Texas Lawyer Blog

In 140 characters or less, would you choose law school again?

This month, Texas Lawyer reporter Angela Morris (@AMorrisReports) tweeted the question, "If you had it to do over again, would you go to law school?"

Here are some of the reply Tweets from Texas lawyers and a Texas law student. To add to the conversation, use hashtag #Law SchoolAgain.

"I believe it's the most valuable advanced degree available, even if you never practice, so yes."
Alicia Wagner Calzada
associate
Sedgwick
Austin
@aliciaphoto

"In 2000? Yes. In 2012? Not so much."
Dylan O. Drummond
Austin managing attorney
Griffith Nixon Davison
@dodrummond

"[A]t least after my first year, I would definitely do it again."
Brad Estes
law student
University of Texas School of Law
Austin
@bradestes88

"Would I do #LawSchoolAgain? An enthusiastic yes! An amazing 3 years if you let yourself enjoy it."
Amber MacIver
associate
Baker Botts
Austin
@Amber_MacIver

"That depends on whether 90% of the curriculum still focused on near-worthless 'how to think like a lawyer.' "
Chad Ruback
appellate solo
Dallas
@appellatelaw

"Yes, in a heartbeat, but I'd be smarter about how to handle my student loans."
Cindy Veidt
partner
Lippincott Phelan Veidt
Austin
@cindy_veidt

Editor's note: Yesterday, Texas Lawyer published its special focus report on law schools and legal education. Check our website, www.texaslawyer.com, for stats on who's hiring and from which schools, plus features on a summer associate who served in Iraq, the amount of debt Lone Star law grads carry, a student's plea for change in legal education, hiring partners' do's and don'ts for summer associates, and a Q&A with the incoming dean of the University of Texas School of Law.

Morning docket

Defendants fill, linger in state's mental health facilities (Austin American-Statesman)

Houston attorney John Kim recommends emotional investment (Houston Business Journal)

Judge candidates cite ‘Limas effect' on election (The Brownsville Herald)

There Is Hope for Your Legal Career (The National Law Journal)

-- Angela Morris

This week in Texas Lawyer

Howdy, you guys: Reporter Miriam Rosen poses questions to incoming UT Law School Dean Ward Farnsworth (pictured).

JAMS sued: Senior reporter John Council writes that plaintiffs who sued Fish & Richardson, two of the firm’s principals and a client have added JAMS and arbitrator Robert W. Faulkner as defendants.

"Inappropriate and profane": Reporters Brenda Sapino Jeffreys and Miriam Rozen team up for a story about emails that resulted in a motion for sanctions against a lawyer.

Inadmissible. Newmakers. Case summaries. VerdictSearch.

Special Report on Law Schools and Legal Education

Are happy days here again?: Research editor Jeanne Graham gets the numbers on firms’ summer associate programs. BONUS VIDEO: interviews with two summer associates.

Seize the opportunity: Get the inside scoop on how to succeed at a summer clerkship.

From Iraq to the firm: Meet an officer and a summer associate.

Debt data: Reporter Miriam Rozen looks at the debt burdens facing Texas law students.

Looking back: Would you choose law school again?

Get real: Soon-to-be 3L Raymond L. Panneton says it’s time law schools left the ivory tower and came down to earth.

Tech talk: The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addresses audio recordings and the First Amendment.

Lawyer life: Michael P. Maslanka shares lessons learned from law and love.

Technology: Julie Machal-Fulks has three action items for firms facing a data or security breach.

PACER in the Western District’s San Antonio Division will be down Saturday. But don’t panic.

If you need to file federal pleadings this Saturday in the San Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas and want to do that electronically, don’t bother. The division’s public website — including PACER — will be closed from 7 a.m. May 26 until 10 a.m. May 27.

That’s because workers will be installing Wi-Fi service in San Antonio’s U.S. District Courthouse during that time, says Fred Biery, chief judge of the Western District.

Biery says Wi-Fi is being installed in many of the courthouses in his district and San Antonio is just the latest. But not that he’ll ever use it. Biery lives a computer-free work life. He doesn’t have one in his chambers or on his bench.

“And don’t want to,” Biery says. “The only computer I have sits on my shoulders — the one I was born with.”

— John Council

How do leaders of big firms feel about summer associates?

Baker Botts’ hiring partner Van Beckwith of Dallas says he savors the time he gets to spend working with law students in the firm’s summer associate program.

“I love it,” Beckwith says. “It’s a breath of fresh air. It will keep me young, like my children do. You really do get to know what some really, really talented law students are thinking about the law and the practice of law, and develop some great friendships.”

James “Jamie” Ribman, hiring shareholder for the Dallas office of Looper Reed & McGraw, agrees.

“It’s a lot of fun having them around,” Ribman says. “I think part of being a more senior attorney is having the opportunity to spend time with younger associates and law students. Folks around here really like training and mentoring and look forward to that opportunity.”

Steven Pfeiffer, executive committee chairman of Fulbright & Jaworski since 2003, says he met the man who, years later, would become his successor during one of the firm’s summer programs.

“I first got to know Ken Stewart when I was in Houston and he was a summer associate back in 1978,” says Pfeiffer of Washington, D.C.

The firm recently announced that Ken Stewart, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Dallas office, has been elected executive committee chairman effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Firm policy requires Pfeiffer to step down from the position because his 65th birthday is this year.

Summer associates are “very talented, interesting people and it’s fun to be around them,” Pfeiffer says. “Even though I’m rather ancient now, I remember being a summer associate like it was yesterday.”

-- Jeanne Graham

Editor's note: This week, Texas Lawyer publishes its special focus report on law schools and legal education. Check our website, www.texaslawyer.com, for stats on who's hiring and from which schools, plus features on a summer associate who served in Iraq, the amount of debt Lone Star law grads carry, a student's plea for change in legal education, and attorneys' thoughts on whether they'd do it all over again.

5th Circuit rules on beach access in Severance v. Patterson

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday declared the Texas Open Beaches Act unconstitutional in a case pitting private property rights against the state's enforcement of the public's right to free beach access.

In a May 21 per curiam opinion in Carol Severance v. Jerry Patterson, et al., the 5th Circuit noted that a Texas Supreme Court opinion deciding questions certified from the 5th Circuit declared, “Texas law does not recognize a ‘rolling easement’ created by avulsive events affecting the dry beach of Galveston’s West Beach.” The opinion continues, “[T]his answer reifies the claim of appellant Severance to an ‘unreasonable’ seizure violative of the Fourth Amendment. . . .”

Chief Judge Edith Jones, Judge Edith Clement and Judge Jacques Wiener were on the panel, with Wiener dissenting.

Severance owned three properties on Galveston Island in 2005, when Hurricane Rita devastated the Texas Coast. The hurricane washed away the beach, leaving one of Severance's properties seaward of the vegetation line. The Texas General Land Office in 2006 determined that property was on the public beach and offered Severance $40,000 to remove her house. Severance sued state and local officials in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston. Her first suit was dismissed, but upon appeal, a divided 5th Circuit certified questions to the Texas Supreme Court to guide a determination on Severance's claim that taking her property without just compensation violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.

The 5th Circuit reversed and remanded the case to the U.S. district court to determine attorney’s fees for Severance.

-- Angela Morris

Here’s your chance to become a federal judge

Do you have a law degree? Do you know anything about federal sentencing guidelines? Do you like Texarkana, Corpus Christi or San Antonio?

If you answered yes to most of those questions, U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn would love to hear from you. Both Republicans are soliciting applications for vacant U.S. district court benches in those cities, according to a May 18 announcement on their websites.

Long ago, the two senators set up a bipartisan panel of attorneys in Texas, known as the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, to help identify candidates, review applications, interview candidates and make recommendations to the senators. 

"Texans deserve the finest legal minds and ablest professionals to serve as U.S. District Judges throughout our state’s four federal judicial districts. Public service is a great calling, and, as a former judge, I encourage everyone who is interested in serving in these important positions to apply,” writes Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a press release.

“Texas has a long history of being served by accomplished judges,” Hutchison writes in a press release. “Serving on the federal bench is one of our most important judicial positions. I look forward to working with interested candidates and making a recommendation to the President.”

Applications can be found at www.hutchison.senate.gov or www.cornyn.senate.gov.  But hurry. Completed application must be submitted via e-mail at FJEC@hutchison.senate.gov or FJEC@cornyn.senate.gov. no later than June 1. Email is strongly recommended because of delays due to the enhanced security procedures involving Congressional mail.

--- John Council

Wick Phillips Gould & Martin opens Austin office

Dallas firm Wick Phillips Gould & Martin has opened an Austin office led by new transactional partner Shauna Martin (pictured). Martin, who joined the firm on May 3, had been executive vice president and general counsel-strategic transactions for GENBAND, a telecommunications company based in Dallas.

Martin says Wick Phillips, which is full service, will help her build a client base of entrepreneurs and technology companies. “They can support the transactions I want to do and keep the price right,” Martin says of Wick Phillips.

Martin, who had spent the last four years commuting weekly to GENBAND’s offices in Dallas, says it was time, from a personal perspective, to “get back to Austin.”

Martin and Bryan Wick, a founding partner in Wick Phillips, say the firm will expand in Austin over the next few years. Wick says Martin’s background in the technology business is a plus for the firm’s new Austin office.

“Austin is an area that continues to grow, and we think there’s opportunity for mid-sized firms to succeed, and it is also a heavily technology-focused industry in Austin,” Wick says.

The firm, which also has an office in Fort Worth, has 25 lawyers.

— Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

To steno or not to steno? Texas attorney general weighs in on audio/video recording of depositions

In response to a question from the Court Reporters Certification Board (CRCB), the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has decided that a litigant or his lawyer, or an employee of either one, may record a deposition solely by nonstenographic means like video or audio.

In a May 14 opinion, AG Greg Abbott decided there is no conflict between Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 199.1, which says parties may record depositions nonstenographically, and Texas Government Code § 52.021(f), which says, “all depositions . . . must be recorded by a certified shorthand reporter.”

In an Aug. 31 letter, 119th District Judge Bob Woodward, also the chairman of the CRCB, asked the OAG if there was a conflict between the rules of procedure and the statute. He wrote that the CRCB’s “inclination” was for the OAG to enforce the statute, requiring court reporters to record depositions stenographically. Woodward didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.

But the OAG’s opinion noted that Government Code §52.033 includes an exception allowing litigants, their lawyers, or an employee of either to record depositions by audio or video.

“These individuals may record a deposition solely by non-stenographic means without violating Government Code section 52.021(f),” says the opinion. It notes because the OAG found no conflict, it didn’t address other “concerns” Woodward raised in his request for an opinion.

OAG Spokesman Tom Kelley didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

-- Angela Morris

This week in Texas Lawyer

The $50,000 retainer: Dallas criminal-defense solo C. Tony Wright (pictured) tells senior reporter John Council he has learned a valuable lesson when it comes to making attorney’s fee agreements.

Firm breakup: A battle royal between former law partners ended in a draw. Senior reporter John Council finds out what happened to Shaw & Lemon.

Automaker sued:Chrysler Group LLC and Chrysler Canada Inc. face a strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty suit over a fatal Texas car wreck, writes senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys.

EDTX: A string of recent defense verdicts in the Eastern District of Texas has the patent bar buzzing about whether it’s a new era in that traditional plaintiffs stronghold.

Howdy, Justice: Retired Justice John Paul Stevens (pictured) tipped his hat to UT law school grads during a recent speech in Austin.

Appellate lawyer of the week: If not for the work of a Houston law partner, Krobar Drilling would be out $175,000 for undelivered equipment. Senior reporter John Council drills down into the case of the missing mud pump.

Dealmaker of the week:Linn Energy LLC of Houston didn’t turn to outside counsel to negotiate a joint venture agreementwith an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Senior reporter Brenda Sapino Jeffreys finds out who handled the deal.

Law tech: Upgrading hardware and software requires personnel persuasion, too.

Tax law: Mark Melton helps new law firms map the tax road in front of them.

From the Bench: James M. Stanton helps lawyers learn how to prevail at a summary judgment hearing.

DLA Piper: Evidence doesn’t support $1.29 million jury verdict

Claiming the evidence doesn’t support a $1.29 million jury verdict against it, DLA Piper asked a Travis County district court to disregard jury findings and issue judgment in favor of the firm, order a new trial or reduce the damages to $587,145.

In its April 27 Defendant’s Motions for JNOV, New Trial, and, Alternatively, For Suggestion of Remittitur, DLA Piper claims, among other things, that expert testimony at trial for the plaintiff about attorney disciplinary rules “fatally prejudiced the jury verdict.”

A jury in the 345th District Court returned the verdict on Feb. 23 after finding, among other things, that the firm was negligent in failing to advise Linegar, an Australian businessman, that it didn’t represent him in a transaction in which he loaned money to an Austin-based company, IdentiPHI Inc., in which he was a major shareholder.

DLA Piper’s lawyer, Fields Alexander, a partner in Beck, Redden & Secrest in Houston, and Linegar co-counsel Jeffrey Taylor, an associate with The Akin Law Firm’s Austin office, decline comment.

DLA Piper argues in its April 27 motion in Chris Linegar v. DLA Piper LLP (US)that Linegar lacked personal standing to sue because the damage, if any, affected Zaychan PTY Ltd., which is Linegar’s “majority-owned retirement-fund trustee.” Zaychan, not Linegar, loaned the money to IdentiPHI, says the motion.

DLA Piper also alleges there wasn’t evidence to support the jury’s findings on Linegar’s claims for malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud by nondisclosure, negligent misrepresentation and duty-to-warn. Alternatively, DLA Piper argues the damages shouldn’t exceed the balance that remained after IdentiPHI paid creditors and costs in bankruptcy.

-- Angela Morris

Two Texas trial lawyers make huge donations to Baylor for stadium

Prominent trial lawyers John Eddie Williams and Walter Umphrey have made major donations to help fund Baylor University’s planned stadium project.

The university announced May 17 that it has received a “major gift” from Sheila and Walter Umphrey to “support construction of the Sheila and Walter Umphrey Bridge at Baylor Stadium.” The bridge will span the Brazos River and connect the new stadium with Baylor Law School and the Baylor campus in Waco.

Umphrey’s donation comes on the heels of another major gift from Williams for naming rights for the field, which will be called John Eddie Williams Field.

In March, Elizabeth and Drayton McLane Jr. made a donation to help fund construction of the new Baylor Stadium. Baylor is not revealing the amount of any of the donations, but in press releases, Baylor announced that Umphrey’s gift is among the top 10 capital gifts in university history, and Williams’ gift is among the top five.

Baylor spokeswoman Lori Fogleman says the stadium project is expected to cost about $250 million, and fundraising continues.

Umphrey and Williams are graduates of the university and the law school. Williams, a partner in Houston’s Williams Kherkher Hart Boundas, says, “I went to Baylor on a football scholarship in 1972, went through Baylor undergrad and law school, mainly on scholarships. It’s a way for me to give back. I’ve always felt that whatever modicum of success I have is the result of a great education.”

Umphrey, a partner in Provost Umphrey in Beaumont, says, “Baylor has been awful good to me, especially the law school. I’ve been fortunate economically to be in a position to show my appreciation.”

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

What has become of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Houston office?

On March 26, Sean Gorman, who was managing partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Houston office, joined Houston’s Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mansing, along with three litigation associates. At that time, according to Dewey’s website, only a handful of lawyers remained in Dewey’s Houston office, and the New York City-based firm had shed at least 36 partners in 2012.

Now, seven weeks later, Dewey has laid off most of its staff and associates. Associate Catherine Harlan is the only Houston lawyer listed today on Dewey’s website.

Based on information on The American Lawyer’s Dewey Departure Tracker and from press releases, here’s the status of Dewey partners who were working in the firm’s Houston office at the time of Gorman’s departure: Thomas Moore joined Baker Botts in Houston on May 10, and Steven Otillar joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Houston on May 8.

On April 27, Charles Moore joined Morgan Lewis in Houston. On May 16, James Bowe Jr. who was listed with offices in Houston and Washington, D.C., offices, joined King & Spalding in D.C.

Texas Lawyer tried to reach all of the lawyers mentioned above, but none returned phone calls. Dewey’s Houston office contact, Karen Guttormson, also did not return a phone message.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Survey says: Big jumps in some not-so-positive numbers reflecting firm leaders' views of the future

The vast majority of leaders of large U.S. firms believe firms are competing on price more than they did before the recent economic downturn, results of a new survey indicate.

Compete on price: According to the fourth annual Altman Weil Law Firms in Transition Survey, 92 percent of firm leaders believe the new price competition system is the new paradigm, compared to only 42 percent who thought so in 2009.

Commodity market: Also, 89 percent of firm leaders believe legal work has become commoditized permanently, compared to only 26 percent who believed so in 2009.

Less room at the top: Of the firm leaders, 68 percent believe firms will make fewer equity partners in the future, compared to only 23 percent who thought that in 2009.

Less room at the bottom: Additionally, 55 percent believe firms will hire smaller first-year classes than before the recession, compared to only 11 percent who thought so three years ago.

Optimistic nonetheless: When asked about their overall confidence that firms are prepared to meet the challenges of the current legal marketplace, the majority of firm leaders gave their firm a “7” on a scale of 1-to-10, with a 10 meaning completely confident. That rating was an “8” in 2011, Altman Weil reports in a press release about the survey.

Here’s what firm leaders expect their greatest challenges to be over the next two years: sustaining and growing profitability, attracting and retaining the most talented lawyers, strengthening relationships with clients, and leading change/managing the expectations of partners.

Altman Weil, a consulting company in Newtown Square, Pa., surveyed managing partners and chairmen/chairwomen at 792 U.S. firms with 50 or more lawyers in March and April for the survey. The results are based on completed surveys from 238 firms. At least 16 of the firms surveyed are in Texas.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Fulbright & Jaworski names new chairman for executive committee, effective Jan. 1, 2013

Kenneth L. Stewart (pictured) will take over the leadership of 851-lawyer Fulbright & Jaworski on Jan. 1, 2013.

The firm announced today that its 351 partners have elected Stewart chairman of the Houston-based firm’s executive committee. He is currently partner-in-charge of the firm’s Dallas office and is a member of the firm’s policy committee and partners committee. He will succeed Steven B. Pfeiffer, of Washington, D.C., who has been chair of the firm’s executive committee since January 2003.

Stewart has been a corporate partner with the firm since 1987, according to the firm’s announcement. Neither Pfeiffer nor Stewart immediately returned a telephone call seeking comment.

UPDATE: On Jan. 1, 2013, Kenneth L. Stewart says he will be transitioning out of his private practice to focus his full-time energies on leading the firm. “It’s a big job, it takes a lot of time and I want to be a hands-on-leader,” he says. “I do have a lot of long-term client relationships and expect that they will want my judgment and expertise at times and I will certainly be available to answer those calls. But the vast majority of my time in the future will be leading the law firm.”

Stewart says he will have offices in Dallas and Houston but will spend a lot of time visiting the firm’s 17 offices worldwide. “Probably, technically, I will office in an airplane,” he says. “The management of our firm, and the chair in particular, spend a lot of time with our clients and I will be a part of that client service team.”

The chair’s term is four years. “I can try to stand for another term if I want to at that time, but there is no number of term limits per se,” he says. The firm requires partners to step down from management positions in the year that they turn 65, he says. The firm elected a new chair because its current chair, Steven B. Pfeiffer, is turning 65 this year, Stewart says.

-- Jeanne Graham

Greenberg Traurig’s loss is McDermott Will & Emery's gain

Allan Van Fleet (pictured) has joined McDermott Will & Emery in Houston as a partner in the firm’s antitrust and competition practice group, along with associate Nicholas Grimmer. Van Fleet and Grimmer joined McDermott from Greenberg Traurig’s Houston office.

“I am making the move to step up my antitrust game with some of the very best people in the world,” says Van Fleet, who says he’s excited to work again with Allison Smith, former U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division deputy assistant attorney general. (Van Fleet and Smith once worked together at Vinson & Elkins.)

Steven Spears, partner-in-charge of McDermott’s Houston office, says, “Allan brings a lot to the office.” Van Fleet says his clients include The Kansas City Southern Railway Co. of Kansas City, Mo. He says he spent Monday and Tuesday moving into his new office.

In a written statement, Douglas Atnipp, co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Houston office, writes, "Allan is a fine lawyer. We wish him the best with his new firm."

--Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Michele Petty, Democratic candidate for Texas Supreme Court, seeks to boot opponent, Republican Justice Nathan Hecht, from ballot

A Texas Supreme Court candidate has sued high court Justice Nathan Hecht and the Texas Republican Party, among others, seeking to strike Hecht’s name from the ballot.

Michele Petty, who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for the Place 6 seat on the high court that Hecht now holds, claims Hecht’s candidacy is invalid because of alleged defects in some of the petitions required to put him on the ballot. That’s according to the May 11 petition in Michele Petty v. Texas Republican Party, et al., filed in Travis County’s 126th District Court.

The suit also names as defendants Texas Republican Party Chair Steve Munisteri and Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade.

“I think that the bottom line is that it’s important that the judicial candidates all have to comply with the Election Code,” says Petty, a San Antonio civil-litigation solo.

Hecht, who is running unopposed in the Republican Primary, says he hasn’t been served with the suit, and he declines further comment. Munisteri and Rich Parsons, spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State’s office, each didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Chris Elam, spokesman for the Texas Republican Party, says he’s unsure if the party or Munisteri have been served with the suit.

Petty’s petition says the Texas Election Code requires judicial candidates to collect 50 signatures from each of the state’s 14 intermediate appellate districts. She alleges some Fort Worth signatures for Hecht are “facially defective” because there were “three blanks which should have been filled out completely but were left blank.”

Petty also claims: There are defects in the affidavits of the people who circulated the signature petitions; notaries failed to comply with the Texas Government Code; and people who circulated the petitions failed to comply with a requirement to read a statement informing people that upon signing, they’d become ineligible to vote in another party’s primary and more.

Petty seeks injunctive relief to enjoin and restrain the defendants from placing Hecht’s name on the primary or general-election ballots; certifying Hecht’s candidacy; or creating and circulating election materials including Hecht.

-- Angela Morris

Federal suit filed: Richard Mithoff representing children whose parents died in crash

Administrators of the estates of Joshua Bryant Berry and Robin Perlo Berry, who were killed in an accident in West Texas on July 2, 2011, and the guardian of the Houston’s couple’s three children filed a strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty suit on May 14 against Chrysler Group LLC and Chrysler Canada Inc.

The accident gained national attention after a number of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, assisted in fundraising for the Berry children.

The complaint was filed by Matthew Berry, guardian of the three Berry children and administrator of Joshua Berry’s estate, and Sue G. Perlo, administrator of Robin Berry’s estate.

All three children were injured in the accident, but the couple’s two sons sustained “permanent paraplegia.” The children currently live in Houston with Matthew Berry and his family.

In Matthew Berry, et al., v. Chrysler Group LLC, et al., filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the plaintiffs also bring a negligence cause of action against Mike Scott Doyle, the driver of the Toyota 4Runner that allegedly veered across the road and collided with the Berry family’s 2003 Chrysler Town & Country minivan.

The plaintiffs allege in the complaint that the “structural safety cage” of the minivan “failed structurally,” crushing Robin Berry, the driver, and Joshua Berry, the front-seat passenger. The plaintiffs also allege the rear seat restraint system “failed to provide adequate restraint and actually increased risk of serious injury to these children.”

The plaintiffs seek unspecified actual damages from the defendants, along with prejudgment and post-judgment interest and other relief.

Richard Mithoff (pictured), an attorney for the plaintiffs, says he cannot estimate damages but says the lifetime care of the children will “run into the millions of dollars.” He says, “It’s obviously a very substantial case. The two young boys are paralyzed from the waist down, and all three of the children, of course, lost their parents.”

Michael Palese, a spokesman for both Chrysler entities, wrote this in response to a call requesting comment on the allegations in the complaint: “Chrysler Group’s sympathies remain with the Berry family and friends. . . . We note that the 2003 Chrysler Town & Country minivan meets or exceeds all applicable federal safety standards and has an excellent safety record. As Chrysler Group has not been served with this lawsuit, and has not had an opportunity to study what it alleges, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Neither Phil Summers, a member in Lorance & Thompson of Houston who represents Doyle, nor Joseph Ahmad, a shareholder in Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing and an attorney for Perlo, immediately returned a telephone message each seeking comment.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys 

Vinson & Elkins opens San Francisco office

Vinson & Elkins opened an office in San Francisco today, to complement the office it opened in Palo Alto 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 also moved to the firm’s newest office. Jacobs did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

The firm didn’t set up shop in San Francisco for any particular client, he 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 currently has six lawyers in Palo Alto.

— Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

Keynote speakers prepare for law school graduation ceremonies

The keynote speakers for the spring hooding ceremonies at Texas’ nine American Bar Association-accredited law schools include 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 begin tomorrow at five of the schools. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff of San Antonio will address graduates at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio; philanthropist Robert H. Dedman Jr. will deliver the keynote address at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas; Judge Ilona M. Holmes, 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Fort Lauderdale, will speak 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, will address 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. will be the speaker at the University of Houston Law Center.

Three graduation ceremonies are planned for May 19. Sigmund G. Libowitz, actor, movie producer, screen writer and associate with Venable in Washginton, D.C., will be the keynote speaker at South Texas College of Law in Houston; State Bar of Texas President Bob Black will be the commencement speaker at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock; and trial lawyer Joe Jamail, partner in Jamail & Kolius in Houston, will give 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. Jeremy Counseller, Baylor Law professor, was the keynote speaker.

-- Jeanne Graham