Class Notes

Doug Sigel passed away in October 2023. Sigel was a partner and practice group leader for the Ryan Law Firm’s Sales & Use and Income Tax team based in Austin.

Alistair B. Dawson earned the Litigation Star Award in Benchmark Litigation 2024. Dawson is a partner at the Houston office of Beck Redden LLP.

Kimberly S. Winick has been elected as president of the board of directors of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS. Winick specializes in commercial finance law and serves as a mediator for local bankruptcy courts.

Alistair B. Dawson has been named a 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigator in America. An attorney at Beck Redden, Dawson serves as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates and a commissioner on the Texas Equal Access to Justice Commission. He also was named in Thomson Reuters Texas Super Lawyers 2023.

Jim Bettis has been included in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in insurance law. Bettis is a shareholder at Munsch Hardt and maintains an active complex commercial litigation practice with an emphasis on contract disputes, personal injury defense and insurance coverage matters.

Alistair B. Dawson has been included in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in Commercial Litigation and Antitrust Litigation. An attorney at Beck Redden, Dawson serves as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates and a commissioner on the Texas Equal Access to Justice Commission.

Stacey Jernigan’s legal thriller “Hedging Death” is featured in an article about a hedge-fund manager who is citing evidence from the novel to bolster his recusal request. Jernigan presides over the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas and has served as a federal bankruptcy judge since 2006.

Eric Nichols has been appointed as chair of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. Nichols is a partner at Butler Snow LLP and previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas and as deputy attorney general for criminal justice in the Office of the Texas Attorney General.

Alistair B. Dawson has been honored with the Judge Sam Williams Award by the State Bar of Texas Local Bar Services Committee. An attorney at Beck Redden, Dawson serves as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates and a commissioner on the Texas Equal Access to Justice Commission.

Gregory Clark has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as a senior attorney in the firm’s Construction Practice Group. Clark, a member of Construction Law Section of the Texas Bar Association, focuses on business and residential commercial construction matters.

Versel (Wall) Rush was awarded the 2023 Rutland Excellence in Advocacy Award by the Texas State Bar Child Protection Law Section “in recognition of her outstanding legal advocacy and service on behalf of children and families.” This is the highest award given by the section to an attorney. Rush is a regional attorney with the Child Protective Services based out of Montague County.

Jennifer Haltom Doan has been named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Doan founded the firm Haltom & Doan, representing Fortune 100 companies and individuals in personal injury, product liability, intellectual property and business and commercial law.

Cindi Graham has been named chair of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization Board. In 1994, Graham opened her own law firm and in 2002 became board certified in family law.

W. Glenn Opel has been elected president for the American College of Bond Counsel after previously serving on the organization’s Board of Directors and as its treasurer.  Opel is co-chair of Bracewell’s public finance practice and a partner in the ’Austin office. He focuses his practice on public finance, infrastructure and transportation development, and public/private partnerships.

Alistair Dawson has been recognized as a 2022 Texas Super Lawyer, a Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation for 2023, and in the inaugural guide of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America. Dawson is a partner at the Houston office of Beck Redden.

Jim Reeder has been selected to receive the  Laura Lee Blanton Community Spirit Award from Houston Hospice in recognition of decades-long dedication and commitment to the organization, with co-recipient Eric Nevil. Reeder is a partner at Jones Day, where he focuses on complex commercial litigation and antitrust.

John A. Bonnet III has been named a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Bonnet specializes in M&A transactions, debt and equity financings, investment funds, general business transactions, contracts, corporate governance, and other business law matters. While at Texas Law, he was associate editor of the Texas Law Review.

Alistair Dawson has been elected 2022–2023 Chair of the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees. Dawson has been a partner at Beck Redden LLP for nearly 30 years, where he specializes in commercial litigation.

John G. Browning received the Luther (Luke) H. Soules III Award for Outstanding Service to the Practice Award, presented by the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section to recognize an attorney “who embodies excellence in the practice of law and exemplary service to the State Bar.” Browning is a partner at Spencer Fane in Plano; he also served as an appellate justice on the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas.

Francisco Solis has been named interim president at San Antonio College. Solis previously served as the college’s Dean of Performance Excellence since 2016, and professor of mortuary science from 1999 to 2016.

John Aloysius Cogan has been promoted to professor of law and received tenure at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Cogan teaches courses surrounding health law and health insurance.

Alistair B. Dawson, a partner at Beck Redden LLP, was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers at its spring meeting.  Dawson, who specializes in commercial litigation, was editor of the Texas Law Review and a member of the Chancellor’s Society while at Texas Law.

David Calvillo has been promoted to equity shareholder in the Houston-based law firm of Chamberlain Hrdlicka. Calvillo practices in a wide variety of areas, including breach of contract, commercial liability, shareholder rights, professional malpractice, and intellectual property. He currently serves on the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors.

Brad Sklencar has been selected to be a Foundation Fellow by the San Antonio Bar Foundation. Sklencar is a partner at the San Antonio offices of insurance defense firm Resnick & Louis, P.C.

Alistair Dawson has been recognized in 2021 Texas Super Lawyers among the Top 100 Houston ranking . This annual award listing is based on peer recognition and professional achievements and published by Thomson Reuters. Of those nominated, only five percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion. Dawson is a partner with Beck Redden LLP.

Alistair Dawson has been recognized in the 2022 The Best Lawyers in America ranking of the nation’s top legal talent. He is a partner with Beck Redden who specializes in Commercial Litigation and Antitrust Litigation.

Hon. Patrick Keel of Austin has been elected Fellows Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the Texas Bar Foundation. Keel took office June 18, 2021. Keel, a former state district judge, is a full-time mediator and arbitrator. He is also an adjunct professor in the trial advocacy program at Texas Law and a member of the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas. After law school, Keel practiced commercial litigation for 13 years with Baker Botts LLP, where he was a partner in the firm’s trial department and hiring partner for the firm’s Austin office.

Stephen Best has been named the “Best of the Best” in White Collar Crime in both the 2021 USA and Global Expert Guides. Best is a Brown Rudnick Partner, Chair of the Firm’s White Collar Defense & Government Investigations Practice Group, and a former state and federal prosecutor.

John Langmore recently published two books of photography. “Open Range” (Twin Palms Publishers) captures the life of modern working cowboys on some of the nation’s largest ranches. “Fault Lines” (Trinity University Press) documents the rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of old East Austin. John also co-directed and just released “Cowboys”, a feature-length documentary film also depicting the lives of contemporary working cowboys. “Cowboys” won the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival.

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. announced that 15 of its attorneys have been recognized on the 2020 Texas Super Lawyers® list, including James M. Bettis, Jr., recognized for his expertise in personal injury defense.

Texas Super Lawyers has again recognized Beck Redden LLP in its 2020 annual award listing, featuring 16 lawyers with four included in the Tops of Texas rankings. Beck Redden lawyers highlighted in the Tops of Texas rankings includes Alistair B. Dawson, who is specialized in business litigation and recognized in Top 100 Texas and Top 100 Houston.

Benchmark Litigation 2021 has recognized Alistair B. Dawson in its 2021 ranking of the nation’s top litigation talent. Dawson is considered to be a “Local Litigation Star”, recommended consistently as a reputable and effective litigator by clients and peers.

Justice John Browning was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals by Governor Greg Abbott on Aug. 24, 2020. Before joining the Court, he was a trial and appellate lawyer for 31 years as a partner with large national law firms and his own small law firm.

James M. Bettis Jr. was recently named to the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Frederick D. Junkin made the “Lawyer of the Year” list in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Alistair B. Dawson was named in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. He specializes in Commercial Litigation.

Penny Reid – General Counsel and Partner in Sidley Austin’s Dallas office – has been selected as the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers’ (DAYL) 2019-2020 Outstanding Mentor Award Recipient.

Baker Botts Energy Litigation Partner, Bill Kroger has been awarded the Anti-Defamation League’s 2020 Karen Susman Jurisprudence Award for his exceptional work serving the communities of Houston, Texas.

David N. Calvillo, board certified civil trial lawyer, certified public accountant, and certified valuation analyst with national law firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka, has recently earned an Executive L.L.M. (Master of Laws) in Tax Law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Calvillo has also been elected to be an income shareholder in recognition of his contributions to the firm during its annual meeting on February 8 in Houston, TX.

Longtime Baker Botts Attorney Bill Kroger will receive the Anti-Defamation League’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award February 19, 2020, at the Hilton Americas Houston. The award is presented every year to an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits an exceptional commitment to equality, justice, fairness and community services. It is named for the late ADL Board Chair Karen H. Susman, in memory of her deep commitment to fighting hatred and doing good work.

David Calvillo, Senior Counsel in the Houston and San Antonio offices of Chamberlain Hrdlicka, has been invited into the Houston Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Calvillo was formally welcomed into the Houston Chapter during the Annual Dinner and New Member Induction on October 26, 2019. ABOTA is a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

On October 22, 2019, Beck Redden LLP obtained a $176 million unanimous jury verdict on behalf of our client, HP Inc. The verdict followed a week-long trial in a Houston federal court in which the jurors deliberated for less than five hours and found that defendants Quanta Storage Inc. and Quanta Storage America Inc. knowingly and intentionally violated U.S. antitrust laws. By law, the damages could be tripled by U.S. District Judge David Hittner.

Patrick Keel received the Professionalism Award from the Austin Bar Association and the Texas Center for Legal Ethics. The award is given annually to a lawyer “who best exemplifies, by conduct and character, truly professional traits, who others in the bar seek to emulate, and who all in the bar admire.”

Patrick Keel received the Professionalism Award from the Austin Bar Association and the Texas Center for Legal Ethics. The award is given annually to a lawyer “who best exemplifies, by conduct and character, truly professional traits, who others in the bar seek to emulate, and who all in the bar admire.”

James McNeel has joined Chamberlain Hrdlicka as a shareholder in its San Antonio office. His practice will focus on fiduciary litigation in the area of estates, trusts, contested guardianships, and other related litigation. He will handle claims by and against estate administrators, trustees, beneficiaries, and closely held family businesses in all areas of law related to estate, trust, guardianship, and tax-related litigation.

On February 1, 2018, Martin Lutz joined McGinnis Lochridge—a legal fixture in Austin for 90 years—as Partner. McGinnis Lochridge has a strong presence in Austin and Houston, providing legal counsel on business and financial matters, and advocating for clients before administrative agencies, at the state capitol, and in courthouses across Texas and throughout the Southwest.

Jane Webre has been elected to the American Law Institute. She practices civil appellate law at Scott Douglass McConnico and handles most of the firm’s appeals. Her practice also includes trial court litigation involving complex matters that present significant legal issues, including oil and gas litigation and land use regulation. Jane has argued appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States, the Fifth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Texas, and many of the courts of appeals around the state.

John G. Browning (Class of ’89) has been selected, along with Chief Justice Carolyn Wright of the Fifth District Court of Appeals, to receive the J.L. Turner Legal Association Foundation’s “Texas Legal History” Award at the Foundation’s annual gala on October 21, 2017 in Dallas. The award recognizes Mr. Browning’s and Chief Justice Wright’s achievement and body of work in researching and writing about the earliest African-American lawyers in Texas, published in the Howard Law Journal and others.

The Washington law firm formerly known as Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C., has recently become Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C. David Frederick ’89 has become a name partner.

Shane Read has published his fourth litigation textbook, “Turning Points at Trial: Great Lawyers Share Secrets, Strategies and Skills,” in which thirteen of the country’s greatest lawyers share powerful insights from their most interesting cases, from depositions to trials to appeals. Read profiles such famous lawyers as Robert S. Bennett, Bryan Stevenson, Alan Dershowitz, Mark Lanier, and U.T. School of Law alumni Lisa Blatt who has the record for a woman with the most oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.