Class Notes

Matt Allen has joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi in Jackson as an assistant United States attorney in the Criminal Division.

Marissa Marquez was promoted to human resources manager of system compliance and immigration at Houston Methodist Hospital.

Brooke Lierman made history during midterm elections by being the first woman to be independently elected into office in the state of Maryland. Lierman assume her role as the state comptroller in January 2023. She has served in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2015.

Congressman Henry Cuellar has been re-elected for a 10th term representing the 28th congressional district in South Texas.

Kaitie Sorenson has joined the Houston office of Beck Redden LLP as an associate and will work in the areas of appellate and commercial litigation. While at Texas Law, Sorenson served as editor-in-chief of the Texas Law Review.

Insiya Aziz has joined litigation firm Reynolds Frizzell LLP as an associate. As a trial attorney, Aziz draws upon her diverse background to find unique resolutions to legal issues for her clients across the energy, real estate, and financial sectors.

David Tobin has joined McDermott Will & Emery LLP as a new partner in the intellectual property practice group. Tobin was previously special counsel at Baker Botts, where he focused on patent post-grant trial and patent litigation.

Sara Ann Brown has joined the Dallas office of the nationwide law firm Thompson Coburn as a partner. Ms. Brown is an experienced litigation attorney who represents clients in high-stakes, complex lawsuits.

Thomas Verity has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins. Verity is a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice and Corporate Department, where he advises multinational corporations, private equity sponsors, and financial advisors on M&A and corporate finance transactions.

Emily Stegich has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins. Stegich is a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice and Corporate Department, where she advises public and private companies on complex M&A, corporate reorganizations, and general corporate governance.

Naim Culhaci has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins. Culhaci is a member of the Capital Markets Practice and Corporate Department, where he specializes in advising investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, alternative trading platforms, transfer agents, and other securities-related platforms on securities market regulation matters.

Jonathan Sarna has been promoted to partner at Latham & Watkins. Sarna is a member of the Capital Markets Practice and Corporate Department, where he represents issuers and underwriters in capital markets transactions, with a focus on the life sciences and real estate investment trust (REIT) sectors.

Max Raskin has been promoted to partner at Latham & Watkins. Raskin is a member of the Executive Compensation, Employment & Benefits Practice and Tax Department, where he specializes in private equity and other corporate transactions.

Christopher Bezeg has been promoted to partner at Latham & Watkins. Bezeg is a member of the Capital Markets Practice and Corporate Department, where he represents private equity sponsors, investment banks, and public and private companies across a range of capital markets and corporate transactions.

Nickolas Spiliotis has joined Jones Walker LLP as a partner, where he specializes in counseling employers across multiple industries on a variety of workplace issues. Spiliotis was formerly a partner at K&L Gates LLP for six years.

Atman Shukla was promoted to partner at Sidley Austin in January of 2022. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and investment transactions for clients in the energy and infrastructure space, including upstream, oilfield services, midstream and downstream, as well as aviation matters.

Brian Watson has joined Bethune, Dye and Enright PLLC as an associate attorney. Watson is currently the mayor of Beeville and has spent the last three years as a felony prosecutor for the 156th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Rachel Ehlers has joined Baker McKenzie as a partner in the firm’s intellectual property and technology practice. Ehlers, who is certified as a Privacy Law Specialist and Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, has more than a decade of experience advising clients on data privacy and cybersecurity issues.

Jamie Rose has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as a litigation team shareholder. Rose’s expertise is in representing individuals and companies facing business and commercial disputes.

Ethel Johnson has joined the litigation team as a shareholder at Greenberg Taurig LLP. Johnson’s practice primarily focuses on employment and product liability litigation for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies, automobile manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and more.

David Cole has joined the Houston office of Kirkland Ellis as a partner. Cole is a tax attorney who has been recognized by The Legal 500 US and named a “Texas Rising Star” by Thomas Reuters.

Molly Fenton has been promoted to Partner at Cohen Gardner LLP. Fenton specializes in entertainment law, negotiating deals and contracts for a range of clients in film, television, and digital/new media spaces.

Adam Greiner has joined Schiffer Hicks Johnson PLLC after completing the firm’s 2021 Summer Associate Program. Greiner specializes in mass tort litigation, product liability claims, and commercial disputes in the energy sector.

Eric Halpern has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Dallas office as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group.

David Genender has joined McDermott Will & Emery LLP as a partner. Genender has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in arbitrations at the state and federal levels, in industries varying from energy, technology, private equity and real estate.

Michael Byrd has joined Porter Hedges LLP’s Houston office as a partner in energy transactions. Byrd formerly practiced at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP before briefly running a solo practice.

Melynda Price has been named the inaugural J. David Rosenburg Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenburg College of Law. Price has served on the law school faculty there since 2006 and served as director of the University of Kentucky Gaines Center for Humanities.

Travis Maples is the newest associate attorney at Soltero Sapire Murrell PLLC in Austin. During his time at Texas Law, Maples served as associate editor of the Texas Law Review.

Omar Alaniz has been named the president of the John C. Ford American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to the specialty of the bankruptcy field. Alaniz currently serves as a restructuring partner at Reed Smith LLP.

Susan Chase has joined the University of Michigan School of Law as a visiting clinical assistant professor in the Community Enterprise Clinic. In addition to teaching, she will work with student-led teams to assist small businesses and nonprofit organizations in southeastern Michigan.

Grant Schmidt has become the first managing partner of the Dallas office of Hilgers Graben PLLC. Previously he was a partner in the Dallas office of Winston & Strawn.

Brad Barron has been appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch Board of Directors. Barron is the president and CEO of the San Antonio-based NuStar Energy.

Judge Gregg Costa will join Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Houston as co-chair of its global trial practice group. Costa previously spent eight years as a judge in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Robert Holland has been elected as a new member of the DBM Global Inc. Board of Directors. Holland previously served on other private and public company boards, including representing the United States on World Bank Executive Board of Directors.

David L. Mossman will lead Crowe & Dunlevy’s new Houston office, with two colleagues. The new office, where Mossman is a director, specializes in a variety of intellectual property issues. Previously he was a shareholder at Mossman Kumar & Tyler, P.C.

Scott K. Field has been appointed to the 480th Judicial District Court in Williamson County. Field is a partner at Butler Snow, LLP. and previously served as a Justice of the Third Court of Appeals.

Nathan Adams has been nominated to the First District Court of Appeals Judicial Nominating Commission by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Adams is currently a partner at Holland & Knight LLP.

Ima E. Nsien has been named as a principal in Squire Patton Boggs’ healthcare litigation practice group in the Los Angeles office. Nsien previously provided legal aid to some of the largest providers within the sector, including health insurers, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies.

Michael Dierberg has been named the Board Chairman of the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation (TTEF) after eight years of board service. Dierberg serves as Chairman of the parent company of First Bank.

Andrew Newman has joined the Dallas office of  Polsinelli PLC’s commercial litigation practice as a shareholder, where he will work in the areas of business litigation, real estate litigation, and class action defense. While at Texas Law, he served as an associate editor of the Texas Law Review.

Evan McCurdy has joined the Dallas office of Winstead PC’s real estate development and investments practice group as a shareholder.

Brandy R. Manning has started her commercial law practice as a partner at Dykema, specializing in oil and gas litigation.

Steven Jumes has been appointed to the 485th Judicial District Court in Tarrant County by Governor Abbott. Jumes is currently an attorney at his own firm, and was formerly an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Ben Browder joins national litigation firm Duncan Stubbs where he will focus on legal operations and financing, as well as litigation technologies and partnerships that support jury trials. A former Hunton Andrews Kurth partner, Browder has experience advising a broad spectrum of domestic and global private equity firms on the acquisition, disposition and financing of assets in excess of $10 billion.

LaTisha Tarrant has been promoted to chief human resources officer at PRA Group. Tarrant previously served as senior vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary for the global financial services company.

Edward Knight has been appointed as interim chairman of  U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-India Business Council’s Global Board of Directors.  Knight is currently the executive vice chairman of NASDAQ and serves as a trustee of the University of Texas Law School Foundation.

Samoneh “Sammy” Schickel has joined McDermott Will & Emery as a partner specializing in patent litigation. Schickel previously served as a senior associate at Baker Botts LLP.

Aashish Kapadia has joined McDermott Will & Emery as a partner specializing in intellectual property litigation, post-grant trials and patent prosecution. Kapadia previously served as a senior associate at Baker Botts LLP.

Alex Toney has joined Bain & Company as counsel for employment law, managing employment litigation and counseling Bain on emerging issues in employment law. Toney was previously an associate at McGuireWoods LLP, where he represented employers and business owners on employment law matters.

Steve Peterson has co-founded a new Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP office in Houston. Peterson is a member of the firm’s Corporate and Securities practice group. He previously worked at Locke Lord LLP .