Recognizing Excellence Across Multiple Levels
Best Law Firms rankings are divided into three major categories, each designed to distinguish greatness at various levels within the legal field:
Regional Tiers
Representing 127 practice areas across 17,161 firms, this category spotlights the top 2% of firms in the country in various metro areas and states. Regional awards provide clients with localized insights into leading firms in their areas.
National Tiers
Encompassing 75 practice areas, national awards were recognized to 2,264 firms that demonstrate exceptional expertise across broader markets. These rankings reflect the selectivity of national recognition, with only 0.5% of firms in the U.S. belonging to this select group.
Law Firm of the Year
The most distinguished honor, awarded to 64 firms across 74 practice areas, showcases firms that set the highest standards within specific practice areas. Achieving a “Law Firm of the Year” distinction signals outstanding service and dedication to clients, establishing these firms as leaders in their fields.
\"Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms awards are a valuable resource for individuals and companies seeking superior lawyers and law firms to represent them during disputes or litigation.\" – Fred Semke, Semke Forensic
The tiered structure of the rankings illustrates the precision and thoroughness of Best Law Firms’ evaluation process, making this list an invaluable resource for clients and professionals alike.
The Value of Best Law Firms Rankings
Best Law Firms rankings offer substantial value to multiple audiences, from clients to legal professionals:
For Clients
These rankings serve as a trusted law firm guide for those seeking high-quality legal representation. Whether facing personal legal issues or complex business litigation, Best Law Firms provides essential guidance for selecting top advocates.
For Law Firms
Our rankings offer a benchmark for industry standing, helping firms identify strengths and areas for growth. Recognized firms can proudly celebrate their awards as a testament to their dedication and expertise.
For Lawyers
Legal professionals can use the rankings to find reputable referrals, fostering collaboration and ensuring clients receive the best representation.
Through rigorous research and high standards, Best Law Firms remains a trusted authority relied upon by clients, firms and industry insiders alike.
Explore the 2025 Best Law Firms Rankings
Explore the complete 2025 Best Law Firms rankings to see which firms across the United States have earned recognition for their excellence. From regional standouts to nationally distinguished firms, we proudly celebrate the industry’s top talent. Visit Best Law Firms to find out who made the list and gain insights into the nation’s leading law firms.
For a deeper understanding of legal marketing trends and insights gathered from our U.S. research, download our comprehensive Legal Market Report—an essential resource for firms looking to enhance their visibility and client engagement.
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United States","ImageCreditor":"iStock/da-kuk","ImageUrl":"https://cdn.blrankings.com/best-lawyers/article-images/2025-best-law-firms-celebrating-15-years-of-legal-excellen-6195-5","ImageHeight":0,"ImageWidth":0},"SecondaryArticle":{"LexicographicSortName":"prosperousbusinessclimateincalifornia","DocumentId":5929,"Id":5929,"Title":"The Business Climate in California Is Golden","SeoTitle":"Prosperous Business Climate in California","UrlTitle":"prosperous-business-climate-in-california","Meta":"California's robust economy and infrastructure support thriving businesses and legal communities, bolstering massive strides in innovation and technology.","Author":"","AuthorId":0,"AuthorType":"B","Source":"2024 BLF California Issue","SourceUrl":null,"Caption":"California's robust economy and infrastructure support thriving businesses and legal communities, bolstering massive strides in innovation and technology.","Body":"The Tax Foundation 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index
The Tax Foundation 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index lists California as 48th among all states, ahead of New Jersey and New York. However, the Business Finance Council (BFC) notes that California ranks number one in innovation and technology. 99.8% of California businesses are small businesses, employing 48.8% of the California population. The BFC points to the following five reasons for California's business-friendly environment:
I cannot speak to the statistics, but our experience is that the California economy is very robust, with a high level of business mergers and acquisitions without regard to interest rate changes or high tax rates. We are increasingly busy with business sales and acquisitions and related tax planning.
Tax Planning Strategies for Business Owners Installment Sale Strategies
We help successful families and business owners minimize income and estate tax, better protect assets and transition client legacies and family values to the next generation. Our goal is to make a transformational change that improves the lives of our client's families. We recently obtained a $2.75 million reduction in estate tax with a supplemental estate tax for a farm family, enabling them to pay the remaining tax over 10 years. This enabled that family to continue farming into the next generation and beyond.
Business owners often work a lifetime or sometimes for multiple generations to develop a family business representing the family's most valuable asset. The income is frequently compressed into a year when the company is sold, triggering the highest federal tax brackets. The highest federal tax bracket for capital gains is 20%, and for ordinary income is 37%. The highest tax rate for California is now 14.4%. The combined rate for ordinary income is 51.4%, and for capital gains is 34.4%. One-third or more of the business value is lost in taxes.
One way to receive some relief is to use an installment sale to spread income to future years and obtain a lower tax bracket in later years. Note that Internal Revenue Code Section 453A puts a $5 million per person limit on installment sales. Some assets, such as publicly treated stocks or securities, do not qualify for installment sale treatment.
There are at least a dozen ways to reduce, defer or eliminate tax on capital gains or the sale of appreciated assets. Many prospective clients call to say they have sold their business or building and would like to minimize the related tax. However, the best, most attractive planning is done before the sale is closed or negotiated. Ideally, a client should begin planning in 2024 for a sale to close in 2026. This timing allows the most attractive planning.
The Two-Year Installment Sales Strategy
One such alternative is the Two-Year Installment Sale. Here's how it works: You can sell the asset to your children or a separate trust (sometimes called the \"deferred sale trust\") on a long-term installment sale. That way, your children or other beneficiaries can receive the total value and enjoyment of the property before the gain is recognized and subject to taxation. After a two-year waiting period, even the tax on the $1 million dollar can be minimized, and the property can be sold to a third-party buyer for cash. The children's trust receives the sale proceeds in cash, whereas the parent is deferring the tax for as much as 20 years.
Example Scenario:
For example, let's say you own Blackacre, a parcel of land you originally purchased for $200,000. Today, it has a fair market value of $10 million. You want it to benefit your children, so you sell Blackacre to your kid's deferred sale trust for $10 million to be paid over 20 years. The IRS requires a two-year gap between a related party installment sale and a second sale of the same asset. So, two years and one day later, we sold Blackacre to a third party for $11 million, paid in cash at closing. The deferred sale trust recognizes a gain on the sale tax over 20 years. Yet the family receives the entire $11 million of value while paying tax only on the $1 million gain. Yes, the trust will continue to pay off the note over the next 20 years. You recognize any gains and pay the taxes over the 20 years. However, this provides a significant time difference during which you invest the funds and receive the income and appreciation. Plus, you can also reduce your taxable income and pay taxes from a lower tax bracket in future years with additional planning.
Benefits of the Two-Year Installment Sale Strategy
This strategy is beneficial because the gain is taxed at a reduced rate as a long-term capital gain instead of a short-term one, which would be taxed as ordinary income. Your beneficiaries will still receive all the cash proceeds in the year of the second sale. Also, this strategy provides an opportunity for a far greater overall return. If you invest the funds you have otherwise paid in taxes in the year of the original sale, you earn 6% or more each year on that amount.
The next best time for a client to reach out is in 2024 for a sale that will close later in 2024 or 2025. This timing permits a discussion of structures to use before the sale to mitigate the tax bite and additional steps to take after the sale to reduce the tax cost further.
Timing and Structure of Tax Planning
The most attractive planning is done before the existence of a binding obligation to purchase and sell. Note that there are both charitable and noncharitable structures that can be used before the binding obligation. For a charitable structure, a portion of the assets sold may be transferred to the charitable trust or entity. A portion of the sale may not be taxable depending on the type of charitable structure. For example, a Charitable Remainder Trust or a Split Interest Charitable Income Trust would not be subject to tax. A Charitable Contribution Deduction is generated to offset income tax on the remaining sale proceeds, which go directly to the client. A grantor Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) would not provide a nontaxable portion of the sale. Still, a CLT often provides a dollar-for-dollar income tax deduction for amounts contributed to the CLT. The key to any such structure is the economic benefits flowing to the family.
Case Study: Hoensheid v. Commissioner
Note that the timing for this type of planning is critical. In Hoensheid v. Commissioner TC Memo 2023-34, the tax court found that implementing a plan two days before a binding agreement between the Buyer and Seller was too late. This was an illegal assignment of income. The tax benefits from some otherwise traditional and well-respected planning were lost. The lesson is not to wait too long and ensure significant deal points for sale are still being negotiated after the planning and related title transfers and entity formation are completed.
Subchapter S Stock Sale Planning
Tax planning for a Subchapter S stock sale can be challenging. This is because of the substantial restrictions on who can be a qualified Subchapter S shareholder, which is generally limited to individuals and very restrictive trusts (the Qualified Subchapter S Trust (QSST) or Elective Small Business Trust (ESBT). Neither the QSST nor the ESBT is conducive to minimizing tax on selling S Corporation stock.
Under the right circumstances, goodwill for a business conducted by a corporation can be owned individually by the business founder or developer. If so, this personal goodwill can be transferred to a charitable structure to generate substantial tax savings and economic benefits for the seller and their family. This is done without the restriction of who can own S corporation stock.
First, property rights for income tax purposes are determined under state law. Most states recognize some form of personal goodwill. Much of the case law establishing personal goodwill arose in divorce proceedings, where a soon-to-be ex-spouse sought compensation for or to share in this often-precious asset.
The recent sale of a business for $6 million resulted in tax savings of over $1.4 million. This was done by contributing personal goodwill to a lifetime income charitable pooled trust before the sale. In addition, the seller could invest and receive income for the life of the amount contributed to a split-interest charitable income fund.
This provided a very substantial benefit for the family as follows:
This lifetime income charitable pooled trust can substantially increase a family's wealth over simply paying the tax. If we paid the tax, the family would net $2.25 million after paying federal and state (estimated) tax of 25%, or $750,000. If invested at 7%, that would provide an income of $157,000 per year. That offers a value of $1,668,557. Adding to the $2.25 million resulted in a total increase in wealth at $3,918,557. If we avoid taxing that same $3 million, we save tax of $750,000 and invest the entire $3 million to receive a safe, predictable income of $210,000 every year. If invested for 20 years, That equals a value of $8,609,053. The preset value of that is $2,224,743. When added to the $3 million net proceeds from the sale, that provides a preset value of $5,224,743. This is an increase in wealth of over 33%.
In addition, the client received an income tax deduction of $2,202,641 to avoid tax on other income. The total tax savings was $1,564,977, representing the tax savings from the deduction and the charitable portion of the sale not subject to tax. This substantially benefits the family, particularly when added to the abovementioned investment income.
These are just a few lesser-known techniques to minimize tax on the sale of capital assets. As indicated above, our experience is that the California business climate is healthy and robust.
John M. Goralka is the founder of The Goralka Firm. He assists business owners, real estate owners and successful families to achieve their enlightened dreams by better protecting their assets, minimizing income and estate tax and resolving messes to preserve, protect and enhance their legacy. Goralka is one of few California attorneys certified as a Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization in Taxation and Estate Planning.
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","Body":"As the world turns in the 21st century, those in management positions (either at their law firms or other businesses now led by a lawyer) who seek to rise above their competitors and take their enterprise to new heights would do well to incorporate into their repertoire best practices in two critical areas of peak performance: stellar negotiation skills and the most valuable leadership traits. Where can you find the best information about these two fields of self-improvement? It’s distilled into two books that revolve around the career and wisdom of one man: the late, great Henry Kissinger.
Negotiation Skills
The analysis needed to understand how Dr. Kissinger went about negotiating his landmark transactions—most notably, the opening to China after decades of mutual hostility, achieving détente and the first nuclear arms control treaty with the Soviets at the height of the Cold War, bringing an end to America’s involvement in the Vietnam War at the Paris Peace Accords, and effectuating Egyptian and Syrian disengagement deals with Israel following their 1973 war—was done a few years ago by professors James Sebenius (Harvard Business School), Nicholas Burns (Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government) and Robert Mnookin (Harvard Law School), in their excellent book Kissinger the Negotiator: Lessons from Dealmaking at the Highest Level (HarperCollins, 2018). The authors’ protagonist was so impressed with their approach and final product that he wrote the book’s foreword.
Among the many “actionable insights” gleaned from their research of Kissinger’s historic horse trading, which are detailed and supported by many examples in the book, are the following:
Once these best practices have been processed and incorporated into one’s playbook, the operative question for the lawyer to ask himself whenever he engages in negotiations and reaches a tipping point is clear: “What would Henry do?”
Leadership Traits
For the lawyer leader who seeks to elevate himself and his enterprise to a higher level, shrewd guidance is available from Dr. Kissinger himself in his book Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy (Penguin, 2022). His thoughts on leadership have special significance in the context of recognizing that these days, lawyers, not only lead law firms, many have leveraged their legal training to become leaders of businesses, universities, school boards, nonprofits and government institutions.
Once these best practices have been processed and incorporated into one’s playbook, the operative question for the lawyer to ask himself whenever he engages in negotiations and reaches a tipping point is clear: “What would Henry do?”
To draw his conclusions, Kissinger explored the most important traits, which drove the successes of six leaders whom he encountered during his diplomatic career: Konrad Adenauer (chancellor of Germany from 1949-1963), Charles de Gaulle (head of France from 1944-1946 and 1958-1969), Richard Nixon (president of the United States from January 1969-August 1974), Anwar Sadat (president of Egypt from 1970-1981), Lee Kuan Yew (prime minister of Singapore from 1959-1990) and Margaret Thatcher (prime minister of Great Britain from 1979-1990). He chose them because they each “transcended circumstances by their vision and dedication” and thereby “redefined national purposes, opened up new vistas, and contributed a new structure for a world in transition.”
Kissinger identified five “parallel qualities” in the six leaders which should be aspirational for all lawyer leaders:
Besides these five shared traits, each of Kissinger’s chosen leaders had other traits at which he or she was particularly adept, which are also worthy of emulation by any lawyer who sets his sights on leading himself, his law firm and/or the organization he now leads to new heights:
As Kissinger identified and then described in detail these qualities demonstrated by his chosen leaders, he made their strengths appear available to all who put themselves in positions where challenging circumstances are properly analyzed, risks are managed, means fit ends, prudent decisions get made, trust is earned and promises are kept.
By his words and deeds, Henry Kissinger was not only an esteemed scholar and statesman, but he was also a teacher. Though he passed away on November 29, 2023, his wisdom lives on and is available to lawyers and everyone else who studies the lessons of his life and the substance of his writings. As a lawyer develops over the course of his/her career into becoming more skilled at addressing ever-rising demands in wide varieties of fields, it’s nice to know there are readily available sources of information like these two Kissinger books that can improve the likelihood of success of not just those who read them, they can also bear fruit for the benefit of the reader’s clients, law firms and other enterprises fortunate enough to have a lawyer as their leader.
Talmage Boston is a partner in the Dallas office of Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP, where he specializes in commercial litigation. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers for Commercial Litigation since 2013. He’s also a historian whose fifth book, How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents, will be released on April 2, 2024. He had the privilege of interviewing Henry Kissinger for the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth in 2013 and 2022. He was first recognized by Best Lawyers® for Commercial Litigation in 2013 and earned the distinguished \"Lawyer of the Year\" accolade for Litigation - Banking and Finance in Dallas/Fort Worth in 2018 and 2022. He was included in the 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Banking and Finance in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Insurance. You may not consciously think about it very much, but you should. Your clients count on you to do so, even if they don't realize it.
Insurance is essential, ubiquitous and often a critical, if not dominant, consideration in every human financial activity. It affects even the most quotidian decisions business owners face: Do I need business interruption coverage? Are the coverage limits on the company auto policy sufficient? Is that contractor bonded and insured? If our CPA messes up the taxes, what's my recourse?
For a lawyer, insurance looms large over every action you perform, particularly if you represent business owners. The existence and details of insurance coverage—whether protecting them directly or available to them from third parties—are inextricably linked to the services you provide, and the claim process is an inseparable part of that coverage. It's within that claim process that friction exists between the publicly stated purpose of insurance coverage and the actual financial goals of the insurance companies.
A little background is in order.
While our firm's experience is centered primarily in Texas, the impact of insurance on commercial activities in every state is parallel, as is the unavoidable tension between insurance interests and those of other businesses. Also, unless you and your clients conduct business in just a few upper East Coast locales, most insurance companies you deal with will be from other states.
As an illustration of this phenomenon, consider that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners report, State Insurance Regulation in Texas: Key Facts and Market Trends, reflects that of 2,040 insurance carriers doing business in Texas in 2021, only 412 had a physical office in the state.
Does this make a difference? Does being a part of a local business community and doing business in the state of one's domicile impart some concern for that community's well-being? Perhaps, perhaps not. Certainly, however, nearly 80% of carriers writing policies in Texas – and likely a similar percentage in your state, would have no way of knowing. They are not local, and their concern for the local business community is confined to the premium dollars flowing away from it and in their direction.
Just how pervasive is the insurance enterprise?
It is an industry accounting for more than 7% of the world's economy, and it is no less a significant portion of the United States financial picture. In 2021, net insurance premiums were $1.4 trillion, 53% for property and casualty coverage. The US workforce includes 3 million people working in the insurance industry, with more than 1.6 million employed directly by insurance companies.
Now and historically, insurance has held enormous sway over political and legislative processes in the United States. For a detailed analysis of insurance interests' role in our country's transition from a set of British colonies to an independent nation, see Underwriters of the United States by Hannah Farber, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 2021.
During the latter part of the 18th century, the ground rules for conducting business in the developing nation were set out in the lex mercatoria, or \"law of merchants,\" an unenacted but \"revered body of rules, customs, and best practices\" cited as authority in governing marine and other insurance contracts of the 18th century. \"[R]elentless centralizer Alexander Hamilton … had the federal republic fixed in his sights but the 'laws of merchants' in his back pocket.\" (Ibid.,p.16,17)
As valid today as a quarter millennia ago is Ms. Faber's contention that \"[i]nsurers' abilities to intervene in political and legal affairs both at home and abroad were essential to their continued success.\" (Ibid.,p.23) The time-tested method for bringing one's desires to bear upon political and legal affairs? Lobbying. And insurance lobbying is massive.
According to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan lobbyist watchdog group, the US insurance industry shelled out $153 million in 2021 to influence lawmakers. The following year, it upped its game to $160 million.
Lawyers and their business clients depend on the insurance industry to safeguard them from any expected perils of commercial activity, from lawsuits to hail damage and business interruption to employee dishonesty. Your clients invest in insurance to protect their livelihoods, and they have a right to expect returns from the insurance company in response to a notice of the loss.
Advertising jingles aside, insurance companies are in business to turn a profit, and to do so, many have developed strategies to reduce claim payments to avoid a drag on their bottom lines.”
The claim process—the method for accessing policy benefits—is central to conducting business successfully. If the insurance company fails to honor the obligations it assumed when it issued your client's policy, your client's business suffers over and above the damage triggering the claim in the first place.
And there's the rub. Advertising jingles aside, insurance companies are in business to turn a profit, and to do so, many have developed strategies to reduce claim payments to avoid a drag on their bottom lines. When carriers cut those checks to lobbyists or send contributions to legislative, congressional and—in states where judges are elected, like Texas—judicial campaigns, whose interests do you think they seek to protect?
Not only that, but these (mostly) out-of-state carriers circumvent the judicial consequences of laws designed to safeguard insureds by keeping cases out of the courtroom. For example, in the 2022 case of Overstreet v. Allstate, the Texas Supreme Court was primed to rectify a decades-old lower court ruling incorrectly construing Section 554.002 of the Texas Insurance Code, and level the playing field between claimants and insurers. In that case, the insurance company wielded the power of the purse to settle the claim out of court, depriving the Court of jurisdiction to issue an opinion.
Businesses across the nation are waking up to this friction. Google the phrase \"insurance recovery\" and see the number of large corporate law firms that incorporate this niche into their practice offerings.
As lawyers representing businesses other than insurance companies, we must be aware of the inherent conflict of interest between our clients and the carriers they rely on. Insurers have a long history of successful efforts reinforcing that reliance while failing to meet their obligations under the policies they issue. And the financial clout they bring to bear against other businesses' interests is vast. It will require a continual and collective effort to achieve something like balance in the scales of justice.
Marc Gravely is the founder of Gravely PC, a Texas-based firm devoted to insurance claim and construction defect disputes on behalf of businesses, homeowners associations and related organizations, and governmental entities.
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For those who do business in Texas or are considering doing so, mark your calendars. September 1, 2024, is the birthdate of a new judicial system in Texas—the Texas Business Courts. This dramatic change aims to resolve complex business disputes more efficiently than under the current civil court system. Texas is somewhat late to the party as the 30th state to create such courts. Although the law (House Bill 19) became effective September 1, 2023, the new Business Courts won't hear cases until after September 1, 2024. Big things require considerable preparation: there is a 12-month ramp-up time to confirm judges, put in rules and erect the necessary infrastructure.
Why is Texas doing this?
There are several reasons, but the general idea is to have a forum for businesses to resolve their business disputes more quickly, to have judges with a business background or prior judicial experience decide such cases, and to try to foster a business-friendly environment. Time will tell whether the Business Courts will achieve such goals.
How many Business Courts will there be, and when will they open?
For starters, five judicial divisions will cover the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio areas. These first divisions are pilot projects. The goal is to have 11 Business Court divisions throughout Texas eventually. The creation of the other six divisions, which would serve rural Texas, is deferred to the 2025 Texas Legislature for approval and funding.
How are Business Court judges qualified?
Business Court judges must be at least 35; a U.S. citizen; a resident of the division for at least five years; and a licensed attorney with at least 10 years of experience in corporate transactional work, complex business litigation, previous experience as a civil court judge in Texas or a combination of the three. With the advice and consent of the Texas Senate, the governor will appoint Business Court judges to two-year renewable terms. Each of the five initial divisions will have two judges, and the remaining six rural divisions—if created and funded by the 2025 Legislature—will have one.
How will the Business Courts work?
A party can file a suit in the Business Courts or remove a case to the Business Courts from the court in which the case was originally filed. HB 19 also has a transfer provision that will allow a court in which a case was initially filed to request the transfer of the case to the Business Court if it is deemed to be within the Business Court's jurisdiction.
What about jury trials?
Business Court cases can be tried by a jury when required by the Texas Constitution. Although the Business Courts will be statewide, jury trials will be held in the county where the case could have originally been filed. But if a contract between the parties to a Business Court case contains a venue provision, a jury trial of that case will occur in the agreed venue. The parties to a Business Court case can also agree to have a trial in any county they choose.
Will the Business Courts Issue Written Opinions?
Yes. One of the reasons the business community supported HB 19 is the requirement for the Business Courts to issue written opinions. Proponents say this should lead to a more developed commercial law body and inform businesses how their future disputes may pan out.
How does a party appeal a judgment from the Business Courts?
A new appeals court (the 15th Court of Appeals in Austin) will have exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over the Business Courts. This appeals court will have five justices, initially appointed by the governor but elected after that.
Companies should examine contracts and consider whether to have such disputes handled in the Business Courts.”
What disputes will the Business Courts hear?
The Business Courts will hear disputes over $5 million or $10 million that fit within specific categories in the statute. A few examples include disputes regarding an organization's governance or internal affairs, securities litigation, and breach of contract in which the parties agreed to venue in the Business Courts. Regardless of the amount of controversy, if a company is publicly traded, the Business Courts will have jurisdiction if the case pertains to certain types of disputes, such as securities litigation.
Can parties agree to sue or be sued in the Business Courts?
Yes. HB 19 will likely influence how parties address venue and jurisdiction in their contracts. HB 19 authorizes parties to agree to the jurisdiction of the Business Court through their contract (provided at least $10 million is in controversy). Due to the small number of Business Court divisions and the appointment of judges, sophisticated parties may prefer having their commercial disputes heard in the Business Courts. But the devil is in the details. If one of the Business Court districts that is not yet authorized is the appropriate district, a company may consider including one of the districts already operating in the forum selection clause.
What do opponents of the Business Courts say?
Opponents say that the Business Courts create two justice systems and that no empirical studies show the need for judicial reforms in Texas. Further, the 15th Court of Appeals will prevent Texans from appealing their cases directly to locally elected judges. Expect constitutional challenges to the Business Courts, including the argument that appointing judges violates the Texas Constitution, which requires district court judges to be elected. Opponents further argue that the limited jurisdiction of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals violates the Texas Constitution, which requires that the Court of Appeals must have appellate jurisdiction co-extensive with the limits of their respective districts. Another potential challenge is that the Business Courts may violate the right to a jury trial.
Won't the Texas Business Courts lead to more commercial litigation?
Possibly, and here's how. One of HB 19's purposes is to require written opinions to have a more well-developed body of case law on complex business disputes. Without cases being filed in the Business Courts, there can be no judgments or written opinions. The more cases filed, the more written opinions. It will, of course, take time for a body of case law from the Texas Business Courts and the 15th Court of Appeals to develop.
Finally, is there anything businesses should be doing to prepare?
Like it or not, the Business Courts will be here before you know it. Now is the time to prepare and plan. Companies should examine contracts and consider whether to have such disputes handled in the Business Courts.
By talking now to your legal department or outside counsel to determine how the Business Courts may impact your company, you may be one step ahead of your adversaries by better understanding how the Business Courts will work to resolve certain commercial disputes.
Alan Dabdoub is a partner with Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, representing plaintiffs and defendants in business torts, contract disputes, trade secrets litigation, fiduciary duty litigation, partnership disputes, and bankruptcy litigation.
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","Author":"","AuthorId":0,"AuthorType":"B","Source":null,"SourceUrl":null,"Caption":"Ali Ghasemi, vice president of legal services in the Law, Franchise & Integrity group at Mastercard, shares how innovation has been vital to enhancing his company’s legal operations. ","Body":"Business is inherently chaotic. Ali Ghasemi seems to be among the few who appreciate the beauty of simplicity. Leaders at Mastercard, where Ghasemi has worked for nearly six years, have referred to him as a “velvet hammer,” and the sobriquet is apt: He compels change amid the most sensitive circumstances, creating satisfying outcomes for all parties. His passion for process improvement stems from his experience from industries inundated by complexity including health care and energy and his knowledge base across three degrees in law, supply chain and finance.
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Talk about the outside counsel change management that enabled value-based pricing. How is this helpful for law firms, especially bigger ones with global operations?
Traditional purely hourly based approach to outside counsel fees is not only outdated, but also unsustainable. With approval from our leadership, we set out new evaluation criteria and expectations for all major law firms we work with and embedded developed corresponding in our new internal policies. We then turned to the firms to align our interests so we could implement what we regarded as a mutually beneficial approach.
For example, when we sought greater volume-based rate discounts from the firms, we anticipated pushback—so we offered them a structure in which the deeper discounts would apply only if we sustained our spend with the firm over 12 months, thus making it a rolling discount rather than a fixed, arbitrary one. This gave the firms assurance that they would not be blindly signing up for rate cuts indefinitely.
Another example was when we asked the firms about their price per deliverable or phase of work, rather than hourly pricing. We asked them to provide a fixed price or a tight pricing range for work such as patent litigation, M&A due diligence and court motions. We then pushed back on pricing and asked for greater involvement from more senior personnel for the same price. In turn, we offered them incentives for winning strategies, meeting deadlines and granted motions. In other words, using the firm’s own confidence and expertise, we offered the minimum amount of funds possible to get the work done while promising a reasonable, fixed reward for an outcome they believed they would achieve.
How did these changes affect Mastercard’s relationships with outside counsel?
Realizing that our in-house counsel maintains a professional and even social relationship with many of our panel firms, we never intended to harm that by forcing uncomfortable conversations about pricing, capabilities, diversity or other significant topics. Instead, the legal operations team stood in as an objective, logical party to negotiate with outside counsel without the direct presence of in-house counsel and thus minimizing any risk of in-house counsel losing face in a potentially adversarial negotiation.
Layering our negotiations with objective metrics such as rates and fees, expertise, diversity and ESG criteria to identify the preferred firms for each market has allowed us to provide unbiased recommendations to our counsel on firm selection for direct negotiations and RFPs which we run very frequently and rapidly.
Over your career, you’ve restructured legal and sourcing departments at BJC HealthCare and Chevron. What did those experiences teach you?
I am fortunate enough to draw my work and educational background from several countries: Canada, the U.S., Australia, South Africa, Japan, England and Angola. One of realizations has been that customers across industries and geographies all expect rapid turnaround of their needs. Purchasing and sales teams want to showcase their skills and offer a competitive advantage; other internal teams, such as legal and compliance, want as little—and as efficient—involvement as possible in contracting. Processes and technology, if left unchecked, get more complicated and spiral out of control. People rarely simplify the process, however, preferring instead to focus additional resources on solving the next problem and often adding even more complexity. This is why it’s so critical to embrace simplicity and speed.
By partnering with subject matter experts across functions to identify their requirements, you can establish a baseline of common understanding. From there, you can streamline the process to bring in only the required SMEs beyond your initial level of approval as needed, as opposed to in every instance.
To that end, how has AI improved decision making in legal operations?
Legal departments by nature are highly risk averse, so they’re often not the department leading with the newest AI innovations. There are, however, several areas of AI and process automation that have long benefited legal departments, albeit under different disguises and names, which are now receiving a facelift in accuracy and efficiency. Among these are legal research and e-discovery tools, which can rapidly scan and analyze an enormous volume of electronic documents, laws, regulations and data to identify relevant information for legal cases, reducing the time and cost of traditional document or case review without sacrificing results. Also, AI-powered contract analysis tools can augment current contract management systems to extract, categorize and review contract terms, clauses and key provisions. What’s even more interesting about these tools is that they no longer require months of “training the tool” and can produce results without precision searches—often by using natural language inquiries such as “which case or statute supports our patent litigation for financial services clients with these set of facts, in Denmark”?
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