SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

After Axcess International, Inc. filed an October 2016 motion for a rehearing, the Texas Supreme Court finally declined to hear the $41 million Baker Botts, LLP malpractice case on November 18. The motion filed by Axcess argued that they were prematurely dismissed from a lower appellate court for excessively strict evidentiary standards.

LUBBOCK -- Texas Tech School of Law dean and professor Darby Dickerson has announced she is leaving to become the new dean at the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, starting Jan. 1, 2017.

DALLAS -- Fifth Court of Appeals Justice, David Lewis, who agreed to a judicial suspension in November 2015 while continuing treatment for alcohol abuse, signed an agreement to resign Oct. 10, 2016, in lieu of pending disciplinary proceedings over accusations by his colleagues that he exhibited erratic behavior and failed to prepare for and participate in cases.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has agreed to a judgment and permanent injunction against a former disbarred immigration attorney, Paul A. Esquivel, his former associate attorney, Juan Carlos Penaflor, and former office manager, Olvia Martinez.

At the end of November, Texas-based law firm Burleson LLP announced it would be closing due to the steady decline in oil prices. At least 10 of its lawyers found work in the Pittsburg office of Frost Brown Todd LLC, a firm that still has a strong practice with an oil and gas division.