Jack O’Neill, managing partner at Pierce & O’Neill, has been honored by Chambers USA or his commercial litigation expertise. With more than 50 years experience, O’Neill handles large-scale commercial litigation including disputes involving energy and trade secret issues, and has successfully tried numerous cases relating to virtually all aspects of the oil and gas business.
Scott Clark of the Houston trial law firm Alavi Anaipakos has earned selection in the 2024 Chambers USA guide based on his work in high-stakes intellectual property lawsuits.
Brad Caldwell of the Dallas law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry has earned selection in the 2024 IAM Patent 1000 based on his work in high-stakes intellectual property trials.
Kenneth Perez passed away on May 29, 2024. A native of New Orleans, Perez dedicated his legal career to people’s welfare. He and his wife were avid travelers.
Thomas Terrell passed away on Jan. 19, 2024. At Texas Law, Terrell was a member of the Order of the Coif and Texas Law Review, in addition to serving as a quizmaster. A U.S. Army veteran, he started his legal career in Austin before establishing a practice in Kerrville, Texas.
Gilbert Prud’homme passed away on May 24, 2024. Prud’homme worked as an attorney in Austin for six decades and devoted time to serving his community.
Lynda Tealer was announced as the new senior vice president of championships for the NCAA. Tealer will be overseeing 84 NCAA championships after having spent the past 21 years at the University of Florida, where she oversaw the Gator women’s programs and men’s basketball.
Jack Maroney II passed away on May 18, 2024. A United States Marine Corps veteran, was the last survivor of the Marine Detachment that served on the USS Enterprise (“Big E”) during WWII. Maroney completed law school after the war and worked for multiple law firms over a 50-year career.
Mike Cotten passed away on May 25, 2024. Cotten played varsity football for the University of Texas before serving in the US Marine Corps and building a successful 42-year career in the practice of law with Clark, Thomas Law Firm.
Susan Salch married Ty Sanders on March 23, 2024, in Austin. Texas Law alumna Edythe Payan was a bridesmaid, and many other alumni were in attendance, including Elizabeth Pearsall Lippincott, Cindy Olson Bourland, John Gillard, David McDowell, Jackie Lain Nussbaum, Katie Carmona, Tim Tyler, Bill Hopkins, Leslie Strauch, Greg Shields, Tiffany Roper and Mike Marcin. Salch has been a managing partner at Cantilo & Bennett, LLP since 2018.
Robert L. Tobey has been appointed to the Board of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas and elected to the Texas Bar College Board of Directors. Tobey is a shareholder at Johnston Tobey Baruch.
The Hon. Jon Burrows recently retired after 20 years as County Judge of Bell County. Burrows served on the boards of directors of the Texas Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties. He was past president of the North & East County Judges and Commissioners Association and served two terms as president of the National Conference of Republican County Officials. He had practiced law in Temple, where he was board certified in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law.
Judge Jan Soifer recently was honored with the Austin Bar Association’s Larry F. York Mentoring Award. Judge Soifer is the judge of the 345th District Court in Travis County, a civil and family trial court. This award is given to a local lawyer or judge who has demonstrated exceptional skill and generosity in mentoring younger members of the bar.
Joel P. Kay passed away May 16, 2024. Kay began his professional career as a lawyer in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before becoming assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas, then name partner at Sheinfeld, Maley and Kay, P.C. where he worked for more than three decades. He spent the remainder of his legal career as of counsel at Hughes Watters Askanase.
Richard Mills, Jr. was confirmed to be U.S. ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 2, 2024. Mills previously was a member of the Senior Foreign Service, serving at the U.S. deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
William Harris Connor, “Bill”, passed away on May 5, 2024. An active member of the Georgetown community, Connor served as District Attorney for the 26th Judicial District, Georgetown City Council member for three terms, and Mayor for one term.
Jesse Heber Coomer passed away on May 18, 2024. A diligent attorney, Coomer served as chief counsel for the Universities Research Associates, Inc., Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory. He also was appointed by the Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, as the contract manager for E-Systems, Inc. in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Brandon, a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, has earned a place on the 2024 INvolve Empower Executive Role Model List for her advocacy work in diversifying the legal and business communities.
Michael McLeaish passed away March 15, 2024. McLeaish opened his own practice in Odessa, Texas, in 1970 and celebrated 53 years of active practice last September.
Lance Currie, a partner at Carrington Coleman, has been elected to the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees. Currie’s practice centers on construction and real estate law.
Brooke Colaizzi has started a new position as co-leader of Litigation, Trials & Appeals at Sherman & Howard L.L.C in Denver. Colaizzi has extensive experience in employment litigation, labor employment and employee benefits, and workplace counseling.
Alphonso Ragland lll, “Fonse,” passed away on May 13, 2024. Ragland served as a Judge Advocate Officer, JAG, in the United States Air Force stationed in New York until June 1967. From there, Ragland moved back to Dallas to practice law before working as a stockbroker for more than 50 years.
Janet Carl passed away on May 4, 2024. Carl worked in environmental law before retiring to live near family and give back to her community through charitable giving.
Jennifer de Haro has been promoted to Managing Attorney of the Removal and Community Integration Services department (RCIS) at RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, in San Antonio, Texas. She also serves as a board member of the Multi Cultural Alliance (MCA),
Brad Estes joined the partnership at Lewis & Llewellyn, LLP, a litigation boutique based in San Francisco. Estes represents plaintiffs and defendants across a wide variety of industries at every stage of complex commercial litigation, including business tort, contract, fraud, regulatory, trade secret, trademark, employee mobility, and competition disputes. He has been recognized as a Northern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Maidie Ryan is the president and general counsel of Camp Aspen, an elevated loungewear brand founded by her brother and UT alumnus Patrick Ryan.
Manuel Escobar has been recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Joseph C. Parker Jr. Diversity Award from the Austin Bar Association. Escobar is a partner at McGinnis Lochridge.
KC Waldron has joined Empower as the new chief compliance officer where she will oversee the management and development of the company’s compliance program. Waldron spent 12 years at Charles Schwab, most recently as managing director, chief compliance officer of Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc., and head of Wealth & Advice Solutions compliance.
Paula Desel was selected to a three-year term on the Rice University Alumni Association’s board of directors. Prior to her retirement, Desel practiced law at Baker Botts in Houston and Arnold & Porter in New York, and was an in-house attorney at Altria.
Rudy Metayer had been named a recipient of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. The honorees will be celebrated on June 22, 2024 at the Community Impact Center in Austin, Texas.
Barrett Robin has been named partner at the Dallas plaintiffs’ law firm Hamilton Wingo. In addition to his trial success, Robin has secured multiple seven-figure settlements in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases.
John Varner passed away on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Varner practiced law at three different firms, and co-founded Genprex, Inc., a biotechnology company fighting cancer and diabetes. He served as Genprex’s president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors.
Timothy Tyler has joined Norton Rose Fulbright as counsel in its Houston office. Tyler practices international commercial arbitration, investor-state arbitration under treaties and state contracts, and associated U.S. litigation. He also is an adjunct professor at Texas Law, teaching courses in international arbitration.
On May 2, 2024, Richard Mills Jr. was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as incoming ambassador to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service.
Samuel G. Encarnacion, first assistant public defender in the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office, received the annual Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Civil and Equal Rights Champion Award during the PBA annual meeting. The award honors an individual who champions for civil rights for all Pennsylvanians.
Thomas “Tom” Renfro passed away on Sunday, May 5, 2024. A double Longhorn, Renfro practiced law in Ft. Worth as a litigator and medical malpractice defense attorney during his more-than-50-year career.
Mark Burroughs passed away on May 2, 2024. His legal career was based in Denton where he practiced business law, personal injury and property tax collection at his real estate law firm, Sawko & Burroughs. Burroughs also served as a city council member and mayor of Denton from 2008-2014.
Ellie Sowanick has been promoted to counsel at Haynes Boone, working with the Trademark and Advertising Practice Group in Orange County. Her practice focuses on a variety of trademark, patent, copyright, and design patent matters, as well as brand management and resolving complex and multi-jurisdictional trademark and domain disputes.
Paul Trahan has been appointed as the partner-in-charge at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s Austin office. Trahan has been with the firm since 1996.
Jaime Vasquez was named managing shareholder of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s San Antonio office. Vasquez concentrates his practice on federal, state, and international tax controversy matters.
Kari Potts has been named chief legal officer and compliance Officer at Earth Holdings, LLC, a Brigham family company. Potts was previously vice president, general counsel, secretary and compliance officer at Brigham Minerals, Inc., prior to its merger with Sitio Royalties Corp. in December 2022. She is re-joining some of the executive team members with whom she previously served.
James G. Ulmer passed away on April 16, 2024. He practiced law for 40 years with the firm of Baker Botts LLP in the field of general litigation with emphasis on intellectual property, bankruptcy, and oil and gas law. Ulmer, who also was an Air Force veteran, retired as a senior partner in 1990.
Diana Saldana was recognized as a United ISD (Laredo) Community Hero for launching the Kazen Fellowship Program, which aims to offer paid summer internships for eligible high school students at the federal and state courthouses.
Roy Laughton Whitehead Jr. passed away on April 24, 2024. Based in Longview, his legal career grew from a start in the Gregg County District Attorney’s Office to joining his father’s practice. Eventually, Whitehead built a boutique firm that focused on family law until retiring in 2020.
Samuel Sipes passed away on April 14, 2024. A U.S. Army veteran, Sipes was a practicing attorney in El Paso, focusing on bankruptcy, business law and commercial law.
Elisabeth Kincaid has been named director of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University. She also will serve as associate professor of ethics, faith and culture in Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary and as an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Management in the Hankamer School of Business.
Hon. John G. Browning, former justice on Texas’ Fifth Court of Appeals and now Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, will receive the Texas Bar College’s Franklin B. Jones Outstanding CLE Article Award for 2023. Browning’s article, “ Let’s Chat About Chat GPT,” examined the ethics of using generative AI. The award will be presented at the College’s annual Summer School in July 2024.
Rachael M. Rolon is one of the co-founders of Lawgical Workspace, a co-working space for legal professionals, located in The Woodlands, Texas. An experienced attorney at Rolon Law Firm, she specializes in representing corporations, small businesses, and individuals.
Kayvon Rashidi is now a partner at Powers Kerr & Rashidi, PLLC. Rashidi joined the team at Powers and Kerr, PLLC in August 2020, and represents clients in all manner of family law cases, including complex property division, high conflict custody litigation, marital property agreements, and protective orders. While at Texas Law he was an executive editor of the Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law.
Jason Boatright has been appointed to the Texas Racing Commission, which oversees pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound racing. Boatright is special counsel at Duane Morris LLP and is a former justice of the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals.