5 minute read
The Texas Business Court: Why Now?
The Texas Business Court, Part I:
By The Hon. Marialyn Barnard and Andrea Morris
Photos by Mewborne Photography
Texas is growing, and it is growing quickly. We have all read the headlines describing Texas as a magnet for Americans looking to relocate, and it is not just individuals who are signing up for an address in the Lone Star State. Major financial firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have expanded their presence in Texas, while several Silicon Valley companies— including Apple, Tesla, and Hewlett Packard—are either setting up campuses in Texas or are relocating their corporate headquarters to Texas. In addition to these Silicon Valley companies, other businesses— including Chevron, SpaceX, X, and CBRE—are moving from other states to Texas.
With all this growth, it is not surprising that Texas ranks as the eighth largest economy in the world—an economy larger than several nations, including Russia, Canada, and Italy. Texas is positioned to soon become the seventh largest economy in the world, overtaking France. According to the Governor’s Office, the Texas economy has been expanding faster than the nation’s for the past several quarters in a row. We are home to over fifty Fortune 500 companies, and many people, including the international community, see Texas as providing a strong business climate for growing and emerging businesses.
In fact, one of the most significant economic developments is the launch of the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE)—informally known as Y’all Street—later this year. As TXSE Group founder and CEO James Lee told the Wall Street Journal:
We’re thrilled to bring to fruition the long-held vision for a national stock exchange in Texas. Texas and the other states in the southeast quadrant have become economic powerhouses. Combined with the demand we are seeing from investors and corporations for expanded alternatives to trade and list equities, this is an opportune time to build a major, national stock exchange in Texas.
This is also an opportune time to build the long-awaited specialized business court system in Texas. As many of you know, on September 1, 2024, pursuant to House Bill 19, the Texas Business Court and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals came into existence and began accepting cases. According to House Bill 19’s sponsor, the bill “is intended to streamline resolutions of business disputes and ensure the court is staffed by qualified and skilled judges, ideally giving businesses confidence in Texas’s legal system and encouraging them to incorporate and headquarter in Texas.” With Texas growing as an economic powerhouse for businesses, it is about time for such a system to launch. Texas has over 200 specialized courts to hear probate matters, family law issues, juvenile cases, and veterans’ cases, so it only makes sense for Texas to finally have a specialized court to hear complex business disputes.
Some of the basics: the Texas Business Court will be divided into eleven divisions, five of which have already opened in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston. Two judges will be appointed to each of the divisions by the Governor, and each judge will serve a twoyear term. As you may know, Judge Stacy Sharp and I have been appointed to serve the Fourth Division, and we are honored to be sitting in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The Texas Business Court shares limited jurisdiction with state district courts, and its goal is to alleviate the caseloads of the district courts by handling complex commercial disputes that often clog dockets.
Shortly after the Texas Business Court opened, lawyers began filing cases across the divisions. By October 2, 2024, Dykema senior counsel Timothy McCarthy participated in the first hearing, requesting a temporary restraining order in a trade secrets dispute. The hearing was held remotely before the Honorable Judge Sofia Adrogué of the Houston Business Court Division. When The Texas Lawbook asked McCarthy about his experience, he highlighted how easily accessible and helpful the court staff was. I had the pleasure of meeting McCarthy at a speaking engagement, and he spoke highly of the Business Court: “It was one of the best user experiences I have had in my twenty-five years of practice in the United States and around the world.” “The establishment of the Business Court,” he added, “is part and parcel of the overall story” and is “appreciated all over the world,” not only because Texas has “the eighth largest Gross Domestic Product,” but also because of Texas’s “prominence in global business in all sectors.”
The Hon. Marialyn Barnard currently serves on the Fourth Division of the Texas Business Court. Previously, she served as a justice on the Fourth Court of Appeals, as a county commissioner for Bexar County Commissioners Court, and as judge of the 73rd Judicial District Court in Bexar County.
Andrea Morris is a staff attorney for Judge Marialyn Barnard. She previously served as Judge Barnard’s staff attorney during her tenure at the Fourth Court of Appeals.
