In a recent retrospective in The Texas Lawbook, Jackson Walker partner and former Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Nathan L. Hecht reflected on the court’s creation: “There are areas of cases that just benefit from having their own docket.” Acknowledging the concerns raised by detractors who initially opposed the proposal, he emphasized that, in his view, the Business Court has become “everything we hoped it would be.” He added that those involved in designing the Texas Business Court borrowed elements from the structure of the Delaware Court of Chancery to create a specialized, efficient forum for handling complex commercial disputes.

Bloomberg Law reported that during the court’s inaugural year, 185 cases were filed statewide. Jackson Walker appeared as counsel in approximately 7.5 percent of those matters—representing a party in fourteen separate proceedings—underscoring the firm’s statewide reach. No other firm matched Jackson Walker’s combination of volume, geographic breadth, and subject-matter variety, which included disputes spanning energy, technology, and complex contract claims.

Recent statutory amendments have lowered the amount-in-controversy threshold for many cases from $10 million to $5 million, expanded jurisdiction to cover intellectual-property and trade-secret disputes, and authorized transfers of pre-September 2024 cases with party consent. Those changes are expected to increase the docket well beyond the 185 cases seen in year one, and corporate counsel are increasingly drafting forum-selection clauses that direct future disputes to the Business Courts.

For more information about the Texas Business Court, view the articles Lawyers Sound Off on One Year Practicing in Texas Business Court by The Texas Lawbook and Texas Bid to Lure Business From Delaware Faces Trial … by Jury by Bloomberg Law.

Also, bookmark TexasBusinessCourts.com for ongoing insights from Jackson Walker attorneys on the Texas Business Courts.

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