Baker Botts has sued the SEC, claiming that the agency illegally withheld documents that the firm first requested nearly a year ago related to their representation of Russia in the country’s sprawling litigation over the renationalized Yukos Oil Co.

Baker Botts has hired a team of 32 antitrust lawyers from Howrey, including former Howrey vice-chair Sean Boland and two former assistant U.S. attorneys general. Such a sizeable lateral group is unusual for Baker Botts.

Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, now a partner at Baker Botts, is a defendant in a wrongful-death suit brought by parents of a teenage girl killed in a March 2009 accident. The plaintiffs allege that their daughter attended a party at the Phillips’ home on the night of the accident and that Phillips and his wife were home and “were well aware that minors were getting drunk in their back yard.” The plaintiffs allege that the Phillips’ house was known “as the location of frequent underage drinking parties.”

Baker Botts associates are learning this week about potential changes to their pay and bonus packages that become effective Jan. 1, 2011, says Maria Boyce, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Houston office. The firm is moving associates from lockstep promotions and pay to a merit-based system, she says

A former client has hit Baker Botts with a malpractice action related to a patent case that could cost the firm millions in damages. Axcess International alleges that Baker Botts had a conflict of interest when it simultaneously represented Axcess and a competitor in the multibillion-dollar radio frequency identification industry.