In trying cases in small Texas towns, there is always the possibility that the big city attorney will drive in and get "hometowned."  In my M&A class, we've been talking about Texaco v. Pennzoil, the 1987 case in Texas state court that held that Texaco tortiously interfered with Pennzoil's contract to acquire Getty Oil.  Many people in Houston believe that Texaco lost that case (the trial of that century) because Texaco relied on lawyers from NYC in front of a Texas jury in a case against the hometown favorites: the Liedtkes, who controlled Pennzoil, Joe Jamail and Baker Botts.  So that leads me to ask:  Why did Jeff Skilling import a defense team from California?

Now, almost every Houston law firm has had some piece of the post-Enron pie, so finding a firm without a conflict may have been difficult.  However, there are a lot of good defense attorneys in Texas who don't seem to be utilized here.  Today's Chronicle talks about how each side has already lawyered up for the appeal, but again, Skilling has chosen out-of-state counsel.

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