Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

July 21, 2006 | Law.com

A state district judge in Dallas recently signed a judgment ordering Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to pay a former client about $1.1 million in damages in a negligence suit. No individual lawyers were named as defendants. The case stems from Akin Gump's representation of the plaintiffs in an underlying declaratory judgment suit filed in 1997. Christopher Scanlan, who represented Akin Gump at trial, said the firm is likely to appeal the judgment.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

4 minute read

January 19, 2007 | Law.com

Although year-end associate bonuses were a little smaller than usual in 2006 at Susman Godfrey, the firm still paid as much as $120,000 in bonus money. "If they aren't pleased, they should check into a mental institution," partner Stephen Susman says of his firm's associates. While many associates took home larger paychecks in 2006 due to new, higher salary scales, a number of firms paid healthy year-end bonuses based not only on billable hours, but also pro bono, business development and civic work.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

12 minute read

September 25, 2007 | National Law Journal

A few years ago, Steven Selsberg, a partner in Mayer Brown in Houston, thought he would make a smoking-hot career out of tobacco litigation, but today Selsberg is the go-to litigation lawyer in the United States for the business empire of Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican billionaire who may be the richest man in the world. When Selsberg isn't doing work for Slim or his companies, he handles litigation for other clients from Mexico he obtained through Slim or through other Mexican connections.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

13 minute read

February 25, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

Embattled Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is gone but not forgotten. Just listen carefully to comments at events in the political race to replace him, where his name surfaces all the time. Or check out the pay slips in the DA's office, where Rosenthal still gets a salary, even though he doesn't show up for work.

By Miriam Rozen and Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

14 minute read

December 19, 2005 | Texas Lawyer

Lawyers hoping a verdict in the nation's first federal Vioxx trial would be a big signal to the future course of the litigation were disappointed last week when a federal judge declared a mistrial.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

6 minute read

April 19, 2007 | Law.com

Former White House counsel and one-time Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers will return to Locke Liddell & Sapp as a partner in the public policy and litigation groups. "There's about eight or 10 former White House counsel in the country these days, and they are all at very high-profile firms. It's exciting for us to get her back," says Locke Liddell managing partner Jerry Clements. Miers' name has been in the news again regarding whether she had a role in the dismissals of eight U.S. Attorneys.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read

September 13, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Texas Lawyer turned 25 on April 3. To mark our anniversary, each week the editorial department is looking back at the news we covered over the past 25 years and selecting one story to update for readers. This week, senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys revisits an article in the Sept. 11, 2006, issue of Texas Lawyer, "A Non-Existent Defense."

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

6 minute read

August 16, 2001 | Law.com

When Tom A. Cunningham and his partners agreed to represent Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith in her battle for money she claimed her late oilman husband wanted her to have, they knew they were getting involved in some complicated litigation in Texas and California. But the attorneys credit teamwork and technology at the small Houston firm for allowing them to juggle Smith's litigation as well as a number of other big suits.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

9 minute read

April 06, 2001 | Law.com

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

6 minute read

February 02, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Darryl Burman, general counsel of Group 1 Automotive Inc., says executives at the Houston-based auto retailer made the right choice in January when they voluntarily agreed to a 10 percent pay cut to help Group 1 survive the slump in the automobile industry.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

11 minute read