Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

August 06, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

At a time when Texas lawyers think little about jumping from firm to firm in search of a bigger paycheck and unfulfilled lawyers take early retirement, the 50-year partnership between San Antonio lawyers Anthony "Nic" Nicholas and Roy Barrera Sr. is a throwback to a different era.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

9 minute read

November 06, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

The first trial stemming from the fatal explosion in 2005 at the BP refinery in Texas City kicks off next week in Galveston, but the verdict in the suit won't set a market rate for settlements, which is what typically happens in mass tort suits. Instead of setting a market rate for settlement, the trial in 212th District Judge Susan Criss' court may help 22-year-old plaintiff Eva Rowe, whose parents were killed in the explosion, force BP and other energy companies to improve safety practices at refineries.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

5 minute read

May 17, 2006 | The Recorder

Attorneys for former CEO Jeffrey Skilling cautioned the jury in closing arguments about witness reliability and prosecutors' evidence in the conspiracy case.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

7 minute read

March 07, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Three partners and five associates have left Dallas-based Godwin Pappas Langley Ronquillo to form Langley Weinstein Hamel.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys and Miriam Rozen

4 minute read

February 05, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Five law firms with offices in Dallas have contributed $15,000 each to help pay for operation of a system of cameras the Dallas Police Department recently installed on light poles in the Central Business District.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

7 minute read

November 04, 2002 | Texas Lawyer

Jean-Michel Malek is as much a troubleshooter as a general counsel at Houston's Camac Holdings Inc., a privately owned energy company in Houston. As the only U.S. lawyer at Camac, Malek does the routine work of a general counsel -- but he's also a take-charge problem-solver whose tasks range from finding ways to conduct due diligence in foreign countries to figuring out how to free stranded company airplanes from Algeria.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

9 minute read

December 13, 2005 | Law.com

A federal judge Monday morning declared a mistrial in the nation's first federal Vioxx trial after a Texas jury was unable to decide on the verdict. "If a retrial is scheduled we will be right back with the same facts," Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck's general counsel, said in a statement. Plaintiffs lawyer Jere Beasley said he's also ready to retry the suit. "I don't like moral victories," Beasley said. "We would much preferred to have had a verdict."

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

3 minute read

March 04, 2010 | Law.com

Matthew Deffebach returned to Haynes and Boone on Monday, about a month after the partner donated a kidney to the son of Iva York, a longtime firm staffer. York had only met Deffebach a couple times before last November, but her son Mitch says Deffebach is "a part of our family now."

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

9 minute read

January 26, 2009 | Law.com

Houston lawyer Richard T. Howell Jr., whose firm was scammed out of $182,500 by a client who hired him through e-mail, says he is talking publicly about the situation so he can prevent other lawyers from making the same mistakes. In October 2008, Howell became the victim of a sophisticated, international version of a classic check-fraud scam, say two Texas consumer law attorneys, as well as Dan Parsons, president of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Houston and South Texas.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

10 minute read

October 19, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

Many incoming first-year associates at BigTex firms are making lemondade out of lemons this fall as they deal with months of unexpected free time because their firms have delayed their start dates from the fall of 2009 to January 2010 or later. Justin Almand volunteered to defer his start date with Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

12 minute read