Class Notes

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.

Alistair B. Dawson was recognized in the annual Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2016 directory. Dawson was specifically recognized for his work in General Commercial litigation.

Arthur T. Catterall of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division’s Appellate Section has received the Arthur S. Flemming Award for 2015. For over 67 years, the Flemming award has been conferred annually on a dozen Federal employees for outstanding and meritorious work for the government. Mr. Catterall is being recognized for outstanding Legal Achievement. The award will be conferred at a ceremony at George Washington University on June 6, 2016.

The Texas Bar Foundation recently named John G. Browning the recipient of the 2016 Lola Wright Foundation Award, presented annually to a Texas attorney in recognition for outstanding public service in advancing and enhancing legal ethics in Texas. The award will be presented during the Texas Bar Foundation’s black-tie dinner gala on June 17.

In October of 2009, Mary Fuentes Valdez and a colleague, Brenda Lee Knowles (University of Houston School of Law) formed YTIA (Youth Transitioning Into Adulthood), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to assist youths leaving State foster care. The organization is doing great work in the community.