Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

May 13, 2009 | The Legal Intelligencer

Former U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent was sentenced Monday to 33 months in prison after earlier pleading guilty to one count of obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of the Northern District of Florida told Kent he must surrender himself by June 15.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

6 minute read

March 03, 2003 | Texas Lawyer

Bayer Corp., a defendant in a Baycol products liability trial under way in Corpus Christi, faces possible sanctions after an in-house lawyer authorized the mailing of a letter to more than 2,000 addresses in Corpus Christi during jury selection. Mikal Watts, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said at a hearing that the letter from a public relations executive at Bayer might be an attempt at jury tampering. A Bayer lawyer says he believes his company's PR staff made an honest mistake.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

12 minute read

July 27, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Judge Manuel Banales, presiding judge of the 5th Administrative Region who sentenced Mauricio Celis after recusing the judge who presided over Celis' criminal trial, has been taken off the case himself. Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez had filed a motion seeking to recuse Banales from presiding over the prosecution of Celis.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read

February 02, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Lawyers handling civil suits in Harris County district courts will soon have fewer excuses for missing a court hearing. On Jan. 17, the Harris County District Clerk's Office began testing an automated docketing feature that sends an e-mail to lawyers each weekend with a listing of all of their court hearings for the next week. The clerk's office plans to add more features in the future.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

5 minute read

February 13, 2007 | Law.com

The 5th Circuit affirmed a Rule 11 sanctions order against Dallas lawyer Donald H. Flanary Jr. in connection with a brief he filed in a racial discrimination suit that contained a racially charged word not used in the supporting affidavit. Flanary says he wants to talk to his counsel before deciding if he will ask for a rehearing before the 5th Circuit. "It's an important issue for lawyers -- if someone makes a one-word mistake in the brief," he says.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read

July 17, 2008 | Law.com

Over the past 15 years, even before she became a lawyer, Carlie Bishop spent thousands of hours working at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo as a volunteer, and that extracurricular work became her passion. Now her passion is her job, too. Bishop is the show's new general counsel and chief administrative officer, a position she calls her "dream job." In addition to all legal matters for the show, Bishop oversees risk management, contracts, human resources, education programs and office administration.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

7 minute read

May 20, 2010 | Law.com

R. Allen Stanford filed a motion Tuesday seeking release from pretrial detention -- or dismissal of the indictment against him -- on the ground that his constitutional due process rights have been violated. Hours after Stanford filed the motion, Texas federal Judge David Hittner, who denied two earlier release requests from Stanford, signed an order striking the document because it was not in 14-point font and double-spaced and because it included names of lawyers who are not attorneys of record in the case.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

4 minute read

June 17, 2008 | Law.com

Roughly 27 percent of Houston-based Bracewell & Giuliani's 418 lawyers are in out-of-state offices, and managing partner Mark Evans expects that percentage to grow over the next five years -- "Easily at least 35 percent," says Evans. His confidence about Bracewell's growth outside Texas reflects the enthusiasm expressed by managing partners of other big Texas firms about why they're happy to increase the size of their national and international footprints with a network of new offices.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys and Miriam Rozen

32 minute read

September 28, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Texas lawyers, mostly plaintiffs attorneys, were big individual contributors to statewide and legislative candidates in Texas during the 2006 "gubernatorial election cycle." Fred Baron and Lisa Blue, partners in Baron & Blue in Dallas, are in the third spot on the list, contributing $2.1 million. Ninth on the list is John M. O'Quinn of Houston, who gave $1.1 million to candidates.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

2 minute read

November 04, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Professor Gerald Treece noted that O'Quinn had conquered the "monster of alcoholism" more than a decade ago, but he was still fighting the "monster of low self-esteem," despite his tremendous success as a trial lawyer. O'Quinn's pastor asked the more than 2,000 people who attended the funeral to pray for O'Quinn and described him as a man of "overwhelming contradictions."

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read