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Catching Up on Texas’ New Courts

June 19, 2024

Catching Up on Texas’ New Courts

  • Here’s what happened: With Texas’ new business court and Fifteenth Court of Appeals coming online in September, some recent moves are putting these critical new venues in the national spotlight.
  • Expert judges: Last week, Gov. Abbott announced his appointments to all of the business court divisions and the Fifteenth Court. 
    • These highly competent expert judges bring decades of collective experience in business law, which is critical to the efficient handling of these cases and a major selling point for companies doing business in Texas.
  • Making moves: After the Delaware Chancery Court invalidated Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package, last week, Tesla’s shareholders approved the package as well as moving the company’s legal incorporation from Delaware to Texas. Find out more
  • He’s not the only one: Musk has been a vocal advocate for companies moving their incorporations to Texas. And with the specialization and efficiencies the new business court will provide, CEOs are taking notice. Read more from former Texas appeals judge Mike Toth.
    • Texas’ decades long focus on strengthening its economic environment—including TLR-advocated reforms to make our legal system fairer and more efficient—have positioned it competitively for job creation and investment. 
  • What else: Texas is launching a new national stock exchange next year, further establishing our position as an economic hub. Take a closer look
    • TXSE has raised around $120 million and plans to file registration documents with the SEC later this year, targeting 2025 for trade facilitation and 2026 for its first listing.
  • TLR Thoughts: Creating an economic environment with low taxes and smart regulations allows businesses to thrive. But the certainty and predictability provided by a fair and efficient legal system are the third critical piece of that puzzle. 
    • As former CEO and Musk biographer Walter Isaacson noted after the Delaware Chancery Court’s compensation decision, “People will say, ‘Wait, wait, you mean five years after something happens, eight years after something happens, you’ll go back and undo it?’”