Class Notes

Robert Neal passed away in August 2023. Neal was a double Longhorn who recently retired from practicing law in Austin after more than 45 years.

Mary Hall passed away on Nov. 14, 2022. Hall, who also earned an MBA from UT, specialized in family law in her native Vermont and enjoyed traveling around the world.

Dick DeGuerin has been named one of the Best Criminal Defense Lawyers in Houston,2023. DeGuerin has been practicing criminal defense for the past five decades and represented many high profile clients as his firm handles state and federal cases from trial through the appellate process.

George Parnham has been named one of the Best Criminal Defense Lawyers in Houston 2023. An Army veteran who has practiced for over five decades, Parnham has secured reduced sentences for clients accused of terrorism, criminally negligent homicide and murder.

David Nachtigall has been named one of the Best Criminal Defense Lawyers in Houston 2023.  Nachtigall, whose firm is based in Houston, has tried several thousand criminal cases and has represented clients facing serious allegations from the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Secret Service and other government agencies.

Neal A. Davis has been named one of the Best Criminal Defense Lawyers in Houston 2023. Davis, who runs his own firm,  has 25 years of experience in criminal defense from the investigative phase to appeal, and has appeared as counsel in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in a matter involving the Fifth Amendment.

Rachel Ratcliffe Payne has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in Austin. A member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department, she advises public and private companies across industries on strategic and private equity M&A, take-private transactions, SEC compliance, and corporate governance.

Daniel Williams has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in New York. A member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department, he advises private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, and strategic investors in M&A, dispositions, and asset sales transactions.

Amanda Tyler testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. Tyler is the executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) and lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign.

Brandi Howard has joined Brown Rudnick LLP as partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office. Howard, who focuses her practice on commercial litigation and appellate matters, was selected to the National Bar Association’s “Top 40 Under 40” in 2022.

Horace Coke Wilson Jr. passed away Oct. 31, 2023. Wilson was a partner at Pravel, Wilson and Gambrell and additionally served as a law professor at both Texas Law and the University of Houston Law Center.

Rachel E. Ratcliffe Payne has been elected to partnership at Latham & Watkins LLP. She is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department.

Daniel Williams has been elected to partnership at Latham & Watkins LLP. Williams is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department.

Travis Maples has joined Botkin Chiarello Calaf as an associate on the firm’s commercial litigation team. Maples clerked at both the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals before entering private practice.

Tammy Cooper has started a new position as deputy general manager of Regulatory, Communications, Compliance and Legal Services at Austin Energy. Cooper was former senior vice president, overseeing that same division at Austin Energy.

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.

Brian A. Carpenter has joined Cole Schotz PC’s Dallas office. Carpenter has 32 years of legal experience and focuses on commercial and patent litigation, including trials before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board.

John D. White has been awarded the 2023 Outstanding Alumni Award for the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. In addition to his numerous public service appointments, White served as a judge advocate general in the United States Air Force and practiced law for three decades.

Rebekah Prince has joined Duane Morris LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Prince, who previously worked at Barnes & Thornburg LLP,  specializes in celebrity endorsement transactions and representing professional athletes.

Clayton Hutchins passed away Oct. 20, 2023. Hutchins, who served as  city attorney of Texarkana, Grand Prairie, Bedford and Carrollton,  specialized in trial and appellate law.

Karen Robinson has been named to the board of directors of ChIPs Network Inc., a global membership community focused on advancing women and promoting diversity in IP and tech law and policy. Robinson is vice president and associate general counsel at Adobe.

David Hall passed away on Oct. 11, 2023. A double Longhorn, Hall was an acclaimed social warrior, serving his home state as director of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA) for nearly 40 years.

Ed Auler passed away on Oct. 14, 2023. After law school, Auler clerked for Judge Joe Greenhill at the Texas Supreme Court before joining the Austin firm of Kendall, Randall, Finch and Osborne. Auler’s career shifted when he and his wife founded Fall Creek Vineyards in the Hill Country region.

Tracy Owen passed away Oct. 1, 2023. Owen, who specialized in employee relations legal services, was the senior vice president of industrial relations at Paramount Pictures.

David Tamisiea has been named executive director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference. Tamisiea is the dean of the School of Arts & Sciences and associate professor in Theology at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.

Herbert “Herbie” Haschke Jr. passed away Oct. 9, 2023. In addition to practicing law with Price Waterhouse for 25 years, Haschke opened practices in Tulsa and Clifton, where he was involved in volunteer projects and pro bono legal services.

Stephen R. Pattison has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth as a special counsel. Pattison is a business immigration attorney and a former U.S. State Department senior foreign service officer, focusing his practice on the representation of corporate and individual clients on business immigration, consular processing and individual immigration matters.

Warigia M. Bowman’s first book, “Digital Development in East Africa: The Distribution, Diffusion, and Governance of Information Technology,” has been published by Palgrave McMillan. Bowman, an associate professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law, also has received significant press attention for her work on aquifer depletion including mention in the New York Times, CNN International, PBS, and Democracy Now.

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

David J. Beck earned the Top 100 Trial Lawyers, National Practice Area Star, and Litigation Star Awards in Benchmark Litigation 2024. Beck is a trial lawyer and founding partner at Beck Redden LLP and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Fields Alexander earned the Litigation Star Award in Benchmark Litigation 2024. Alexander is a partner at Beck Redden LLP, where he specializes in trial law.

Wayne Haglund has been selected as a Texas Super Lawyer for his work in school law for the 20th consecutive year. Haglund established the Haglund Law Firm and has provided legal services to more than 60 Texas school districts.

Jim Vollers passed away on Sept. 25, 2023. Vollers had a long career in criminal law as a prosecutor, and later, as the Court of Criminal Appeals state’s attorney and judge.

Courtney York has joined Greenberg Traurig as a corporate practice shareholder. York specializes in multimillion to billion dollar corporate and commercial technology cases.

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.

Shawn Raymond has received the Anti-Defamation League’s Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award, an annual award presented by ADL Southwest that honors an outstanding member of the legal community who exhibits a commitment to equality, justice, fairness and community service. Raymond is a partner at trial law firm Susan Godfrey.

Brad Caldwell has earned a selection on the 2024 Lawdragon Leading Litigators in America listing based on his work in intellectual property trials. Caldwell is principal at Caldwell Cassady & Curry, where he focuses on patent infringement and complex commercial litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants in trial.

Janet McQuaid has joined Frost Brown Todd (FBT), a national law firm with specialized expertise in the energy industry. Prior to law school, McQuaid worked for 11 years as a chemical engineer for Exxon, equipping her with a unique background and a distinct perspective on developments in the energy industry.

Claire Demers has joined Bracewell LLP as a first-year associate. Demers previously worked at Bracewell as a summer associate and clerked at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas.

Joshua Kelly has joined Botkin Calaf, an Austin-based commercial and IP litigation and business law firm, as an associate. He will support the commercial litigation team in resolving business, intellectual property, and employment disputes. While at Texas Law, Kelly was an editor for the Texas Environmental Law Journal and a judicial intern in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Matt Gates has joined Wittliff Cutter as senior counsel. Gates, who has more than a decade of experience in trial law, focusing on complex commercial litigation and intellectual property matters,  antitrust matters, and product defect cases.

James Lloyd has been promoted to Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Lloyd previously served as Acting Deputy for Civil Litigation and Associate Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation.

Larry Fallek has been named the 2023 Man of the Year by the McAllen Chamber of Commerce. A double Longhorn, Fallek currently serves as the chairman of Castle Hospitality.

Rachel McKenna has been named a 2023 Texas Rising Star by Texas Super Lawyers for her work in business litigation. McKenna is a partner and civil trial lawyer at Almanza Blackburn Dickie & Mitchell LLP in Austin.

Author James Andrew Hearn’s short story “Home Is the Hunter” will be included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023, which will be published in October by Mariner Books.

Judge Bill Henderson, former district judge of Harris County Family Court and later legal advisor to County Judge Ed Emmett, has retired. He also served as an administrator for the Children’s Assessment Center and is currently volunteering for ReVision, a non-profit working with homeless youth.

Lorence Larry Bravenec passed away on Sept. 19, 2023. A double Longhorn, Bravenec was an accounting professor at the Texas A&M University Mays School of Business from 1971 to 2010. He also served as mayor of College Station in the 1970s.

Jessica Dean has earned repeat recognition by Texas Super Lawyers, noting the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state. Dean is honored for personal injury products liability litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. A member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Dean is a partner at Dean Omar Branham Shirley and a key part of the firm’s trial team.

International arbitration lawyer David Weiss has joined Mayer Brown as a partner in Houston. His background includes substantial experience in investor-state arbitrations, commercial disputes in Latin America, international arbitrations among parties in the energy industry, and post-M&A disputes.

Richard Warren Mithoff has been recognized as one of Texas’ top trial lawyers in the 2023 Texas Super Lawyers Top 10 list. Mithoff is a personal injury lawyer and president at Mithoff Law firm, and the namesake for Texas Law’s pro bono center, the Richard and Ginni Mithoff Pro Bono Center.