Texas Supreme Court
Justice Jimmy Blacklock was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2018 by Governor Greg Abbott. Before that, Jimmy served as Governor Abbott’s General Counsel and in the Attorney General’s Office under then-AG Abbott. While at the AG’s Office, he handled appeals and trials of constitutional cases in state and federal court involving matters such as federalism, religious liberty, and the separation of powers. As Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, he oversaw the Open Records and Opinions divisions of the AG’s Office. Earlier in his career, Jimmy was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he worked in private practice in Houston and Austin. He clerked for Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after graduating from U.T.-Austin (B.A., Plan II/History) and Yale Law School. He was born in Houston and now lives in Austin with his wife and three daughters.
Judge, Texas Business Court, Eleventh Division
Former State District Court Judge Grant Dorfman currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the new (established 9/1/2024) Texas Business Court. He previously served as Judge of the 129th District Court of Harris County from 2002-2008 and as Judge of the 334th District Court from (Oct.) 2013-2016 -- both times initially appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry. From 2009 to 2013, Judge Dorfman was the in-house attorney in charge of litigation for Nabors Industries, then the world’s largest land-based drilling contractor. He also served as Deputy First Assistant to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from Dec. 2020 until Feb. 2024.
Judge Dorfman obtained an A.B. in Honors History from Brown University, a Master of Studies (M.St.) in History and Political Philosophy from Oxford University, and a J.D. from the Yale Law School. After law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and practiced commercial litigation for ten years with two Houston law firms before taking the bench: Susman Godfrey and Ogden, Gibson, White & Broocks. Judge Dorfman also was Of Counsel to Sheehy, Ware & Pappas from 2017-2019, where his practice centered on commercial and insurance defense litigation, appeals, and alternative dispute resolution.
Judge Dorfman has also served as a member of the faculty of the National Judicial College and taught as an adjunct faculty member of the University of Houston Law Center and the South Texas College of Law. A Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation and a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, Judge Dorfman has also served on numerous committees of the Houston Bar Association Communities, as an ASTAR (Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource) Judge, and as a member of the State Bar Pattern Jury Charge Committee and of the Texas Supreme Court Code of Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee.
Justice, Texas Fifteenth District Court of Appeals
April Farris was appointed to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals on September 1 of 2024. April previously served on the First Court of Appeals after being appointed in 2021 and elected in 2022.
Before joining the Court, April was a partner at Yetter Coleman LLP, where she handled complex appellate litigation for energy, technology, and government clients. While in private practice, she was recognized in appellate law by Law360, Best Lawyers in America, and Thompson Reuters' Super Lawyers. In 2020, she was one of five attorneys in the nation to be named a Law360 appellate Rising Star, an honor reserved for lawyers under 40.
April previously served as an Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Texas, handling appeals for various Texas agencies. She is a former councilmember for the Texas State Bar's Appellate Section and a current councilmember for the Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Section. She serves as a trustee for the Texas Supreme Court Historical Association, and she is on the board of the Garland R. Walker Inn of Court in Houston. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas Pattern Jury Charge Oversight Committee, and she is on the editorial board of The Advocate. In 2022 and 2023, she was a guest instructor for Harvard Law School's Introduction to Trial Advocacy Program. She taught Origins of the Federal Constitution with Judge Charles Eskridge at the University of Texas School of Law in 2025, and she previously taught First Amendment at South Texas College of Law.
April clerked for Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2009, and she earned her bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Abilene Christian University in 2006. She was named ACU's Young Alumnus of the Year for 2025. She enjoys spending time with her husband and children, tennis, and theology.
Judge, Texas Business Court, Third Division
Patrick K. Sweeten of Austin was appointed to the Texas Business Court—Third Division by Governor Abbott. He is a seasoned trial lawyer with over 27 years of experience litigating in federal and state court, both plaintiff and defense side, including as lead counsel in pharmaceutical, securities, multi-district litigation, voting rights litigation, and deceptive trade practices and common law fraud actions. Previously, he served as the Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation and Chief of the Special Litigation Unit for the Office of the Texas Attorney General. While at the Office of Attorney General, he built a new division, oversaw more than a dozen large trial teams managing complex litigation impacting the State of Texas, and secured well over a quarter of a billion dollars in settlements and recoveries. He also served as the state’s lead counsel in defense of the 2014, 2017, and 2022 rounds of redistricting litigation, and in 2018 successfully defended the state against challenges to its century-old method of electing Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals judges statewide. He also successfully defended the State in approximately ten federal lawsuits seeking judicial modification of Texas election laws prior to the November 2020 election. Before his service with the Texas Attorney General, he was an associate and shareholder for close to a decade at Delano Law Offices, L.L.C. in Springfield, Illinois. Sweeten received a Bachelor of Arts from UT Austin and a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Dean and Anthony B. Buzbee Endowed Dean's Chair, Texas A&M University School of Law
A graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Yale Law School, Robert B. Ahdieh served as law clerk to Judge James R. Browning of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before his selection for the Honor's Program in the Civil Division of the US Department of Justice.
While still in law school, Ahdieh published what remains one of the seminal treatments of the constitutional transformation of post-Soviet Russia: "Russia's Constitutional Revolution—Legal Consciousness and the Transition to Democracy." Ahdieh's work has also appeared in the Boston University Law Review, Michigan Law Review, theMinnesota Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Southern California Law Review, among other journals.
Ahdieh’s scholarly interests revolve around questions of regulatory and institutional design, especially in the financial arena. His particular focus has been on various non-traditional regulatory structures and modes of regulation, including those grounded in dynamics of coordination. Though relatively less studied in the legal literature, the framework of coordination holds significant promise both in helping us theorize existing regulatory patterns and in defining new regulatory constructs for the future.
Ahdieh has explored regulatory and institutional design in a variety of transactional areas, including corporate and securities law, international trade and finance, and contracts. Within these, his work has emphasized two particular patterns of coordination. The first—intersystemic governance—draws on domestic regimes of federalism and transnational regimes of global governance and subsidiarity to highlight the potential benefits of complex systems of overlapping jurisdiction. The second draws on the dynamics at work in so-called “coordination games” to highlight distinct occasions for potential regulatory intervention, as well as various non-traditional regulatory forms, in our modern economic, social, and political order.
During the 2007–2008 academic year, Ahdieh was a visiting professor and the Microsoft/LAPA Fellow at Princeton University's Program in Law and Public Affairs. In Spring 2014, he served as Douglas McK. Brown Visiting Chair in Law, University of British Columbia. He has also visited at Columbia and Georgetown law schools, as well as numerous law schools overseas.
Texas Supreme Court
Justice Jimmy Blacklock was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2018 by Governor Greg Abbott. Before that, Jimmy served as Governor Abbott’s General Counsel and in the Attorney General’s Office under then-AG Abbott. While at the AG’s Office, he handled appeals and trials of constitutional cases in state and federal court involving matters such as federalism, religious liberty, and the separation of powers. As Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, he oversaw the Open Records and Opinions divisions of the AG’s Office. Earlier in his career, Jimmy was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he worked in private practice in Houston and Austin. He clerked for Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after graduating from U.T.-Austin (B.A., Plan II/History) and Yale Law School. He was born in Houston and now lives in Austin with his wife and three daughters.
Costa is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Houston office and co-chair of the firm’s Trials Practice Group. Mr. Costa offers clients a unique perspective as the only former federal trial and appellate judge trying cases and leading investigations. His broad experience—having handled complex civil and criminal matters, at trial and on appeal, as advocate and judge—allows him to offer invaluable skills and strategic insights.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Costa served for more than ten years as a federal trial and appellate judge. He served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2014 to 2022. After his nomination by President Obama, the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 97-0. No federal appellate judge nominated since has received more votes. Mr. Costa first served as a district judge for the Southern District of Texas from 2012 to 2014. When appointed to the bench, he was the youngest-sitting federal judge at age 39. Mr. Costa presided over thirty federal trials in four different venues (he continued handling district court matters while serving on the court of appeals). He wrote precedential opinions in almost every area of the law, including antitrust, intellectual property, class actions, international arbitration, securities fraud, bankruptcy, conflicts of law, labor and employment, oil and gas, False Claims Act, administrative law, constitutional law, and criminal law. In press accounts of his tenure, he was described as an “exceptionally gifted jurist” with a “towering intellect” who was “respected by all sides.” The Federal Judicial Center invited Mr. Costa on multiple occasions to teach new federal district judges.
Before taking the bench, Mr. Costa was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston from 2005 to 2012. As a prosecutor, he tried more than 15 jury trials, including serving as a lead prosecutor of Allen Stanford, the head of Stanford Financial Group, for orchestrating a multibillion-dollar international fraud scheme. Mr. Costa is featured in a documentary about the case, The Man Who Bought Cricket. A Reuters article about the trial quotes a victim who said that Mr. Costa’s closing argument “brought her to tears.” For his work on the Stanford case, Mr. Costa received the John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service. He also prosecuted cases involving kickbacks in the energy industry, public corruption, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud, internet fraud, and counterfeit technology products. During his time as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Costa served as the Southern District of Texas’s Deputy International Affairs Coordinator, during which he assisted with investigations in more than a dozen countries.
Mr. Costa is a frequent speaker and author on legal topis, including writing for the ABA’s Litigation Journal on various trial-related issues. He also taught Federal Jurisdiction at the University of Houston Law Center, where he was named an Honorary Alumnus.
After college, Mr. Costa taught elementary school for two years in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. He has remained involved in the Delta and in education, launching a nonprofit in Mississippi, serving on the board of the Houston Urban Debate League, and helping teach Government at a Houston‑area charter school.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Reed Charles O'Connor is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
A native of Houston, Texas, O'Connor graduated from the University of Houston with his bachelor's degree in 1986 and from South Texas College of Law with his J.D. in 1989.
Executive General Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Hiram Sasser is Executive General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, where he oversees First Liberty’s litigation and media efforts. Sasser’s practice focuses on First Amendment and other constitutional and civil rights issues relating to religious liberty. Sasser served as co-counsel in seven victories before the United States Supreme Court, including Groff v. DeJoy (landmark case overturning the “de minimis cost” test for Title VII in place almost 50 years), Kennedy v. Bremerton (landmark case overturning 50 years of Establishment Clause precedent), Carson v. Makin (overturning 40 years of Maine’s discrimination against parents choosing faith-based schools), American Legion v. American Humanist Association (landmark case ending Establishment Clause attacks on veterans’ memorials with religious imagery), Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (granted, vacated, and remanded (twice) in religious wedding service case), and Sause v. Bauer (summary reversal revoking qualified immunity for police who ordered a citizen not to pray in her own home).
In addition to his legal duties, Sasser develops, coordinates, and implements successful media strategies on behalf of his clients. This includes numerous appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the BBC as well as being heard on various radio stations throughout the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
In 2016, Sasser took a leave of absence to serve a temporary assignment as the Chief of Staff for the Attorney General of Texas. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at both The University of Texas at Austin School of Law (teaching Religious Liberty) and Oklahoma City University School of Law (teaching Civil Rights Procedure).
Regional Deputy General Counsel, North America and Lead Counsel, Treasury, Willis Towers Watson
Texas Supreme Court
Justice Jimmy Blacklock was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2018 by Governor Greg Abbott. Before that, Jimmy served as Governor Abbott’s General Counsel and in the Attorney General’s Office under then-AG Abbott. While at the AG’s Office, he handled appeals and trials of constitutional cases in state and federal court involving matters such as federalism, religious liberty, and the separation of powers. As Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, he oversaw the Open Records and Opinions divisions of the AG’s Office. Earlier in his career, Jimmy was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he worked in private practice in Houston and Austin. He clerked for Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after graduating from U.T.-Austin (B.A., Plan II/History) and Yale Law School. He was born in Houston and now lives in Austin with his wife and three daughters.
Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals
Jeff Gurley currently serves as a Law Clerk to Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Prior to this role, he clerked for Judge Sean D. Jordan on the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Jeff received his J.D. from Michigan Law School. While in law school, he served as chapter president of the Federalist Society, research assistant to Professor Christopher J. Walker, and a judicial intern for Judge Joan L. Larsen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied political science and was an all-conference linebacker on the football team.
Legal Fellow, Pacific Legal Foundation
Sydney Madigan joined Pacific Legal Foundation in August 2024. Before coming to PLF, she clerked for the Hon. Joseph L. Falvey, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Sydney is a graduate of George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, where she served as the Federalist Society Chapter president. In addition to her law degree, she holds a degree in mathematics from Christendom College, where she researched the philosophical controversy surrounding computer-assisted proofs.
Sydney and her husband live in Virginia with their children.
Senior Research Associate, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Seth Lucas is a Senior Research Associate at The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Before joining Heritage, Seth served as a Paralegal at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he supported attorneys in litigation across the United States that sought to advance academic freedom and religious liberty.
Seth is a graduate of Patrick Henry College and is currently enrolled as a part-time juris doctorate candidate at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
Attorney, Center for American Future
Christian Townsend is an attorney with the Center for the American Future. Prior to joining the Foundation, Christian was a legal associate with the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
During law school, Christian interned in Washington, DC at the New Civil Liberties Alliance and the Cato Institute and in Cambodia at the law offices of Tilleke & Gibbins.
Christian received his JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he was the President of IU’s chapter of the Federalist Society and Executive Online Editor of the Indiana Law Journal. Christian attended undergrad at Cedarville University where he received BAs in political science and history. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and Maryland.
Dean and Anthony B. Buzbee Endowed Dean's Chair, Texas A&M University School of Law
A graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Yale Law School, Robert B. Ahdieh served as law clerk to Judge James R. Browning of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before his selection for the Honor's Program in the Civil Division of the US Department of Justice.
While still in law school, Ahdieh published what remains one of the seminal treatments of the constitutional transformation of post-Soviet Russia: "Russia's Constitutional Revolution—Legal Consciousness and the Transition to Democracy." Ahdieh's work has also appeared in the Boston University Law Review, Michigan Law Review, theMinnesota Law Review, the NYU Law Review, and the Southern California Law Review, among other journals.
Ahdieh’s scholarly interests revolve around questions of regulatory and institutional design, especially in the financial arena. His particular focus has been on various non-traditional regulatory structures and modes of regulation, including those grounded in dynamics of coordination. Though relatively less studied in the legal literature, the framework of coordination holds significant promise both in helping us theorize existing regulatory patterns and in defining new regulatory constructs for the future.
Ahdieh has explored regulatory and institutional design in a variety of transactional areas, including corporate and securities law, international trade and finance, and contracts. Within these, his work has emphasized two particular patterns of coordination. The first—intersystemic governance—draws on domestic regimes of federalism and transnational regimes of global governance and subsidiarity to highlight the potential benefits of complex systems of overlapping jurisdiction. The second draws on the dynamics at work in so-called “coordination games” to highlight distinct occasions for potential regulatory intervention, as well as various non-traditional regulatory forms, in our modern economic, social, and political order.
During the 2007–2008 academic year, Ahdieh was a visiting professor and the Microsoft/LAPA Fellow at Princeton University's Program in Law and Public Affairs. In Spring 2014, he served as Douglas McK. Brown Visiting Chair in Law, University of British Columbia. He has also visited at Columbia and Georgetown law schools, as well as numerous law schools overseas.
Texas Supreme Court
Justice Jimmy Blacklock was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2018 by Governor Greg Abbott. Before that, Jimmy served as Governor Abbott’s General Counsel and in the Attorney General’s Office under then-AG Abbott. While at the AG’s Office, he handled appeals and trials of constitutional cases in state and federal court involving matters such as federalism, religious liberty, and the separation of powers. As Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, he oversaw the Open Records and Opinions divisions of the AG’s Office. Earlier in his career, Jimmy was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he worked in private practice in Houston and Austin. He clerked for Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after graduating from U.T.-Austin (B.A., Plan II/History) and Yale Law School. He was born in Houston and now lives in Austin with his wife and three daughters.
Costa is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Houston office and co-chair of the firm’s Trials Practice Group. Mr. Costa offers clients a unique perspective as the only former federal trial and appellate judge trying cases and leading investigations. His broad experience—having handled complex civil and criminal matters, at trial and on appeal, as advocate and judge—allows him to offer invaluable skills and strategic insights.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Costa served for more than ten years as a federal trial and appellate judge. He served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2014 to 2022. After his nomination by President Obama, the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 97-0. No federal appellate judge nominated since has received more votes. Mr. Costa first served as a district judge for the Southern District of Texas from 2012 to 2014. When appointed to the bench, he was the youngest-sitting federal judge at age 39. Mr. Costa presided over thirty federal trials in four different venues (he continued handling district court matters while serving on the court of appeals). He wrote precedential opinions in almost every area of the law, including antitrust, intellectual property, class actions, international arbitration, securities fraud, bankruptcy, conflicts of law, labor and employment, oil and gas, False Claims Act, administrative law, constitutional law, and criminal law. In press accounts of his tenure, he was described as an “exceptionally gifted jurist” with a “towering intellect” who was “respected by all sides.” The Federal Judicial Center invited Mr. Costa on multiple occasions to teach new federal district judges.
Before taking the bench, Mr. Costa was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston from 2005 to 2012. As a prosecutor, he tried more than 15 jury trials, including serving as a lead prosecutor of Allen Stanford, the head of Stanford Financial Group, for orchestrating a multibillion-dollar international fraud scheme. Mr. Costa is featured in a documentary about the case, The Man Who Bought Cricket. A Reuters article about the trial quotes a victim who said that Mr. Costa’s closing argument “brought her to tears.” For his work on the Stanford case, Mr. Costa received the John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service. He also prosecuted cases involving kickbacks in the energy industry, public corruption, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, securities fraud, internet fraud, and counterfeit technology products. During his time as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Costa served as the Southern District of Texas’s Deputy International Affairs Coordinator, during which he assisted with investigations in more than a dozen countries.
Mr. Costa is a frequent speaker and author on legal topis, including writing for the ABA’s Litigation Journal on various trial-related issues. He also taught Federal Jurisdiction at the University of Houston Law Center, where he was named an Honorary Alumnus.
After college, Mr. Costa taught elementary school for two years in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. He has remained involved in the Delta and in education, launching a nonprofit in Mississippi, serving on the board of the Houston Urban Debate League, and helping teach Government at a Houston‑area charter school.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Reed Charles O'Connor is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
A native of Houston, Texas, O'Connor graduated from the University of Houston with his bachelor's degree in 1986 and from South Texas College of Law with his J.D. in 1989.
Executive General Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Hiram Sasser is Executive General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, where he oversees First Liberty’s litigation and media efforts. Sasser’s practice focuses on First Amendment and other constitutional and civil rights issues relating to religious liberty. Sasser served as co-counsel in seven victories before the United States Supreme Court, including Groff v. DeJoy (landmark case overturning the “de minimis cost” test for Title VII in place almost 50 years), Kennedy v. Bremerton (landmark case overturning 50 years of Establishment Clause precedent), Carson v. Makin (overturning 40 years of Maine’s discrimination against parents choosing faith-based schools), American Legion v. American Humanist Association (landmark case ending Establishment Clause attacks on veterans’ memorials with religious imagery), Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (granted, vacated, and remanded (twice) in religious wedding service case), and Sause v. Bauer (summary reversal revoking qualified immunity for police who ordered a citizen not to pray in her own home).
In addition to his legal duties, Sasser develops, coordinates, and implements successful media strategies on behalf of his clients. This includes numerous appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the BBC as well as being heard on various radio stations throughout the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
In 2016, Sasser took a leave of absence to serve a temporary assignment as the Chief of Staff for the Attorney General of Texas. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at both The University of Texas at Austin School of Law (teaching Religious Liberty) and Oklahoma City University School of Law (teaching Civil Rights Procedure).
Regional Deputy General Counsel, North America and Lead Counsel, Treasury, Willis Towers Watson
Amicus Attorney, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Abby joined FIRE after her tenure at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she litigated First Amendment student group cases from coast to coast. She also worked at a trial litigation boutique in southern California. Abby has filed briefs on the First Amendment in state and federal court at the trial and appellate court levels, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby received her B.S. in economics and her B.A. in Chinese language and literature from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated summa cum laude. During college, she also spent a year at Tsinghua University as a Boren Fellow. She later received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she won the 2018 Hinton Moot Court Competition. After law school, Abby clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Brennan on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is admitted to practice in New York and California, as well as several federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby lives outside Dallas, Texas, with her husband and family. They enjoy reading together, volunteering with their local church, and continuing to fix their leaky pool.
Luncheon & Panel 3: Business Court and 15th Court of Appeals
2025 Texas Chapters Conference
Austin, TXTexas Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Awarding Noneconomic Damages
Jeff Gurley
The case of Gregory v. Chohan arose out of a tragic highway accident that...
The Supreme Court of Texas Addresses Exception to State Anti-Abortion Law
Sydney D. Madigan
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade,[1] the...
Federal Law and State Common Law Preemption Questions at the Texas Supreme Court
Seth Lucas
Courts are divided on whether federal regulations of rail carriers preempt state common law negligence...
Supreme Court of Texas Holds Governor Can Preempt Local Mask Orders
Christian Townsend
The Covid-19 pandemic produced many interesting and important constitutional questions. From vaccine mandates[1] to student...
Panel Discussion: The Consequences of Disruption
Robert B. Ahdieh, James Davis Blacklock, Gregg Costa, Reed O'Connor, Hiram Sasser, J. Ammon Smartt
Collegiality and the presumption that opposing counsel work together in good faith are bedrocks of...
Panel Discussion: The Consequences of Disruption
2023 Texas Chapters Conference
Houston, TXTexas Supreme Court Holds Foreign Auto Manufacturers Subject to Texas Jurisdiction
After taking care of some preliminary matters,[1] the Texas Supreme Court settled a personal...
A Conversation with Justice Jimmy Blacklock
San Antonio Lawyers Chapter
San Antonio, TXSupreme Court of Texas Says Calling Abortion Murder Is Protected Speech, Not Defamation
Abigail Smith
In Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity v. Dickson, the Supreme Court of Texas held that...