Author: kevin@kevincullen.me

By Patricia Baldwin (Nov. 2) – As Charles Parker enters his fifth decade of practicing trial law, he is focused on a trio of priorities that have little to do with traditional measures of success. First, the partner at Yetter Coleman in Houston said it is important to him to take cases that are “the…

By Mark Curriden (Dec. 22) – On Jim Cowles’ first day in high school, his dad walked into his bedroom and announced it was time for the 14-year-old to decide what he was going to do for a living. “Sir, I want to be a lawyer,” Cowles responded. Sixty-eight years later, he says he hasn’t…

By Mark Curriden (Nov. 2) – Charles Matthews went to bed the night of March 23, 1989 looking forward to a relaxing Easter holiday weekend. By the time the Exxon associate general counsel awoke the next morning on Good Friday, his world had been forever changed. About 3,160 miles away, an Exxon oil tanker called…

By Patricia Baldwin (Dec. 22) – When Mike Lynn turned 40, he seemingly had everything going his way. He was a partner in the litigation section at Akin Gump, a prestigious law firm that was home to Robert Strauss, Vernon Jordan, Jack Hauer and Alan Feld. Despite the success, Lynn told his mentor, Jim Coleman,…

By Janet Elliott (Oct. 30) – As one of Texas’ top criminal defense lawyers, Houston’s Dick DeGuerin has defended the high and mighty as well as the low and friendless. He has successfully represented elected officials accused of violating Texas ethics laws, a multimillionaire who admitted dismembering his neighbor and an impoverished, abused woman who…

By David Coale of Lynn Tillotson (Oct. 30) – Patrick E. Higginbotham was born in 1938 in rural Alabama. His father was a dairy farmer who struggled to make ends meet. As a kid, young Pat sold collard greens from the back of the truck to earn extra cash. When he was 12, the town…

By Patricia Baldwin Jan. 9, 2017 – Darrell Jordan graduated from the University of Texas and received his LL.B. degree from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He got his street smarts as a lawyer, however, from the so-called Henry Wade University – the moniker assistant prosecutors once gave the workplace of the long-serving,…

By Janet Elliott HOUSTON (Oct. 20) – As a young Vinson & Elkins associate in Houston in the early 1970s, Carol Dinkins had to take an out-of-town client through the kitchen of an exclusive Houston club to reach a private room because women were not allowed in the main dining area at lunch. A number…

By Mark Curriden HOUSTON (Oct. 19) – Two years ago, Stanford University asked Houston trial lawyer Joe Jamail to lecture a large group of students and alumni of its business school. As he preached on the sad decline in the number of jury trials in the U.S. as a result of tort reform, a hand…

By Janet Elliott HOUSTON (Oct. 21) – Harry Reasoner’s idea of cutting back at work involves trying one or two major cases a year, handling a number of appeals and leading efforts to help low-income Texans with their civil law needs. “I regard myself as working half time,” says the 76-year-old Vinson & Elkins stalwart,…