Lee Yeakel has joined King & Spalding’s trials and global disputes practice group as senior counsel. Yeakel recently retired from the federal judiciary after serving for 20 years as a United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas.
Kennon Wooten has been selected as chair-elect of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors. Wooten is a partner at Scott Douglass & McConnico LLP and currently serves as a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee.
Peter Moir has joined Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as a toxic torts litigation partner. Moir, who previously worked at Forman Watkins & Krutz, has more than 30 years of experience in handling product liability and toxic tort cases at trial.
Alexandra Harrison Gaiser has been appointed to the board of trustees at The King’s College. She currently works as the Director of Regulatory Affairs at Bitcoin company River Financial, Inc. and previously served as the Executive Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Carrie Douglas has joined Bracewell LLP as a partner in healthcare and life science practice. A double Longhorn who earned dual bachelor degrees from UT, Douglas represents hospital systems, ambulatory surgery centers and large physician practices in coverage and reimbursement disputes.
Kameron D. Johnson has been named to the South Central Regional Advisory Board of the Gault Center. Johnson is the juvenile public defender for Travis County.
Kimberly A. Chojnacki has been elected a shareholder with Baker Donelson in Houston. A double Longhorn, Chojnacki is a complex commercial litigator and transactional attorney representing clients in an array of industries.
Erleigh Norville Wiley has been appointed to the Texas Crime Victims’ Institute Advisory Council. Wiley is the Criminal District Attorney for Kaufman County and is an executive board member of the Texas District & County Attorneys Association.
John H. Eichelberger, III has been appointed to the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board. He is a partner at Schwartz, Page & Harding, LLP and serves on the Board of Directors of Urban Reform.
Sally Gillette Hankins has been appointed city attorney of Falls Church, Va. A double Longhorn, Gillette Hankins previously served as town attorney for Purcellville, Virginia and has 25 years of combined experience in municipal law and urban planning.
Maurice W. Dobson has been appointed General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Dobson has served as Deputy General Counsel since 2005 with increasing responsibilities and mostly recently oversaw the Operations and Legislation Division.
Marc R. Stanley is the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic. Prior to his service as a diplomat, Stanley was a trial lawyer for 40 years, focusing on national class actions and complex litigation.
Zeena Angadicheril has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as a Real Estate of counsel in the Austin office. A double Longhorn, Angadicheril specializes in sports and real estate law.
Edwin Flores has been reappointed to the Texas School Safety Center Board. Flores is the managing partner at Chalker Flores, LLP and is a member of the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees.
Michael B. Dear has formed Dear & Johnston Law Office, PLLC, with Brenda Johnston. Dear specializes in estate planning and real estate law.
Janiece Longoria has been reappointed to the University of Texas System Board of Regents. Longoria previously served a six-year term on the board, which is the governing body for the UT System. She is a founding member of the Center for Women in Law.
Max Africk has been named General Counsel at Legacy Housing Corporation. Africk most recently served as an attorney at King & Spalding LLP, where he focused on complex commercial litigation.
Ben Lane has been appointed to the Bipartisan Elections Task Force in Arizona, where he will make recommendations to strengthen state election laws, policies and procedures. Lane currently serves as Scottsdale city clerk, a role he has held since 2021.
Heather J. Kliebenstein has been named managing director of national the technology and innovation law firm Merchant & Gould’s seven offices. Kliebenstein comes from a technical background with experience as an IP and technology litigator.
Aron Potash ’07 has been elected as partner at Latham & Watkins LLP. Potash focuses on environmental law with an emphasis on air quality and climate change issues.
Scott A. Marks has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group in its Austin office.
Ken Wall has joined the Houston trial law firm Alavi Anaipakos as of counsel, focusing his practice on complex business disputes. He also serves as a constitutional law instructor at the University of Houston Law Center.
Robert Hilton has been added as a partner at Barnes & Thornburg’s Dallas office and Intellectual Property Department. He will focus his practice on building and managing large and high-stakes patent portfolios for business from small startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Brian J. Willey has been promoted to chief financial officer of Matador Resources Company. Willey, who has a background in accounting and law, joined Matador in 2014 and has been primarily building the company’s legal department and midstream business.
On Feb. 15, 2023, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Adrienne C. Nelson, an associate justice on the Oregon Supreme Court, to serve as a federal district court judge. Nelson is the first Black woman jurist in Oregon to become a federal judge.
Sara Harris has been promoted to partner at Jackson Walker LLP. Harris specializes in healthcare and employment law and has been recognized among the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Labor and Employment Law since 2022.
Sam Roberts has joined McAfee & Taft as a transactional attorney. Roberts, who specializes in corporate law, will be joining the firm’s Business Transactions and Finance and Securities practice groups.
Jim Ormiston has been named chair of the Controversies Department at Gray Reed & McGraw LLP. Ormiston has been with Gray Reed for 35 years and has been included in the “Best Lawyers in America” publication since 2013.
Michael B. Overstreet has been promoted to shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka. A member of the firm’s Tax Planning & Business Transactions Group, he has significant experience forming, structuring, negotiating and implementing business acquisitions and dispositions, corporate reorganizations, mergers, conversions, and recapitalizations.
Chris Dodson has joined White & Case LLP as a partner. Dodson has a diversity of experiences in business disputes and environmental matters, and is an experienced first-chair litigator.
Andrew Zeve has joined White & Case’s global commercial practice and energy group as a partner. Zeve was previously at Bracewell LLP for more than 19 years as co-chair of Bracewell’s energy litigation group.
David Woodcock has joined Gibson Dunn as a partner and co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s securities enforcement practice group. Woodcock joins with both government and in-house counsel experience as former Assistant General Counsel at ExxonMobil.
Kevin S. Little has joined FordHarrison LLP as counsel at the firm’s recently opened Houston office. Little was a former staff attorney under Justice Charles A. Spain in the Texas Court of Appeals for the Fourteenth District and previously was an associate at Littler Mendelson.
Lauren Fitte has been promoted to partner at Giordani Baker Grossman & Ripp LLP, a boutique estate planning firm in Austin. Lauren specializes in domestic and international estate, trust, and business planning and the associated federal income, estate, and gift tax implications applicable to multi-jurisdictional clients.
Brittany Dadon has become a partner at Stahl, Davies, Sewell, Chavarria & Friend. She specializes in real estate, regulatory, and permitting aspects of utility scale wind, solar, and battery storage projects in Texas. While at the firm, Dadon has worked on wind, solar, battery storage, and natural gas energy projects at various stages.
Michelle Gomez has been promoted to partner at Baker Hostetler LLP in Denver. A double Longhorn, Gomez specializes in privacy and data security class action defense and complex business disputes.
Anjana Patel has been appointed to the Board of Trustees for Springpoint senior living communities. Patel is an attorney at Epstein Becker Green with two decades of experience advising individuals and businesses on healthcare transactions and health regulatory compliance issues.
George P. Bush has joined Michael Best & Friedrich LLP as a partner and Michael Best Strategies LLC as a principal. The former Texas Land Commissioner, Bush will lead efforts to bolster Michael Best’s corporate, litigation and consulting practices.
Martin Luff has joined Wilson Sonsini as a partner in the London office. Luff was previously of counsel at Vinson & Elkins for the past seven years, where he specialized in dealing with the employment aspects of business transactions.
Toni Brown has joined Greenberg Taurig LLP as of counsel. Brown comes as a former senior director of supply chain at Inspire Brands, owner of several national restaurant chains.
Brooke Lierman has been sworn in as Maryland’s comptroller, becoming the first woman to be independently elected to any state government office in Maryland. Lierman previously was a civil and disability attorney in Baltimore.
Mark Jones has rejoined Norton Rose Fulbright as a partner in the firm’s corporate, mergers, and acquisitions and securities practice. Jones started his legal career at Norton Rose nearly 40 years ago, leaving to serve at BakerHostetler for seven years.
Kamron Massumi has joined the law firm of Baker Donelson as of counsel in the Firm’s Real Estate Group in Atlanta. He focuses his practice on the leasing, development, acquisition, disposition, and management of retail and mixed-use real estate developments across the U.S.
Isaac V. Sulemana has been appointed city attorney for the city of La Joya, Texas. Sulemana previously has served as chief of staff at the Hidalgo County Judge’s office, assistant district attorney at the Hidalgo County Criminal, and managing vice president/general counsel at the La Joya Area Federal Credit Union.
Stephen Fernelius has joined Bradley Arant Bouly Cummings LLP as a partner specializing in energy litigation. Fernelius comes from Fernelius Mace PLLC, a small firm he founded and led for 13 years.
Josh Reyna has been named chief of staff for Texas State Senator César Blanco. Reyna previously served as legislative director for the vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and has worked on Sen. Blanco’s staff since 2016.
Edward Burbach has been promoted to managing partner of Foley & Lardner LLP. Burbach currently serves as chair of of the firm’s government solutions practice group, co-chair of the state attorney’s general practice team, and corporate law chair for the Austin location.
Orlando “Jay” Juarez has been promoted to partner with McCall Parkhurst & Horton. Juarez serves exclusively as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriters’ counsel, and trustee’s counsel on debt financing by public entities.
Nikki Hill has been promoted to partner with McCall Parkhurst & Horton. Hill has experience serving as disclosure counsel to special districts and governmental entities throughout Texas, and also working with public finance transactions.
John Elliott has been reappointed to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas Board of Trustees by Governor Abbott. Elliott is a double Longhorn, having also earned his bachelor’s degree from UT. His firm, Elliott Stratmann, specializes in commercial real estate.