Inadmissible

Two Texas plaintiffs attorneys — Mikal Watts and Scott Summy — are among 15 lawyers appointed to the plaintiffs steering committee in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill multi-district litigation. On Oct. 10, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana signed an order in In Re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010 , appointing 15 lawyers to the committee. Summy, a partner in Baron & Budd in Dallas, is one of four lawyers on the executive committee. “Right off the bat, we have to get organized,” says Summy, who says his goal is to keep the litigation on track to meet a trial setting in the spring of 2012. Watts, a partner in Watts Guerra Craft in San Antonio, says the committee is full of “excellent lawyers from excellent law firms.”

For the State

Jeffrey Van Horn , the state prosecuting attorney, says he will retire effective Dec. 6. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has appointed Lisa McMinn , currently the first assistant, as his successor, Van Horn says. McMinn, a 1987 graduate of Baylor University School of Law , was an assistant district attorney in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office from 1988 to 1992 and a staff attorney at the CCA from 1992 until 2005, when she joined the Office of the State Prosecuting Attorney . She has served as the first assistant since June 2007. McMinn says, “This office has a tradition of first-rate appellate advocacy and helping prosecutors across the state. I hope to continue that tradition and build on it.” Van Horn served as Caldwell County’s district attorney from 1981 to 1990 and joined the state prosecuting attorney’s staff in 1991. He has served as the state prosecuting attorney since May 2007. Rob Kepple , executive director of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association , says that TDCAA presented Van Horn the “Prosecutor of the Year” Award on Sept. 23 at its annual conference on Padre Island. The state prosecuting attorney represents the state in proceedings before the CCA and may assist district or county attorneys in representing the state before a court of appeals if requested to do so, notes the SPA website.

Bowing Out