Inadmissible

Vinson & Elkins opened a San Francisco office on May 14 to complement the office it opened in Palo Alto, Calif., in January 2010. “We would expect the two offices would work in close coordination to each other. There’s some synergies to being in the local market,” says Mark Kelly, chairman of the Houston-based firm. He says the San Francisco office will focus on antitrust, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property work and white-collar crime defense. Litigation partner Matthew Jacobs relocated from the Palo Alto office to San Francisco, and Kelly says a number of associates have moved to the firm’s newest office. “We have big hopes for this office and for California generally — an important strategic move,” Jacobs says. The firm did not set up shop in San Francisco for any particular client, Kelly says. “It was more looking long term and looking in terms of where we want to be to expand our national litigation,” he says. The San Francisco office is the 16th for the firm. V&E has six lawyers in Palo Alto.

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The keynote speakers for the spring hooding ceremonies at Texas’ nine American Bar Association-accredited law schools included jurists, an academician, a philanthropist, an assistant attorney general, private practitioners, a general counsel and the president of the State Bar of Texas. The May rituals began May 12 at four of the schools. Philanthropist Robert H. Dedman Jr. delivered the keynote address at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas; Judge Ilona M. Holmes of the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Fort Lauderdale spoke to graduates at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston; Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, addressed graduates at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth; and Alan R. Crain, senior vice president and general counsel of Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., was the speaker at the University of Houston Law Center. Four graduation ceremonies were held May 19. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff of San Antonio addressed graduates at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. Sigmund G. Libowitz, actor, movie producer, screenwriter and an associate with Venable in Washington, D.C., was the keynote speaker at South Texas College of Law in Houston; State Bar President Bob Black, managing partner of MehaffyWeber in Beaumont, was the commencement speaker at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock; and trial lawyer Joe Jamail, a founder of Jamail & Kolius in Houston, gave the graduation address to students at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. Baylor University School of Law in Waco held its spring commencement ceremony on April 28, at which Baylor law professor Jeremy Counseller was the keynote speaker.

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