Things are heating up for Texas’ Business Court, which will start receiving newly filed cases on September 1, 2024. During the week of June 10, 2024, Governor Abbott completed his appointments of the 10 judges who will serve on the Business Court. These appointments were immediately effective but are subject to confirmation by the Texas Senate when it next convenes. The initial appointments for these judges will expire on September 1, 2026, at which point the judges will be eligible for reappointment for successive two-year terms. The appointees are as follows:
First Division of the Business Court:
- Andrea Bouressa (judge of Texas’ 471st Judicial District Court)
- William Whitehill (former Justice of Texas’ Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas)
Third Division of the Business Court:
- Melissa Andrews (equity partner at Holland & Knight)
- Patrick K. Sweeten (Principal Deputy General Counsel for the Office of the Governor)
Fourth Division of the Business Court:
- Marialyn Barnard (judge of Texas’ 73rd Judicial District Court in Bexar County)
- Stacy Sharp (attorney and owner of Sharp Appellate PLLC and adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin)
Eight Division of the Business Court:
- Jerry Bullard (shareholder with Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C.)
- Brian Stagner (of counsel and former partner at Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP and adjunct professor at Texas Christian University)
Eleventh Division of the Business Court:
- Sofia Adrogué (partner with Diamond McCarthy LLP and Founder and Editor of the Texas Business Litigation Treatise (ALM 5th Edition))
- Grant Dorfman (visiting judge and former Deputy First Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Texas Attorney General)
Additionally, Governor Abbott announced the following appointments to Texas’ Fifteenth Court of Appeals: Scott A. Brister as Chief Justice and Scott K. Field and April L. Farris as associate justices. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals was created by Texas’ enactment of S.B. 1045 in 2023 and has exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals from Texas’ Business Court.
More detailed background information on these judicial appointees and additional information about Texas’ Business Court can be found in a helpful bulletin posting from the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, which is linked here.
Thank you to Michael W. Tankersley for bringing this to our attention.
Posted by Doug Toering and Matt Rose
