Darrell Jordan has joined Diamond McCarthy as a partner in Dallas, where he reunited with many of the lawyers he hired and mentored at the former Hughes & Luce. Jordan—”Uncle Darrell” to several of the Diamond McCarthy lawyers—left Dykema in Dallas to join Diamond McCarthy last month. Jordan, a former president of the State Bar of Texas, said Diamond McCarthy was the “right fit” because of the firm’s business litigation practice. “They made me an offer that was very attractive, and I felt this firm really fit my practice a little better,” Jordan said. Jordan said it’s also nice to be a partner. At Dykema, Jordan said, he was a senior counsel because he was too old to be a partner when he joined the firm as head of the Dallas office in 2007. “I’m 76, and there aren’t many firms around looking for 76-year-old lawyers,” Jordan said. Mark Sales, a partner in Diamond McCarthy, said Jordan was his mentor when he took his first job after law school at Hughes & Luce, the Dallas firm that combined in January 2008 with the firm now known as K&L Gates. “I affectionately call him Uncle Darrell,” Sales said. “He’s very much tied into the partners and people over here from way back. … It’s going to be a big plus for our firm to have him.”

Admissions Investigation

Kroll investigators are questioning present and former deans of the University of Texas School of Law as part of the risk-assessment consulting firm’s review of the admissions process at UT. Daniel Sharphorn, the general counsel and vice chancellor for the UT System, confirmed the questioning of the deans in Sept. 8 emailed answers to Texas Lawyer’s questions. In August the UT System announced it had hired Kroll, which has offices in New York and Dallas, to conduct an investigation into the UT admissions process. Earlier in the year, as part of ongoing political bickering among UT regents, UT administrators and state lawmakers, questions had arisen about alleged irregularities in admissions, including at the law school. Kroll is scheduled to complete its investigation early this fall, according to Karen Adler, a spokeswoman for the UT System. But she added in an email: “We’ve asked Kroll to do a thorough investigation as quickly as possible.” In his email, Sharphorn wrote about the Kroll investigation: “Law school admissions are part of the overall review, along with undergraduate and School of Business admissions.” Sharphorn reported that the Kroll investigation has triggered “no consequences” for the current admission process for the law school. Kroll has targeted for questioning no individuals who had been admitted or denied admission to the law school, Sharphorn reported. But in addition to asking the deans questions, Kroll investigators were also making inquiries of law school admissions officers, Sharphorn wrote. Ward Farnsworth serves as the law school’s current dean; he replaced Lawrence Sager, who stepped down in late 2011. Bill Powers, the president of UT-Austin, who has said he will resign from his leadership next year, also served previously as dean of the law school.