Class Notes

Sullivan Hill Rez & Engel is pleased to announce that shareholder James “Jim” Hill, JD ’78 has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 27th Edition of Best Lawyers in America® in the fields of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law as well as Commercial Litigation. Hill is a founding member of Sullivan Hill, member of its Executive Committee and chair of the firm’s Insolvency and Commercial Bankruptcy practice group.

A health problem led one Mexican-American family to get creative with the food on their table—and take an entire industry by storm. Texas Law alumnus Miguel Garza, JD ’12, co-founder and CEO of Siete Family Foods, is one of the seven Garza family members—all of whom attended UT Austin—behind the brand.

Robert Parker passed away at 82 on August 27, 2020, surrounded by his family. Parker is a double longhorn, receiving a BBA in 1961 and graduating from Texas Law in 1964. After law school, Parker started his illustrious career as a trial lawyer and judge, serving as Chief Judge the Eastern District of Texas and eventually being appointed by President Bill Clinton as Circuit Judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He received numerous accolades in his lifetime, particularly meaningful among these were the Judge Robert M. Parker Endowed Presidential Scholarship and the Judge Robert M. Parker Endowed Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas School of Law Alumni Association.

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

Angela Hunt was recently named to the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Jay Zweig has joined Ballard Spahr LLP as a partner. He was previously a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, and has 25 years of experience practicing employment law and commercial litigation.

Mason P. Hester was recently named to the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s Jaime Vasquez Recognized as Lawyer of the Year in Tax Litigation and Controversy by US News’ Best Lawyers in America. San Antonio-based Vasquez was one of three Chamberlain Hrdlicka attorneys nominated by their peers to be recognized for the award. Vasquez, a shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s San Antonio firm, was recently named Lawyer of the Year for the 2021 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

D. Ronald Reneker was recently named to the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Jacqueline Furlow was recently named to the inaugural edition of “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch,” which recognizes attorneys earlier in their legal careers.

Jana M. Lambro was recently named to the inaugural edition of “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch,” which recognizes attorneys earlier in their legal careers.

Marcus R. Tucker made the “Best Lawyer” list of the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Marcus G. Matthews made the “Best Lawyer” list of the 2021 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.

Joe W. Redden, Jr. was named in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. He specializes in Personal Injury Litigation.

Geoff Gannaway was named in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. He specializes in Commercial Litigation.

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

David Beck was recognized in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. He specializes in: Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants, Litigation – Antitrust, Litigation – Environmental, Litigation – Intellectual Property, Litigation – Patent, Natural Resources Law.

Fields Alexander was named in the 2021 Best Lawyers in America. He specializes in Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation.

Frederick W. Addison lll was recently named to the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Brad Caldwell, JD ’03 has earned selection in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Caldwell, a principal in Dallas’ Caldwell Cassady & Curry, is named in the annual guide to the nation’s top attorneys based on his work in intellectual property litigation and patent litigation.

Scott Krist, of the Krist Law Firm, P.C., has been included in the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers, one of the oldest and well respected peer-review publications in the legal profession. He was recognized in the Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiff section and has been included every year since 2008.

Reid C. Wilson has been named to the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.

Derrick Juarez passed away this weekend at age 43, after fighting a long battle of COVID-19. Juarez was a hard-working lawyer in Brownsville, Texas who practiced criminal, family, and juvenile law. Juarez was among only a handful of UTB/TSC students to be accepted and graduate from Texas Law. He attended law school while his wife and children stayed in the Valley, which pushed him to have a greater determination to pursue his goal of having a career in law. Juarez helped influence students who came to Texas Law after him from Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley.

King & Spalding has added Jonathan Newton, a corporate and securities partner, to its Corporate, Finance and Investments (CFI) Practice Group in Houston.

Bell Nunnally Partner Ross Angus Williams has been named among the “40 Under 40” in 2020 by the Dallas Business Journal.

Omar J. Alaniz, highly distinguished restructuring and bankruptcy lawyer, has joined Reed Smith as a partner in its Financial Industry Group in Dallas, after previously serving as a partner at Baker Botts.

William Hilgers passed peacefully at 95 on July 17, 2020. Hilgers served as a bombardier navigator in the Army Air Corp in Belgium at only 18 years old. Hilgers returned to the University of Texas to study accounting and law. After opening up an accounting firm with his father Harry, he began a sixty-five-year career as a lawyer with an emphasis on corporate, tax, and estate planning. In 1977, Hilgers founded the law firm, Hilgers & Watkins. Hilgers served as chair of both the Travis County and the Texas Bar Association. He was a founding director of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism. Recently, the Austin Bar Association named their new building, “Hilgers House”.

Gary Bushell passed away at 78 on July 15, 2020, as a result of complications from a spinal cord injury, which occurred in a fall in December. He graduated from Texas Law in 1967. After law school, Gary chose to join the Marine Corps, where he was trained as an infantry officer and judge advocate general. He served in Viet Nam (1969-70) as a defense attorney, prosecuting attorney, and military judge. Gary first worked as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, then as Senator Bentsen’s chief of staff, overseeing both the Washington and Texas offices. After 8 years in Washington, Gary and his wife Linda moved to Corpus Cristi, where he practiced oil and gas law and was actively involved in the community’s economic development.

Michael Patrick Finn (Mike), 66, of Belton, Texas, passed away on July 5, 2020 surrounded by family after a short battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. Finn earned his juris doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. At Texas Law, he met his wife Amy Finn through the luck of alphabetical seating in one of their classes. After graduating law school, he became a member of the State Bar of Texas and was commissioned a captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and assigned to Fort Hood. Finn was committed to military service, serving for more than 40 years after retiring in 2014 as a colonel.

Daniel F. Collins is governmental affairs manager for the County of El Paso, Texas. He returned to El Paso in 2020 after working as a senior legislative counsel at the New York City Council. He previously served as a policy counsel at the Texas Senate.

Allen Matkins, a California-based full-service real estate and business law firm, announced that Brian Michel has been elected to the firm partnership, effective July 1, 2020. Michel, a 2007 graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, helps businesses grow and stay protected through his work on real estate transactional matters, particularly related to office, retail, and industry leasing, representing both landlords and tenants, and property acquisitions and dispositions.

Langley & Banack, Inc. attorney Stephen Walraven was recently named Fellow to the American College of Coverage Counsel. The College is comprised of more than 300 highly experienced and recognized U.S. and Canadian lawyers involved in representing the interests of both insurers and policyholders.

Connie Pfeiffer, a widely respected appellate specialist with a practice in state and federal courts, has joined Yetter Coleman as the new leader of its appellate team. Her practice focuses on business disputes, legal malpractice and fiduciary claims, and statutory and procedural issues. She joins Yetter Coleman from a leading trial boutique, Beck Redden LLP, where she was a partner.

Vincent E. Morgan, one of the nation’s most prominent corporate policyholder litigators, has joined Bracewell LLP’s Houston office as a partner in the litigation group. Morgan most recently was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he spent almost 18 years and was the former managing partner of the Houston office. He graduated with honors from The University of Texas Law School with a J.D. in 2000.

Barbara Hinds Finney passed away peacefully at her home on July 2, 2020, at the age of 99. Finney graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and from UT Law School and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1942. She had a long career as an attorney at the Humble Oil Company, later called ExxonMobil. Finney was a trailblazing female lawyer when there were so few.

Kelvin Smith, an LBJ student and colleague, passed away. Smith was a talented MPAff student with many interests. He also was a veteran who served his country in the US Navy. Smith previously had received a JD in Law in 2011 from the University of Texas School of Law, and he worked for several years in the legal field. In 2016, Smith returned to the University to pursue his MPAff degree at the LBJ School, focusing on Earth and Energy Resources. After joining the LBJ School, Smith pursued his keen passion for cybersecurity issues, and he was working towards the Cyber Security Certification from the Strauss Center of International Law & Security.

Thomas Alton Blakeley, Jr., a lifelong Dallas resident and attorney, died on March 31, 2020, at the age of 84. After graduation from Texas Law, Blakeley joined the practice of his father (T.A. Blakeley), his uncle (Alex Blakeley), and former U.S. Representative, Ralph Hall. A few years later, he began practicing with Robert C. Johnson, Sr. for 25 years. In addition to his civil trial practice, Blakeley was counsel for several Dallas cotton merchants including Reinhart, Inc., and, for several decades, H. Molsen, Co., owned by his best friend since elementary school, Heinz Henry Molsen, Jr.

A passionate servant leader, GoransonBain Ausley’s Britney E. Harrison, is taking on the role of President of the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA). She will work to mentor and empower the next generation of legal professionals. The family law firm associate was sworn into office in a virtual ceremony on June 26.

Texas Law alum Duncan Osborne had the honor of delivering the Trachtman Lecture at the annual meeting of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Tatyanna Senel, an associate at Orrick in Los Angeles, was recently featured in Forbes magazine for providing pro-bono services to L.A. area prostestors.

Munsch Hardt is pleased to welcome back Walter A. Buchanan to its Dallas office from Winstead PC. Buchanan’s return expands the Firm’s corporate finance capabilities as he continues to represent leaders and borrowers in domestic and international financing transactions, as well as other banking and corporate matters.

Reid Wilson, Chairman and founder of the Wilson Cribbs + Goren law firm, has been elected as the chair of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law (REPTL) Section of the State Bar of Texas for 2020–2021. Wilson previously served as treasurer and chair-elect/secretary, each for a one-year term.

Stuart F. Miller, a shareholder in the Houston office of Baker Donelson, has been ranked as a leading practitioner in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA in the area of Health Care.

Daniel Sternthal, a shareholder in the Houston office of Baker Donelson, has been ranked as a leading practitioner in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA in the area of Health Care.

Texas attorneys elected Sylvia Borunda Firth of El Paso to be president-elect of the State Bar of Texas. Borunda Firth will be sworn in as president-elect during a virtual Board of Directors meeting on June 25 and will serve as president of the State Bar of Texas from June 2021 to June 2022.

Terence J. Hart is retired and was an FBI Agent, an ADA for Dallas County, an AUSA for the Northern District of Texas, and later went into private practice. He was a Partner in the Dallas offices of Akin Gump; Munsch Hardt; and Bracewell. During his career, he received the John Marshall Award for being the lead prosecutor on the I-30 Savings and Loan fraud case.

Attached is the link to an article published in UTSW Stamats about his battle with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma:

Dudley Oldham of Houston was selected as one of four recipients of the 2020 Texas Bar Foundation’s Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award. The award recognizes attorneys whose practice has spanned 50 years or more and who adhere to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession and service to the public. Over the 50+ years of his litigation-centered law and arbitration practice with at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, Oldham was lead counsel in many domestic and international cases. The Bar Foundation commissioned an oral history to recognize and preserve the accomplishments of Oldham’s legal career. He is now a retired partner of his firm and resides in Houston with his wife of 55 years, Judy.

Monica Wiseman Latin was named Managing Partner of Carrington Coleman law firm in Dallas on May 1st.

Josiah Daniel, Retired Partner in Residence of Vinson & Elkins LLP (Dallas office) and Visiting Scholar of the History Dept. of The University of Texas, has published “‘Even If a Party Has a Change of Heart’: A Framework for Enforcement of Courthouse-Steps Settlements in Cases and Proceedings in the Texas Bankruptcy Courts,” 52 TEX. TECH L. REV. 199 (2020). He is writing the biography of Congressman Hatton Sumners (1875-1962) who chaired the House Judiciary Committee from 1932-1947.