Class Notes

Joshua J. Bruckerhoff has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Bruckerhoff is a partner at Reid Collins & Tsai and focuses his practice on financial litigation.

Mariah Berry has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Berry is an associate at Muskat Devine and focuses her practice on Labor & Employment litigation.

W. Jared Berg has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Berg is an associate at Bracewell LLP’s Houston office and focuses his practice on Mergers & Acquisitions and the energy industry.

Patrick K. Johnson has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Johnson is a partner at Bracewell LLP and focuses his practice on the energy industry.

Michael Kelso has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Kelso is a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP and focuses his practice on commercial litigation.

Nishi Kothari has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Kothari is a partner at Brasher Law Firm and focuses her practice on bad faith insurance claims and commercial personal injury matters.

Kat Li has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Li is an IP litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and focuses her trial practice on patent and technology litigation.

Rocco Magni has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Magni is a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP and focuses his trial practice on commercial litigation.

Stephanie L. Matherne has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Matherne is a partner at Estes Thorne Ewing & Payne and focuses her practice on family law.

Utsav Mathur has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Mathur is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright and focuses his practice on commodity trading, shipping, and offshore energy.

Andrew W. Monk has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Monk is an associate at Bracewell LLP and focuses his practice on corporate and securities transactions.

Denton Nichols has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Nichols is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright and focuses his practice on international arbitration and disputes.

Nathaniel J. Palmer has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Palmer is a partner at Reid Collins & Tsai and focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation.

Mary Kate Raffetto has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Raffetto is an associate at Beck Redden and focuses her practice on appellate and commercial litigation.

Scott D. Saldaña has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Saldaña is a partner at Reid Collins & Tsai and focuses his practice on plaintiff financial litigation.

Rafe A. Schaefer has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Schaefer is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright and focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation matters.

John L. Stavinoha III has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Stavinoha is an associate at Bracewell LLP and focuses his practice on energy and infrastructure.

Jeremy Wells has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Wells is a partner at Reid Collins & Tsai and focuses his practice on complex commercial, insolvency, and qui tam litigation.

Austin C. Whitmore has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Whitmore is a senior associate at McGuire Craddock and focuses his practice on commercial real estate and finance.

Ashley Wilder has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. Wilder is an associate attorney at Marrs Ellis and focuses her practice on eminent domain litigation.

Kelsi Stayart White has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide. White is an associate at Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing and focuses her practice on commercial litigation.

Solace Southwick has joined Hogan Thompson Schuelke LLP as of counsel. Southwick has practiced trial law for more than 30 years and specializes in handling complex civil litigation in Texas and federal courts of appeals.

Zimei Fan has joined Stinson LLP’s New York office as a member of the Energy, Environmental, Mining & Transportation Division. Fan focuses his practice on corporate and transactional matters with an emphasis on energy, electric power and energy finance.

Charles Gene Barnett has passed away. Throughout his legal career, Barnett worked with the U.S. Tax Division of Justice, the law firm of Vial, Hamilton, Koch, Tubb, Knox and Stradley, and as in-house counsel with the Southwestern Life and Philadelphia Life insurance companies.

Amanda Goldstein has been named to the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide for her work in commercial litigation. Goldstein is an attorney at Hicks Thomas LLP, where she represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation matters.

Monica Ingram has been named vice provost for enrollment management at Seattle University. Ingram previously served as associate dean at the Cornell Law School and has more than 20 years of experience in higher education executive leadership.

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.

Jason Pratt has been promoted to partner at Shearman & Sterling’s New York office. Pratt is a member of the firm’s Global Environmental practice and focuses on the impact of environmental and climate change laws and regulations on commercial transactions.

The Honorable Charles F. Sandoval passed away July 25, 2023. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Sandoval served as a State District Judge in Texas for 12 years and was president of both the Plano Bar Association and the Collin County Bar Association.

Morris Jackson Hampton passed away July 21, 2023. An Army veteran, Hampton worked in the Dallas District Attorney’s Office, worked in private practice specializing in criminal and family law, then was appointed as the criminal district judge for the 283rd Criminal District Court in Dallas County.

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.

The Hon. Joe D. Clayton passed away July 14, 2023. Clayton served as a senior state district judge and was active in the State and Smith County Bar Associations in addition to his civic pursuits.

Richard Valle has been named one of the Best Car Accident Lawyers in Albuquerque by Forbes Advisor. Valle focuses on the plaintiff side, specializing in car accidents, personal injury, and products liability litigation.

David Curran has been appointed as general counsel to the University of Arkansas System, where he provides day-to-day legal advice to each of the universities, community colleges, and other units of the UA system.

Justin Mapes has joined Blank Rome LLP as a partner in the Real Estate Practice group based in the firm’s new Dallas office.

Mark F. Rosenow joined the firm PilieroMazza as a counsel in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. His practice focuses on complex commercial dispute resolution, business litigation, and government investigations, including matters arising under the False Claims Act.

Marissa Marquez was promoted to labor & employment counsel at Houston Methodist Hospital.

William G. Hagans has been elected to the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees, serving as fellows secretary. Hagans is president of the Hagans Montgomery Hagans law firm and has been a co-chair of the Texas Bar Foundation’s District 4 nominating committee since 2016.

Joseph “J.T.” Moore passed away July 3, 2023. After serving in the U.S. Army, Moore practiced law briefly, then entered into a farming and ranching partnership with his father in 1955. A decade later, he and a friend bought controlling interest in The First National Bank of Pecos and he served as the bank president.

Tarek F.M. Saad has joined Reid Collins & Tsai LLP as partner. Saad has three decades of experience trying cases in U.S. and international civil and criminal courts as he specializes in resolving cross-border commercial disputes.

Jerome “Jerry” Robert Rose passed away July 3, 2023. A double Longhorn, his career turned to real estate investment after a short time practicing law. Rose and his wife began the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation – named in honor of his daughter – and created the annual Run for the Rose, which has raised more than $7 million for brain cancer research.

Lawrence “Larry” Sauer passed away June 27, 2023. His criminal defense and civil rights legal practice spanned 50 years and involved cases ranging from LGBTQ+ rights to defending the rights of the accused.

Darcell Walker has published an eBook titled “Divine Directions for Deliverance from Debt.” Walker has more than 30 years of experience in intellectual property law and worked as an in-house patent attorney for two Fortune 500 companies prior to starting his own law practice.

Andrea Marshall has been elected chairperson of SC Launch, Inc., and will serve on the board of trustees of the South Carolina Research Authority. Marshall previously served as the SC Launch board’s vice-chair and is the vice president, general counsel and administrative officer for MedTrust Holdings Inc.

Dina Koch has joined the Dean Law Firm as of counsel and will focus on growing the firm’s community-based Wills, Trusts, and Estate Practice. Koch’s career has spanned the legal, government, nonprofit fundraising, and political accounting and compliance fields.

Paul Schuster has joined Bracewell LLP’s Dallas office as a partner in the litigation department. Schuster specializes in healthcare law and has been recognized on D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas” list since 2019.

William “Bill” Schroeder Jr. passed away June 15, 2023. In addition to running his own law practice for more than five decades, The U.S. Air Force veteran owned a title company with his wife and served on many local and statewide boards.

Danielle “DJ” Healey has joined Spencer Fane LLP’s Intellectual Property Practice Group as a partner in the firm’s Houston office. Healey is ranked as one of the best Intellectual Property litigators in the United States by Chambers Global and has represented clients before the FTC, the European Union, and Texas state authorities over three decades.

Jesse Buckner “Buck” Williams passed away June 23, 2023. He served as an assistant district attorney in the Jefferson County Family Law division for 20 years before returning to private practice.

Gene Matthews Jr. passed away June 13, 2023. He was a partner and specialized in trial law at Wootton, Land and Matthews; Matthews also served as the president of the Garland County Bar Association.