Catherine Bellah has been appointed to the Texas Department of Information Resources. Bellah is currently CEO of Plumaven and head of philanthropic and political missions for Charles and Potomac Capital.
Jack Balagia has been named executive director of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Balagia was on Exxon Mobil’s legal team for nearly two decades, serving as vice president and general counsel from 2010 until his retirement in 2016.
Leah Gillum, the deputy commissioner of the fraud and enforcement division at the Texas Department of Insurance, has been elected secretary of the administrative and public law section of the state bar.
E. David Coligado was promoted to CEO at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr in Dallas. Coligado, who has led the firm’s real estate section, also was named a 2024 Texas Super Lawyer in real estate law.
Robert “Bryan” Gantt has been appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to the 471st Judicial District Court in Collin County.
Stephen Clarke has been promoted to general counsel at Preston Hollow Community Capital in Dallas. Clarke will be supporting Preston Hollow in its strategic initiatives by providing legal advice and counsel on a broad array of corporate, contract, litigation, and compliance matters.
Drew Baldinger has joined King & Spalding’s Houston office as a partner in its Corporate Practice group and Energy Industry team. Baldinger specializes in energy transactions and has experience representing clients in M&A and joint venture transactions.
Marc Taubenfeld has joined Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. as a shareholder in the firm’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring + Insolvency section in Dallas. Taubenfeld has extensive experience representing both debtors and creditors in business bankruptcy matters as well as creditors and creditor groups in consumer cases.
George J. Hittner has been appointed executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at W&T Offshore, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas producer. Hittner, whose legal career in the public and private sector spans over 20 years, will join the executive team in propelling W&T’s strategic goals.
Zoe Dobkin has joined Texas Legal Services Center as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. While at Texas Law, Dobkin was vice president of communications for If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice; a student attorney in the Transnational Worker Rights, Civil Rights, Housing Policy, and Housing clinics; and a Pro Bono Scholar for the Richard and Ginni Mithoff Pro Bono Program Expunction Project.
Warigia Bowman has been named the new director of the Natural Resources and Environmental Law program at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Bowman is a nationally known expert in in water, natural resources, energy, public policy and regulatory issues.
E. David Coligado has been elcected to be the next chief executive officer (CEO) of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C., effective Jan. 1, 2025. Colgado joined Munsch Hardt as an associate in 2000, and has consistently increased his responsibilities and leadership roles, most recently serving as Real Estate Section head, a member of the firm’s Operations Committee and Opinion Letter Committee.
Philip I. Danze has joined Hallett & Perrin in Dallas as a shareholder. Danze has a broad base of experience in complex real estate and corporate transactions, representing clients in connection with the acquisition, development, leasing, finance, and sale of a variety of large real estate projects.
J. Cullen Aderhold has joined Dallas’ Hallett & Perrin as a shareholder. Aderhold has extensive experience representing domestic and foreign clients in a wide variety of commercial real estate, corporate, partnership, and other business transactions.
Ralph Molina was appointed deputy first assistant to Attorney General Ken Paxton. Molina most recently served as deputy attorney general for legal strategy, managing the Legal Strategy and Special Litigation divisions.
Sarah Keyton has been appointed to the position of interim commissioner by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Previously she Keyton served as associate vice chancellor for state relations at the Texas Tech University System.
Daniel E. “Dan” Mangis has a new position as deputy chief of mission at the Office of the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus at the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus. Most recently, Mangus was the deputy public affairs officer and spokesperson at the embassy in Amman, Jordan.
Claire Campbell has joined Kirkland and Ellis as a Houston-based corporate partner focused on representing private equity funds, equity investments, and related portfolio management. Previously working as a managing director with Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm focused on the infrastructure and real estate sectors, she has extensive experience negotiating mergers and acquisitions and structured equity investments for private equity clients in multiple jurisdictions.
Andy Cooper has been named a partner with the Dallas-based firm Chamblee Ryan PC. Having joined the firm in 2014, his practice focuses on a variety of subject matters, including the defense of personal injury, insurance coverage, commercial, trucking, premises liability, environmental and toxic tort claims, indemnity, and trade practice cases in federal, Texas, and Louisiana courts.
Pam Giblin has joined the Good Neighbor Environmental Board under the Federal Advisory Committee Management Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With over 30 years of experience in environmental law, Giblin is knowledgeable in advising clients on environmental matters such as air quality. She has also served as president of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and on the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, a team that advised the EPA on the implementation of the Clean Air Act.
Cori Loomis has joined the healthcare group at McAfee & Taft, where she will represent and counsel hospitals and health systems, physicians and medical practices, and other healthcare providers. Before taking on this role, Loomis served as the compliance officer and HIPAA privacy official for the University of Oklahoma and as the general counsel for the Oklahoma State Medical Association.
David Kavanaugh has taken on a new role as global head of investment operations at Dimensional Fund Advisors. Previously, Kavanaugh served as Dimensional’s head of global client group operations, where he managed the operations of the firm’s global client group in client onboarding, intermediary relationships, client reporting, and business data analytics.
Irwin Steinhorn has joined Steptoe & Johnson PLLC in the firm’s Oklahoma City office. Steinhorn has decades of experience assisting clients with corporate compliance, corporate governance and ethics, mergers and acquisitions, securities regulation and compliance, capital market transactions, securities offerings, shareholder activism, and environmental law.
Kristen Pauling Doyle has been unanimously voted to be hired as CEO by the oversight committee for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). She previously served as CPRIT’s general counsel and DEO since 2009.
J. Holt Foster III has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as the managing partner of Willkie’s newly launched Dallas office. Holt’s practice focuses on private equity, venture capital and creative financings, mergers and acquisitions, fund formation and international transactions. He was most recently a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, where he served as co-leader of the firm’s global energy practice team.
Ryan Phelps has been named a partner in the Tax, Executive Compensation and Benefits Practice Group at Holland & Knight in Houston. Phelps’ practice focuses on the tax aspects of complex domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, tax-free spinoffs, restructurings, public offerings and other financings.
Stacy Sharp has been appointed by Governor Abbott to the new Fourth Business Court Division in San Antonio. Sharp, who is an attorney and owner of Sharp Appellate PLLC, also teaches as an adjunct professor at Texas Law.
Morgan Lawson has joined Hall Estill as an associate at its Oklahoma City office. Lawson’s practice includes civil rights, corporate, business, employment litigation, Native American law, products liability and real estate.
Tory Lauterbach has joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as a partner in the Energy, Regulation and Litigation Practice Group. Lauterbach, who has extensive experience in administrative litigation and settlement proceedings, will be joining the firm’s Washington D.C office.
Steve Stodghill has been reappointed by Governor Greg Abbott to the Public Safety Commission—which oversees the Texas Department of Public Safety—for a term set to expire on Jan. 1, 2030. Stodghill is a partner at Winston & Strawn, LLP in Dallas.
Brenda Barret has joined the HeartGift Foundation board of directors. The nonprofit organization provides free, life-saving heart surgeries to patients with congenital heart defects who live in countries where specialized pediatric cardiac care is scarce or non-existent. Barrett is partner at Husch Backwell, representing clients in the energy and credit union industries.
Jerry Bullard has been appointed by Governor Abbott to the new Eighth Business Court Division in Fort Worth. Bullard, who is a shareholder and attorney with Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., has over 30 years of experience in state and federal court litigation.
Melissa Andrews has been appointed by Governor Abbott to the new Third Business Court Division in Austin. Andrews, who is an equity partner at Holland & Knight, will work to resolve complex commercial disputes in Texas.
Scott K. Field has been appointed by Governor Abbott to serve as one of the first three members of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. Field, who previously served as a justice of the Third Court of Appeals, will be working to ensure the Texas Constitution and state statutes are applied uniformly throughout Texas.
Lisa Salinas Schneider has been appointed as the first general counsel at SpyCloud, a leader in Cybercrime Analytics. Schneider, who joined SpyCloud in 2020 after establishing the legal department at TrendKite and holding in-house roles at Apple and Xerox Services, will now oversee all legal and regulatory affairs for the company.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.