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Attorney
By
Attorney
 Career
Profiles of the Profession
Who?
What?
Primary Practice Area & Subspecialty Fields:
Litigation; Antitrust; Legal Ethics.
When?
Years in Practice Area:
Since 1978
Years in the Legal Profession:
Since 1978
Where?
Employer:
Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.
www.velaw.com
Size/Sector:
850 lawyers/private practice
City/State:
Houston, TX
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Law School:
Columbia University School of Law
Other Post-Graduate Education:
Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Undergraduate School/Degree:
Rice University, BA in Behavioral Science and Political
Science
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Why?
Pluses/Challenges of Practice Area:
Intriguing, cutting edge issues (e.g., Microsoft, international
competition, competition in/with the legal profession); working
with the best and the brightest in the legal and economics fields;
often much work to do under strict deadlines; too much time away
from family.
Core Skills/Key Knowledge Needed in Your Practice Area:
Open and inquiring mind; willingness to learn; willingness to
teach.
Advice to Lawyers and Law Students Interested in Your Practice
Area:
Don't be afraid to embrace all those subjects (e.g., technology,
economics) you ran away from in college.
How?
Career Path to Current Position:
Clerked on Second Circuit after law school; started with current
firm right after that. Began antitrust litigation; picked up legal
ethics expertise as a fluke beginning as a first-year associate.
Influences and Mentors:
My father; Atticus Finch; Prof. Harold Hyman; my partner Harry
Reasoner; Prof. Philip Areeda; Prof. Jack Greenberg.
Suggested Reading About Your Practice Area:
Information Rules, by Carl Shapiro.
Job Search Techniques Used in Finding Your Position(s):
Interviewed as a law student.
Bar Affiliations and Activities:
ABA House of Delegates: Member, Nominating Committee; ABA Section
of Antitrust Law: Officer, Section Delegate, former Council Member,
former Committee Chair; State Bar of Texas International Law Section:
Council Member; Houston Bar Association Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Section: Former Chair, former Council Member; Texas-Mexico Bar
Association: Former President.
Recent Professional Publications:
Books and Chapters: Texas Antitrust in State Antitrust Practice
and Statutes (ABA 2d Ed. 1999 and 3d Ed. 2003); Antitrust
in Doing Business in Texas: A Guide for Foreign Investors Doing
Business in the Lone Star State (State Bar of Texas 1999 and
2d ed. 2003); Litigation and Arbitration in the United States
in Global Dispute Resolution (Practical Law Company 2003);
Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Immunity in Antitrust
Discovery Handbook (ABA 2d Ed. 2003); Private Remedies
in the U.S., E.U., Canada, and Mexico in Global Counsel Competition
Law Handbook (PLC 2002); Ethical Issues in Commercial Cases
in Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (West
Group 1998 and 2003 Supp.); Texas Legal Ethics in The American
Legal Ethics Library (Cornell Law School 2001); 1999 Antitrust
Law Developments (ABA 2000) (Editor); Preliminary Considerations
in Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial - Fifth Circuit (Lawyers
Cooperative Publishing Company 1996 and Supp. 1998); The Competition
Laws of NAFTA, Canada, Mexico, and the United States (ABA
1997).
Articles: "Ask the Ethics Experts: Contacts With Represented
Parties, The Antitrust Source (Sep. 2002); Consolidation
Con Salsa: Mergers and Acquisitions in Mexico, 15 Antitrust
13 (Spring 2001); Ask the Experts: Legal Ethics in B2B Formation,
14 Antitrust 50 (Winter 2000); Mexico's Competition Policy:
Lessons for Developing Economies, Global Competition Review,
April/May 1998.
Recent Professional Presentations:
Protecting Client Confidences in the Age of Electronic Communications,
(2005); Talking to a Lawyer Could Get Risky: Proposed Amendments
to the Sentencing Guidelines, (2004); You Can’t Argue
With Numbers: The Mexican Immigrant Population in Texas is a Growing
and Untapped Market for Financial Institutions, (2004); New
Rules on Disclosing Client Confidential Information: Are the ABA
and SEC Turning Litigators into Stool Pigeons? (2003); Competition
Between Lawyers and Nonlawyers: Defining ‘The Practice of
Law’, (2003)
Memorable Career Moment:
Opening Statement in Hopwood v. Texas, in which I defended (ultimately
unsuccessfully) UT Law School's right to use race as a criterion
in its admissions decisions; it was on the eve of the 40th anniversary
of Brown v. Board of Education, in the town (if not the same courtroom)
where Thurgood Marshall sought Heman Sweatt's admission to the
law school, leading to the Supreme Court's opinion in Sweatt v.
Painter.
Intriguing Interests:
Scuba diving; electric blues guitar; I was a competitor in the
BattleBots 5.0 Tournament; also like the opera, ballet and good
wine and cigars; keen interest in my wife of 30 years and 2 children.
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