The new business court system, set to begin on September 1, faces a shortage of transactional lawyers among its applicants for the 10 trial judge positions. While many candidates have judicial, litigation, and state agency experience, the court has not attracted as many transactional lawyers as anticipated.

Jackson Walker partner Byron F. Egan, who was instrumental in the legislation to create the courts, discussed with The Texas Lawbook the importance of transactional lawyers in the new courts with the expertise to handle complex cases involving shareholder disputes, securities claims, and governance issues.

In the article, Byron stated, “If you’ve been doing transactions for a period of time, you’ve invariably come across controversies. You’ve been involved in litigation. You may not be a litigator but you’re going to understand what the litigation process is, you’re going to understand what the consequences of decisions are, the importance of making quick, informed, convincing judgment of these cases.”

The initial appointments to the two-year terms are crucial. The district court judges, who will serve in five urban regions, will be responsible for writing opinions that will establish precedents for future cases.

“The governor’s going to be getting a variety of approaches and the key is to me to find people who can write, who can explain what they’re doing so we can understand what they’re doing, and are dedicated,” said Byron.

“The governor’s going to be getting a variety of approaches and the key is to me to find people who can write, who can explain what they’re doing so we can understand what they’re doing, and are dedicated.”

To read the full article from The Texas Lawbook and gain more insights from Byron, see “Transactional Lawyers Fail to Materialize for Biz Court Positions.”

For further context and details on the new business courts, read the article by Byron Egan entitled “Texas Business Courts” prepared for the TexasBarCLE 26th Annual Summer School in Galveston, Texas on July 11, 2024.

Meet Byron

Byron F. Egan regularly handles business combinations of corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships, including mergers and acquisitions, purchases and sales of stock, and other equity interests, and sales and exchanges of assets. He also handles the related entity governance and structure issues. In 2023, Byron published the fourth edition of EGAN ON ENTITIES: Corporations, Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies in Texas, a treatise on Texas, Delaware and other entity laws. Byron is the only attorney to have received the Burton Award for Legal Achievement four times and is consistently recognized among the top corporate and M&A lawyers in Texas by a number of publications.

Byron has consistently been recognized by Who’s Who Legal for over 15 years, including as a “Recommended” attorney in M&A and Corporate Governance and as a “Thought Leader” for M&A. He has also been named among The Best Lawyers in America since 1993 in the areas of Corporate Compliance Law, Corporate Governance Law, Corporate Law, and Mergers and Acquisitions Law.