Bell Nunnally partners Alana K. Ackels, R. Heath Cheek and Andrew Dowdy are quoted in the Law360 article “Texas’ ‘Bright Star’ To Shine For Law Firms In 2026.” The article explores 2025 legal trends and how 2026 may play out – across a wide swath of practice areas.

Ackels covered labor and employment, Cheek litigation and Dowdy corporate/M&A. From the article:

Andrew Dowdy, a Dallas-based Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP corporate partner, said he believes the first successful year of the Texas business court will continue to help drive corporate relocations and domestications along with the incentives created by the Texas Legislature to incorporate in the state in hopes of capturing dollars that once went to Delaware.

Heath Cheek, a Bell Nunnally litigator, said he was “blown away” with his first experience in a Texas business court, and that as word gets around about the sophistication of the venue, more businesses will want to avail themselves of it when disputes arise.

“Delaware has become a little more unpredictable over the past few years,” Cheek said, adding that Texas offers some of that predictability with clear language in the business code and a streamlined, sophisticated approach to resolving complex commercial disputes in the new business court.

Alana K. Ackels, head of Bell Nunnally’s labor and employment practice, said lawmakers have made Texas an “easier place to employ people,” which means there are fewer compliance issues for companies which are physically operating in the state.

Ackels said the Texas business court has “expressly stated that they have jurisdiction to hear trade secret and restrictive covenant cases when the amount in controversy is $5 million or more.”

Dowdy said he expects to see more corporate relocations to Texas, particularly Dallas, “and with the Texas business court, I can only see that accelerating over the next few years.”

“The Texas Legislature has done a great job of incentivizing these companies, especially Texas-based companies, to relocate or reincorporate in Texas and quit paying unnecessary Delaware taxes,” Dowdy said.

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