Workers prepare to remove Confederate statue in Robert E Lee Park, Dallas, Texas. (Credit: gigibees/Shutterstock.com)Small North Texas Firm Wins Auction for Lee Sculpture in Dallas
It's unclear whether Holmes Firm bid $1.435 million on the sculpture for itself or on behalf of a client.
June 14, 2019 at 04:16 PM
3 minute read
A small firm near Dallas won an auction for a controversial sculpture, agreeing to pay more than $1.4 million to the city of Dallas for Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier. It's unclear if Holmes Firm PC bid on the sculpture for its own use or for a client.
CEO Ronald Holmes did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council accepted the firm's $1.435 million bid for the sculpture, which the city had removed from a park two years ago at a cost of $450,000.
“All we know is he bid on the auction as the law firm. We do not know what the intentions are. He may be representing someone,” said Roxana Rubio, public affairs officer for the city of Dallas.
Rubio said the city has stored the bronze sculpture since it was removed from Turtle Creek Park in 2017, at a time when other cities around the country were also getting rid of monuments to the Confederacy. In May, the council declared the statue “surplus property” and authorized its sale by auction.
Holmes Firm used the name “LawDude” in the online auction. Rubio said the auction requirements call for the buyer to pick up the statue within five business days after the sale, but the city and Holmes Firm agreed to extend that time period and have not set a date.
One term of the sale was that the purchaser had to agree that it would not display the sculpture publicly in the city, and the council amended that requirement on Wednesday to include the entire Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Rubio said Holmes Firm agreed to that condition.
Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier was completed in 1936 by Alexander Phimister Proctor and restored in 1991. According to information on Lone Star Auctioneers' website, the bronze sculpture depicts Gen. Robert E. Lee riding his horse, Traveller, with a young soldier on another slightly smaller horse. It weighs 16,500 pounds.
The Holmes Firm is a six-lawyer firm in Addison, which is about 15 miles north of Dallas, that does real estate, corporate/securities, intellectual property, litigation, family wealth planning and employment law.
While it's unclear whether Holmes Firm bid on the sculpture for itself or on behalf of a client, an art lawyer in Dallas said that's not unheard of. Stuart Bumpas, a partner at Locke Lord, said it happens occasionally when a buyer wants to be anonymous.
“It's not just limited to art. Any purchase could in effect be fronted by a law firm,” he said.
|Read More
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Advising 'Capital-Intensive Spaces' Fuels Corporate Practice Growth For Haynes and Boone
4 minute read
Homegrown Texas Law Firms Expanded Outside the Lone Star State in 2024 As Out-of-State Firms Moved In
5 minute read
Energy Lawyers Working in Texas Expect Strong Demand to Continue in 2025 Across Energy Sector
6 minute readTrending Stories
- 1The Key Moves in the Reshuffling German Legal Market as 2025 Dawns
- 2Social Media Celebrities Clash in $100M Lawsuit
- 3Federal Judge Sets 2026 Admiralty Bench Trial in Baltimore Bridge Collapse Litigation
- 4Trump Media Accuses Purchaser Rep of Extortion, Harassment After Merger
- 5Judge Slashes $2M in Punitive Damages in Sober-Living Harassment Case
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
