Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has used his executive authority to make an unprecedented number of major policy changes. This includes dramatic shifts in the legal and regulatory landscapes, signaling…
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/ Administrative Law, Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law
In today’s competitive business environment, trade secrets have emerged as some of an organization’s most prized assets. They are the hidden formulas, proprietary processes, and specialized know-how that give companies their…
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/ Business Torts, Commercial Law & Contracts, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment Law
In Texas, as most other states, it is long settled that corporate agents are personally liable for their own tortious or fraudulent conduct—even if the conduct was done in their capacity as a corporate agent. Section 21.223 of…
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/ Business Organizations, Business Torts, Civil Remedies
The U.S. Department of the Interior has long wrestled with how to manage the risk associated with the costly decommissioning of offshore oil wells in federal waters. In recent years, the Department has released, revised, and…
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/ Administrative Law, Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law, Finance & Banking
In recent years, the use of the federal multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) process to address complex multijurisdictional disputes has increased dramatically. Nearly 60% of all civil cases filed in federal court now become part of…
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/ Civil Procedure
Last week we were lucky enough to attend the Institute of Energy Law’s 23rd Annual Energy Litigation Conference in Houston, TX, and hear its unique collection of industry professionals exchange insights and address some of the…
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/ Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Civil Procedure, Commercial Law & Contracts, Construction Law, Energy & Utilities
On April 12, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court handed down two decisions clarifying its interpretation of governmental immunity and waiver under Section 271.152 of the Texas Local Government Code. Governmental units, including…
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/ Administrative Law, Commercial Law & Contracts, Government Contracting
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its final Rule (16 CFR Part 910) that bans non-compete clauses for most workers as unfair competition under federal law, specifically Section 5 of the FTC Act (15…
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/ Administrative Law, Commercial Law & Contracts, Labor & Employment Law
On March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt final rules requiring registrants to disclose climate-related information in their registration statements and period reports (the Rules), two…
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/ Business Organizations, Commercial Law & Contracts, Environmental Law, Securities Law
Four years on from the Supreme Court’s monumental decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, the results have been a mixed bag for all parties involved. In our previous McGirt update, we detailed potential tax and regulatory implications…
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/ Criminal Law, Environmental Law, Taxation
On January 17, 2024, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in tandem cases Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc., et al. v. Dept. of Commerce, et al., which ask whether the court should overrule one of its…
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/ Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law
On December 6, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, a Title VII case out of the Eighth Circuit. The petitioner, Sergeant Jatonya Muldrow of the St. Louis Police Department, alleged sex…
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/ Civil Procedure, Civil Rights, Labor & Employment Law
On December 4, 2023, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that may have major implications for bankruptcy law in the Fifth Circuit. While the Fifth Circuit (along with the Ninth and Tenth Circuits) has held that…
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/ Bankruptcy, Business Organizations, Civil Procedure
The Texas Supreme Court will review a state regulator’s rejection of 16 applications submitted by Ammonite Oil & Gas Corp. (“Ammonite”) to force pool its mineral estate with adjacent wells operated by EOG Resources Inc. (“EOG”)…
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/ Energy & Utilities
On Friday, May 12, the Texas Senate passed a bill that would create a specialized business court to oversee complex civil litigation. The state senators voted 24 to 6 to approve H.B. 19, which was passed by the Texas House…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts
