The subpoena is related to a suit that attorney Scott Clearman filed against Stream Energy. You remember Scott Clearman, right? He claims Stream is a pyramid scheme. Stream Energy’s founder, Rob Snyder, called the guy a clown. Our little company is involved because D CEO wrote about Snyder in 2010, and I wrote about him for D Magazine in 2006. And, too, I know Snyder personally (a fact I included in that story).

In any case, Clearman wants all our files related to those two stories. And he wants all emails to or from Snyder. All of them. While our boys over at Haynes and Boone are working on their billable hours, I thought that here, in this space, I’d offer Clearman some emails to tide him over. Here’s an email Rob Snyder sent to me on December 23, 2010:

70+ person line outside HoneyBaked Ham Co. in Midway Hollow

And here is my response to that email:

Noted. I’ll stay the hell away from there. Like, I’m in D.C. That far.

In a related note, I am currently seeking a publisher for my manuscript titled Craig James Killed 5 Hookers at SMU. I look forward to my deposition.

Contract, fiduciary duty, conspiracy and appointment of receiver actions regarding the parties’ partnership that holds and develops real estate around the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, home to the Texas Rangers major league baseball club and Frisco Roughriders minor league baseball club, respectively. The plaintiff says he is the only non-Hicks controlled partner, that the partnership is dominated by Hicks who has made $35 million in insider sweetheart loans while the plaintiff has complied with millions of dollars in capital calls. Among other things, the plaintiff says that improper expenses were charged, that millions of dollars have been wrongfully transferred and that Hicks admitted to giving the Rangers an artificially low pricing for parking on partners’ controlled lots. Hicks is the former owner of the Rangers, who filed for bankruptcy under his ownership.

George W. Bush and Mike McKool

Dallas’s Belo Mansion may have been a funeral home for 50 years, even hosting the funeral of Clyde Barrow back in the ’30s. But Friday night the old joint was anything but a dead zone, as roughly 1,000 people turned up for a raucous holiday shindig there marking the 20th anniversary of McKool Smith, an IP/commercial litigation law firm.

Think casino games. Exotically clad drink servers (one, pictured after the “jump,” wore a steel “skirt” holding dozens of champagne flutes). Plus multiple live bands — including a group (called Vocal Trash) at the valet entrance that sang and banged out tunes like Footloose using garbage-can lids and drums made out of empty water-cooler bottles.

The Dallas-based firm’s Mike McKool blew out all the stops for this year’s annual holiday party, no doubt. Example: Lawyers from the firm’s other six U.S. offices, including from its newest outpost in L.A., were flown in and put up at a local hotel (presumably not a Super 8). McKool also went above and beyond on the season’s giving side, presenting not one but two $100,000 checks to nonprofit groups during the evening.

Dallas’s Vogel Alcove snagged one of the checks. The other went to Barbara Pierce Bush’s Global Health Corps. The daughter of George W. and Laura Bush was there to accept the dough in person, while her parents sat watching at a table nearby.

The 2011 economy may be continuing to struggle in many ways. If the McKool Smith bash was any indication, though, it’s been a stupendous year for the lawyers. (Photos by Jeanne Prejean)

Champagne lady

I’m no lawyer, or I’d be off lawyering and making big bank and scaring people. And man, I’d have this giant house with a maid that would just do floors, all day long. And two dogs – Herve Villechaize and Nipsey Russell. What was I saying?  Right. I’m no lawyer, but if I got a ticket for missing a license plate after this law goes into effect, since the AG’s office will take six months to rule on the legalities, I might just fight it. I think.

Once they’d taken their beating from the high-profile defense attorney, the journalists in the crowd of 200 picked up their awards in the 28th annual Philbin competition, a program of the Dallas Bar Association. Kathy Cruz of the Hood County News nabbed the big prize (and $1,500) for her investigative series on parental visitation issues during separation and divorce in Hood County. The Dallas Morning News picked up a pair of awards for articles on police domestic calls and Dallas County’s bail-bond system, and KTVT/CBS 11 snagged one for a report about a witness who erroneously became a “criminal.” Other winners were the Dallas Observer, Advocate Publishing, the Rockwall County Herald Banner and Texas Lawyer.

North Texas Economy Strengthens Guanajuato Ties: Most urban areas in the United States tend to draw migrants from specific regions of Mexico, and in the case of Dallas, it is the mountainous Guanajuato (which is one reason why someone needs to launch a new MLS team, Club León USA, and stick them in the Cotton Bowl, but that’s besides the point). In the current economy, in which the North Texas economy is outpacing other parts of the country, the labor-pool network remains entrenched and stronger than ever (sub req).

Bush Raises More Than $300 Million for Library: George W. Bush still has some serious fundraising swagger.

Later This Week, The Sun Devil May Finally Show His Mercy: Forecasters are calling (sub. req.) for highs in the low 90s later in the week with a chance of rain. Couldn’t come sooner, as Sunday really strained the power grid. But the DMN article seems to lament that a break in the temperature later this week will mean we will come up short on breaking the record for most 100-degree days. I don’t really understand the desire. Seriously, just make it stop.

Jonathan Hudson Wins Dumbest Juror Ever Award: Why? Because he tried to “friend” the defendant in the case on Facebook. Nice.

Dallas Police Lineup Unit Stands Out From the Crowd: In this Boston Globe article (via the NYT, it would seem) Dallas’ special lineup unit gets a close look ahead of New Jersey’s efforts to overhaul their lineup program. Dallas assigns specially trained officers to lineups who have no relationship with individual cases to avoid witness coercion.

Perry Became a Millionaire While In Office: My favorite bit about this story is that when it comes down to hard cash, the anti-government poster boy, much like Michele Bachmann, has no problem pocketing government agricultural subsidies. Notice how both major Republican candidates have made their living/fortunes off the government or by leveraging their governmental positions.

Dirk Receives Germany’s Top Sports Honor: It’s called the Silver Laurel Leaf, and who else was going to win it this year, Andreas Klöden?

Beltre, Cruz Swap Spots on DL: The good news: Adrian Beltre starts a rehabilitation assignment in Triple-A Round Rock today and should return to the Rangers in a few days. The bad news? Friday night’s hero, Nelson Cruz, left last night’s game with a strained hamstring.

Yet Another Fan Seriously Injured At Ranger Game An unidentified 24-year-old man fell from a stairwell after the game Saturday night, proving once and for all that the Ballpark was constructed over an Native American burial ground and it is haunted by spiteful spirits, meaning the Rangers will need to move to a new stadium downtown preferably with a retractable roof so their starters won’t run out of gas mid-August.