Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

December 16, 2002 | Texas Lawyer

In 30 years of practice, plaintiffs lawyer George Fleming says he has become "sadly familiar" with what he believes is a tried-and-true delay tactic used by some defense attorneys of hiring lawyers who also are legislators. He alleges that lawyers for Wyeth -- a defendant in a fen-phen suit Fleming planned to take to trial on Dec. 16 in Jim Wells County -- used a highly unusual strategy to delay the trial.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

10 minute read

December 23, 2002 | Texas Lawyer

Criminal-defense attorney George Parnham wasn't able to convince a Harris County jury in March that his client, Andrea P. Yates, was not guilty by reason of insanity for murdering her children. But Parnham's defense in one of the biggest trials in Texas in 2002 shone the national spotlight on postpartum depression and the insanity defense.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

5 minute read

October 15, 2003 | Law.com

The issue of whether Arthur Andersen employees had fair notice of a pending investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into Enron Corp.'s financial reporting dominated oral arguments on Oct. 9 in Andersen's appeal of its obstruction of justice conviction. An appeals attorney for Andersen told a 5th Circuit panel that the trial judge's instructions to the jury on the obstruction of justice statute were too broad.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

6 minute read

June 16, 2006 | Law.com

Ten days after Hayes and Boone partner Andrew Fono learned he was being called to active duty, he turned his environmental litigation docket over to his partners and packed up his office in Houston. It's a rare situation for a partner to be called to active duty, and the firm didn't have a policy to deal with the situation. Most firms will supplement attorneys' military pay, as Hayes and Boone will do for Fono -- but lawyers must still contend with re-entry issues at the end of service.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

10 minute read

November 23, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Drilling for natural gas in the Barnett Shale has been an economic boon to North Texas since production began in 2001, but hundreds of disgruntled property owners are lining up to sue drilling companies over terms of mineral leases. Randal Mathis, Kip Petroff and Christopher Payne (pictured, from left) are members of the North Texas Lease Litigation Group, which represents property owners in litigation against drilling companies and their agents.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

10 minute read

December 17, 2004 | Texas Lawyer

On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Paul Brown of Sherman issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Plano Independent School District from interfering with students who want to distribute gifts with religious viewpoints to classmates at winter parties scheduled for Dec. 17, or from interfering or prohibiting two parents who are plaintiffs in the suit from giving similar gifts to other parents at the parties.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

2 minute read

December 09, 2004 | Law.com

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

8 minute read

June 12, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

The State Bar's Legal Services to the Poor in Civil Matters Committee recommended five recipients -- three individual attorneys, a firm and a legal organization -- for this year's pro bono and legal service awards.

By Mary Alice Robbins and Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

15 minute read

May 25, 2010 | Law.com

On Friday, R. Allen Stanford asked a federal judge to order insurance companies that issued directors-and-officers policies covering him to approve "lawyers of my choice" and to pay them. In a response filed Monday, the insurance companies asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas to deny Stanford's request for emergency relief. They allege they have paid more than $6 million to lawyers representing Stanford, and are withholding consent to his "latest set of criminal attorneys" because they are "at odds with each other."

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read

May 29, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

W. Mark Lanier says his client Carol Ernst couldn't stop crying when he told her about the 14th Court's opinion, and she told him she has lost faith in the judicial system. But Jonathan Skidmore, part of Merck's trial team in Ernst, says, "From day one, we felt there was no reliable scientific evidence that showed Mr. Ernst died due to any role that Vioxx played."

By BRENDA SAPINO JEFFREYS

7 minute read