Texas Pulse


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    McKool Smith's Patent Trial Legend Sam Baxter Retires

    Sam Baxter of McKool Smith has announced his retirement after more than five decades in the legal profession, wrapping up a storied career as a patent litigator in the Eastern District of Texas.

  • Texas Panel Reopens Malpractice Suit Over 'Death Penalty'

    A Texas appeals court on Thursday revived a couple's legal malpractice suit accusing their former personal injury attorney of letting their car accident claims die, finding the trial court wrongly used a death penalty discovery sanction to exclude all the couple's evidence before trial.

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    Choice Of Trump's Attys For Bench Worries Some, Not Others

    President Donald Trump is drawing from a pool of his own personal lawyers to fill some seats on the federal bench — a change in strategy from his first term that some experts say is unremarkable, but that others worry will undermine the legitimacy of the courts.

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    6 Polsinelli Consumer Finance Pros Move To Hinshaw

    Six attorneys from Polsinelli PC have moved their consumer financial services practices to Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, where they're helping the firm's clients in New York, Texas and Florida.

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    Kane Russell Adds Six Attys Across Dallas, Houston, Austin

    Lone Star State law firm Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC has bulked up its litigation, labor and employment, bankruptcy and emergency response offerings with new attorney hires across its offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston.

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    Personal Injury Firm Kherkher Garcia Adds Rusty Hardin Atty

    The former managing partner of Rusty Hardin & Associates has joined Houston personal injury law firm Kherkher Garcia as a partner, saying the move will allow him to focus on the work he is passionate about doing.

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    Law Firm Real Estate Report

    An active April saw several law firms around the country expand their footprints into new markets and move their teams into new spaces.

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    Why A Mid-Law Firm Went All In On One E-Discovery Platform

    Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP selected CS Disco as its preferred provider for e-discovery technology, the mid-sized law firm confirmed exclusively to Law360 Pulse on Thursday.

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    Fla. Judge Pick Denies Conflict In Trump Defamation Case

    A judicial nominee for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday denied there was any overlap between when he presided over a case involving President Donald Trump and when the White House let him know Trump was considering him for the federal judgeship.

  • Texas Couple Drops Data Suit Against Personal Injury Firm

    A Houston couple who accused a law firm and a since-dismissed Progressive unit of conspiring to share the private information of car crash victims has dropped federal claims against the firm after reportedly finding no evidence that it engaged in the conduct they alleged. 

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    Demand Rebound, Rising Rates Fuel BigLaw Revenue Jump

    BigLaw firms had a strong first quarter of 2026, driven by ever-increasing billing rates and higher-than-expected demand for legal services, according to survey results released Wednesday.

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    Stone Hilton Launches Shop In Houston

    Texas litigation boutique Stone Hilton PLLC announced Wednesday that it has launched an office in Houston, its second location, to be led by a partner who has been with the firm for two years.

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    Life After BigLaw: These Attys Found Freedom At Boutiques

    Former BigLaw attorneys who are now practicing at boutiques are grateful for their experiences at those large law companies, but they are finding a small law arrangement gives them more control over their practices.

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    Associates Are Facing Shifting, Unclear In-Office Policies

    Law firm policies on in-office work are in flux and often require reading between the lines of office culture and leader preferences in order to fully comply, a reality that's driving a high degree of frustration in the industry, according to recruiters who work with lateral associate candidates.

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    Orrick Lands Senior IP Atty From USPTO

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has boosted its intellectual property bench with the addition of a former attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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    Texas Firm Gray Reed Launches Data Center Initiative

    Gray Reed & McGraw LLP's new data center team combines the expertise of the Texas firm's lawyers with that of its regulatory and advisory arms to serve the Lone Star State's data center market.

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    NXP's Retiring GC Earned Nearly $4 Million In 2025

    NXP Semiconductors' soon-to-retire general counsel earned $3.98 million in total compensation in 2025, down about $200,000 from the two previous years, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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    Trump's Pick For EEOC GC Bows Out For 'Personal Reasons'

    The Trump administration rescinded its nomination of a Norton Rose Fulbright partner to serve as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's permanent general counsel, a move he said Tuesday came after he decided to pull his name from consideration.

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    AI-Powered Legal Ops Is Starting To Pay Off On Deals

    A new study supports what some legal industry experts have been saying for months — an AI-driven legal operating model is taking over the contract management industry and has begun giving companies a real return on their investment. 

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    Legal Ops Teams Grapple With Slew Of 'AI Native' Firms

    The growing number of law firms pitching themselves as "AI native" is generating feelings of artificial intelligence fatigue inside corporate legal departments, as legal operations experts say the term is becoming diluted amid the rush to cash in on the AI boom.

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    Simpson Thacher Hires Clifford Chance Energy Ace In Texas

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP announced Monday that it has added a former Clifford Chance LLP partner to its energy and infrastructure practice, a Houston-based lawyer who brings in-house and private practice experience to the team.

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    Ferguson Braswell Hires COO To Support Texas, Calif. Growth

    Texas-based Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC, which now goes by the name FBFK Law Firm, said Monday that the firm has hired its first chief operating officer to help support its growth efforts in its home state and California.

  • Texas Grads' Bar Exam Pass Rates Rise

    Lone Star State law school students who took the bar exam in February passed at a higher rate than those who tested at the same time last year, although they continued to lag behind the February 2024 pass rate, according to results recently released by the Texas Board of Law Examiners.

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    Judge Albright Reflects On 8 Years Shaping Patent Law

    U.S. District Judge Alan Albright will be walking away from the Western District of Texas at the end of the summer, ready to head back into patent litigation work. He talked with Law360 on Friday about the rockier elements of his judgeship and lessons he'll take into private practice.

  • Law360 Pulse Spotlight On Mid-Law Work

    Shutts & Bowen's work on a data center company's stock offering and Robbins Geller's lead counsel spot in an investor class action lead this edition of Law360 Pulse's Spotlight On Mid-Law Work, recapping the top matters for Mid-Law firms from April 10 to 24.

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Expert Analysis

  • How Law Students Can Effectively Use AI In Their Job Search Author Photo

    Law students can use artificial intelligence tools strategically throughout the job application process to review materials, prepare for interviews and navigate employers’ use of similar tools, but there are several key missteps they should be careful to avoid, says Lauren Wong at University of San Diego School of Law.

  • An After-Placement Plan Maximizes Legal Content's Potential Author Photo

    Before landing a published quote, feature or interview, law firms should articulate the content’s purpose and develop a strategic plan for repurposing it to ensure they’re aligning public relations efforts with measurable business outcomes, says John Hellerman at Hellerman Communications.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Should I Coordinate Pro Bono Projects? Author Photo

    Julie LaEace at Perkins Coie offers tips for attorneys acting as pro bono coordinators, including how to choose appropriate projects, how to encourage participation and why it is important to keep in touch with legal aid partner organizations.

  • 6 Strategies For Navigating Legal Leadership Transitions Author Photo

    Amid uncertainty in the legal job market, attorneys who are considering a transition to a leadership role must fundamentally reimagine their approach to value creation and develop a new set of skills, say Stacy Bratcher at Cottage Health and Michael Watkins at Genesis Advisers.

  • The Augmented Lawyer: Crafting Responsible AI Policies Author Photo

    As the legal industry increasingly looks to impose responsive guardrails for artificial intelligence use, firms and organizations’ internal use policies, outside counsel guidelines and vendor contracts can address confidentiality and data retention concerns in several ways, say attorneys at KXT Law.

  • 6 Ways To Build Pro Bono Culture If You Lack Dedicated Staff Author Photo

    Firms can develop a strong pro bono culture without hiring dedicated professionals through strategies like demonstrating active involvement by leadership, tailoring volunteer tasks to individual professional development needs and building trusted partnerships within the legal aid community, says Stacy Zinken at Paladin.

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    Biz Development Tip Of The Month: Extend Your Content's Life Author Photo

    Attorneys often limit the impact of their thought leadership by letting their content languish after initial publication, but through four easy strategies for retooling existing content, they can maximize its reach and further their business development goals, says Jillian McKenna at Verrill Dana.

  • Why Law Firm Leaders Should Care About Student Debt Crisis Author Photo

    ​​​​​​​As the student debt crisis evolves under changing federal policies, firms that proactively address the burden will have significant advantages in recruiting and retaining the best young lawyers, says Brian Kabateck at Kabateck.

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    Talking Mental Health: Encouraging New Attys To Find Joy Author Photo

    Rudene Haynes at Hunton discusses her experiences as a hiring partner, common sources of stress that newer attorneys face and steps that law firms can take to protect their attorneys' mental health and encourage personal life fulfillment.

  • Fla. Bar's Cyber Incident Response Plan Sets Precedent Author Photo

    The incident response plan developed by the Florida Bar's cybersecurity and privacy committee might not seem all that consequential, but it's a long overdue framework that could go a long way toward protecting the highly sensitive data law firms handle — and could even set a model for other professional organizations to follow, says Chris Boehm at Zero Networks.

  • Why Attorneys Should Write About Justices' Minority Opinions Author Photo

    Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s searing dissents this past term serve as a reminder for attorneys to analyze U.S. Supreme Court minority opinions in their thought leadership for three key reasons, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • 3 Business Development Lessons From Mozart's 'Magic Flute' Author Photo

    Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” offers a useful framework for attorneys to build relationships and develop new business, inspired by Prince Tamino’s curiosity, courage and consistency, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs To Quantify Their Value Author Photo

    As in-house legal departments are increasingly expected to do more with less, developing a thoughtful framework to measure key performance indicators can help them both maximize and demonstrate their contribution to business success, say co-founders at New Era ADR.

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    Defining The Culture For A Legal Nonprofit Author Photo

    We co-founded The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators to connect leading trial lawyers, litigation experts and academics, and our experience has shown that embracing opportunity, responding fearlessly to market realities, and relentlessly defining the organization’s culture have all been integral to success, say Stéphane Bonifassi, Lincoln Caylor and Elizabeth Ortega.

  • 5 Emerging Themes Shaping Lateral Partner Moves This Year Author Photo

    A few key trends have arisen in partners’ lateral movements in the first half of 2025, reflecting a legal market defined by macroeconomic uncertainty, shifts in firm structures and rising scrutiny of firm affiliations, say legal recruiters at Macrae.

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