployed by lawyers are discourse and argument developed so arduously in law school and professional life: the ability to argue to a win, says James Dolan, a professional coach and psychotherapist. But there is a sad truth: There can be nothing more destructive to a marriage than the lawyer who comes home and practices law there.
 
Commentary: Obtaining the Benefits of Chapter 95 Top
As part of tort reform, the Texas Legislature enacted Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code to limit a property owner's liability for injuries to contractors and subcontractors, or their employees, under particular circumstances, writes Barbara S. Nicholas. It is the plaintiff's burden to establish that the defendant owner exercised or retained some control over the manner in which the work was performed and had actual, as opposed to constructive, knowledge of the dangerous condition that resulted in injury.
 
Commentary: 10 Ways to Make It Easy for Clients to Find You Top
Two immutable facts: You want clients and you are in the service business. Stacy West Clark, president of a firm that helps law firms grow their businesses, says that, in spite of these two well-known facts, she is constantly shocked at how hard firms and lawyers make it for clients to reach them. She offers some ideas on how to change that situation.
 
Commentary: Workplace Privacy Issues in Texas Top
Despite the Texas Supreme Court's general recognition of the importance of privacy in Billings v. Atkinson, there is no specific statute relating to a private employee's privacy in Texas, writes Art Lambert, a director in Kane Russell Coleman & Logan's labor and employment section in Dallas. However, counsel should still be cognizant of when employee privacy claims are actionable and how to succeed in such cases.
 
Commentary: Five Myths About Mediating Employment Disputes Top
A substantial portion of employment-related suits ultimately are resolved by settlement, typically during or soon after mediation. Despite the prevalence of mediation, several myths exist that disrupt the process and diminish the chances of resolving the case. Vianei Lopez Robinson, a partner in Buck Keenan, a litigation boutique in Houston, writes about five of those myths.
 
Differentiate Your Firm From Competitors Top
For many lawyers, the world has never appeared to be as hostile, bewildering or unstable as it does today, says Joel A. Rose. These feelings result from the complexities and uncertainties of the changing economic, professional and competitive environment in which most law firms find themselves.
 
Ten Key Supreme Court Decisions of the 2010-2011 Term Top
Texas is among the nation's largest and most economically vibrant and diverse states. So it's no surprise the state's highest civil court enjoys a regular diet of significant legal controversies, write James C. Ho and Ashley E. Johnson. They chose 10 of those decisions to highlight from the 2010-2011 term.
 

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