Class Notes

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Class of 1981

Paul Watler headshot

Paul Watler

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Paul Watler has been ranked in the 2023 Chambers USA Guide as one of the top lawyers in the U.S. for First Amendment Litigation and was recognized by The Texas Lawbook for the defense of one of the nine most significant lawsuits handled by Texas attorneys in 2023. A partner at Jackson Walker who specializes in First Amendment, media law, and commercial litigation, Watler also was named in Lawdragon’s 2024 list of top 500 leading litigators in America.

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Photograph of John Wesley Tunnell

John Wesley Tunnell

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John Wesley Tunnell passed away Feb. 15, 2024. Dedicated to criminal defense, Tunnell served as an assistant district attorney, general counsel to the Texas Secretary of State, and general counsel for the first Texas Ethics Commission before returning to private practice.

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Justice Tracy Christopher headshot

Hon. Tracy E. Christopher

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The Honorable

Hon. Tracy E. Christopher has been appointed to serve as a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee for the Supreme Court of Texas. Justice Christopher has served as Chief Justice of the 14th Court of Appeals since 2020.

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Hon. Harvey Brown headshot

Hon. Harvey Brown

Class of
The Honorable

Hon. Harvey Brown has been appointed to serve as a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee for the Supreme Court of Texas. Brown has seven years of experience as a trial judge.

Arthur J. Rossi, Jr headshot

Arthur J. Rossi, Jr.

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Arthur J. Rossi, Jr. has been named a 2023 Best Divorce Lawyer in San Antonio by Forbes. Rossi has more than 40 years of experience helping clients with property division, child custody, spousal support, and other family law-related issues.

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Rick Kopf

Richard O. “Rick” Kopf

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Richard O. “Rick” Kopf has been included in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in leisure and hospitality law and real estate law. Kopf is a founding partner of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr and serves as a member of the Operations Committee.

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Photograph of William D Pargaman.

William D. Pargaman

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William “Bill” D. Pargaman passed away August 3, 2023. With his estate planning expertise, Pargaman made significant contributions to the State Bar’s Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law section and was inducted into The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Pargaman was a member of the Chancellor’s Society at Texas Law.

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Henry Cuellar

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Congressman Henry Cuellar has been re-elected for a 10th term representing the 28th congressional district in South Texas.

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Randall H. Erben

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Texas Law Professor Randall H. Erben has been elected Vice-Chair of the Texas Ethics Commission.

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Headshot of Gil Reavis in a black jacket in front of a water/forest scenery

Gillis Edward Reavis

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Gillis Edward Reavis, age 62, passed away on Feb. 2, 2019. He was a successful trial attorney in Texas, eventually starting his own firm with law school friends. He chose to practice part-time when he was offered an adjunct position with the University of Texas School of Law to teach Texas Civil Procedure and Products Liability. In 1995 he joined the national law firm Morrison and Foerster, LLP.  He then co-founded two boutique environmental law firms and later joined Foster Pepper LLP. Reavis was most proud of his successful litigation protecting the Olympic National Park Wilderness Area as a pro-bono project.

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Michael Patrick Finn

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Michael Patrick Finn (Mike), 66, of Belton, Texas, passed away on July 5, 2020 surrounded by family after a short battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. Finn earned his juris doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. At Texas Law, he met his wife Amy Finn through the luck of alphabetical seating in one of their classes. After graduating law school, he became a member of the State Bar of Texas and was commissioned a captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and assigned to Fort Hood. Finn was committed to military service, serving for more than 40 years after retiring in 2014 as a colonel.

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Mark D. Strachan

Class of
Counsel

Mark D. Strachan joined the Dallas office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as Counsel. He has tried patent cases to verdict in Texas federal courts and has argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A native of East Texas, he has served at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall as an adjunct professor. He is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a Texas Super Lawyer.

Carolyn Owen

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Carolyn Owen, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Farm Credit Bank of Texas, will retire form the cooperatively owned wholesale funding bank on Dec. 31, after 35 years of Farm Credit Service. Owen joined the legal department of the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Texas in 1983. Over the years and through several bank name changes, she has held the positions of attorney, senior attorney, associate general counsel, assistant general counsel and deputy general counsel.

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Michael J. Gibbens

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Director

Michael J. Gibbens was honored in the Chambers & Partners 2018 USA Directory in the litigation: general commercial area of legal practice. Gibbens is an attorney in Crowe & Dunlevy’s Tulsa office.

David L. Bryant

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GableGotwals is pleased to announce David L. Bryant was named to the Top 50 List of Attorneys in Oklahoma. He was selected as a 2017 Oklahoma Super Lawyer in the practice areas of Business Litigation, Insurance Coverage, and Professional Liability. David has been elected to Super Lawyers since 2006.

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Virginia Hamilton Snell

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Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP is pleased to announce that Virginia Hamilton Snell, Partner and University of Texas School of Law alumna, has been recognized by Woodward White’s The Best Lawyers in America©, one of the most highly regarded peer-review publications for the legal profession. Ms. Snell received recognition for her work in the following practice areas:
• Appellate Practice
• Bet-the-Company Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Securities

Virginia Hamilton Snell

Class of
Partner

Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP is pleased to announce that Virginia Hamilton Snell, Partner, has been recognized in Litigation Law and Securities Law by Best Lawyers® as “Lawyer of the Year” for the publication’s 2018 edition. Best Lawyers® is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Only one lawyer in each practice area in a given community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Virginia Snell

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Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP is pleased to announce that the Louisville Bar Foundation has approved the nomination of Virginia H. Snell to its Board of Directors.

Virginia Snell

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Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP is pleased to announce that Benchmark Litigation 2017 has recognized Virginia Hamilton Snell, Partner in the Firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Service Team, as a “litigation star” for the publication’s 10th Anniversary Edition. The publication’s “litigation stars” reflect lawyers who are recommended by peers and clients as having established consistent reputations as trial attorneys. The guide honors the firms and attorneys who have demonstrated the ability to consistently handle complex, high-stakes cases in multiple jurisdictions.

Terry Thomas headshot

Terry Thomas

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The Litigation Counsel of America recently named longtime Sand Springs resident and Crowe and Dunlevy attorney Terry Thomas a senior fellow. Thomas was recognized for his work in business, bankruptcy and banking law.

David L. Bryant

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Three University of Texas College of Law graduates were recently named as 2016 Best Lawyers in America’s “Lawyer of the Year.”

Steven L. Barghols, David L. Bryant and David E. Keglovits of GableGotwals received the honor from Best Lawyers. Barghols of Oklahoma City was honored for his work in Arbitration, Bryant of Tulsa was honored for his work in Bet-the-Company Litigation and Keglovits of Tulsa was honored for his work in Corporate Governance Law.

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