Matt Pyeatt has joined Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office as senior associate. Pyeatt focuses his practice on restructuring and reorganization and represents companies, creditors, and investors in complex corporate restructurings.
Amanda Bush has joined strategic communications advisory firm TrailRunner International as managing director. Bush also serves as of counsel to law firm Jackson Walker and has spent her career advising clients facing complex legal matters.
Amanda Thomson has been named partner at Arnold & Porter. Brown is a member of the firm’s complex litigation practice, specializing in representing clients in health care and aviation industries.
Christopher Luna has joined SPCA of Texas—the most comprehensive and longest-serving animal welfare agency in North Texas—as president and CEO. Luna previously spent 18 years as vice president of legal affairs at T-Mobile. He also was a Dallas city councilman for three terms and served as deputy mayor pro tem.
Sherry Talton has joined Ogletree Deakins as shareholder in the firm’s Seattle office. Talton represents local and national employers in court and previously served as principal of Jackson Lewis’ Disability, Leave and Health Management practice group.
Saeed Mody has started a new position as deputy associate attorney general at the Office of the Associate Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, United States Department of Justice.
Charles “Chip” Roy has started a new position as Chair Republican Member at Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, Committee on the Judiciary. Roy is currently serving his third term in Congress representing Texas’s 21st Congressional District.
Nathan Robinson has been elected as partner of Wilson Sonsini, a leading legal firm for technology and life sciences. Robinson specializes in corporate and securities law, advising clients on general corporate matters and transactions including public offerings, private placements, and mergers and acquisitions.
Brittany Castillo has been appointed to serve on FEMA’s National Advisory Council. Castillo currently is CEO of AshBritt, a government solutions provider specializing in emergency management, logistics, and disaster response.
James Leader Jr. has been elected to partnership at Vinson & Elkins’ Houston office. A trial lawyer, Leader focuses his practice on commercial and business litigation and has additionally served on the Board of Directors for Houston Volunteer Lawyers since 2019.
Alex Robertson has been elected to partnership at Vinson & Elkins’ Dallas office. Robertson focuses his practice on M&A and capital markets and serves as president of the Mergers and Acquisitions Section of the Dallas Bar Association.
Jamie E. France has been promoted to partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. France represents clients in antitrust merger and non-merger investigations, as well as in complex private and government antitrust litigation.
Allison Becker has been named co-chair at Health Care, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP (GRSM Healthcare Practice Group). Becker’s healthcare practice involves defending providers against all manner of claims in various stages of litigation.
Travis Maples has joined Botkin Chiarello Calaf as an associate on the firm’s commercial litigation team. Following graduation from Texas Law, Maples clerked at both the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Rachel Ratcliffe Payne has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in Austin. A member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department, she advises public and private companies across industries on strategic and private equity M&A, take-private transactions, SEC compliance, and corporate governance.
Daniel Williams has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in New York. A member of the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department, he advises private equity sponsors, their portfolio companies, and strategic investors in M&A, dispositions, and asset sales transactions.
Brandi Howard has joined Brown Rudnick LLP as partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office. Howard, who focuses her practice on commercial litigation and appellate matters, was selected to the National Bar Association’s “Top 40 Under 40” in 2022.
Rachel E. Ratcliffe Payne has been elected to partnership at Latham & Watkins LLP. She is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department.
Daniel Williams has been elected to partnership at Latham & Watkins LLP. Williams is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Practice and Corporate Department.
Travis Maples has joined Botkin Chiarello Calaf as an associate on the firm’s commercial litigation team. Maples clerked at both the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals before entering private practice.
Tammy Cooper has started a new position as deputy general manager of Regulatory, Communications, Compliance and Legal Services at Austin Energy. Cooper was former senior vice president, overseeing that same division at Austin Energy.
Brian A. Carpenter has joined Cole Schotz PC’s Dallas office. Carpenter has 32 years of legal experience and focuses on commercial and patent litigation, including trials before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board.
Rebekah Prince has joined Duane Morris LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Prince, who previously worked at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, specializes in celebrity endorsement transactions and representing professional athletes.
Karen Robinson has been named to the board of directors of ChIPs Network Inc., a global membership community focused on advancing women and promoting diversity in IP and tech law and policy. Robinson is vice president and associate general counsel at Adobe.
Stephen R. Pattison has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth as a special counsel. Pattison is a business immigration attorney and a former U.S. State Department senior foreign service officer, focusing his practice on the representation of corporate and individual clients on business immigration, consular processing and individual immigration matters.
Courtney York has joined Greenberg Traurig as a corporate practice shareholder. York specializes in multimillion to billion dollar corporate and commercial technology cases.
Kimberly S. Winick has been elected as president of the board of directors of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS. Winick specializes in commercial finance law and serves as a mediator for local bankruptcy courts.
Janet McQuaid has joined Frost Brown Todd (FBT), a national law firm with specialized expertise in the energy industry. Prior to law school, McQuaid worked for 11 years as a chemical engineer for Exxon, equipping her with a unique background and a distinct perspective on developments in the energy industry.
Claire Demers has joined Bracewell LLP as a first-year associate. Demers previously worked at Bracewell as a summer associate and clerked at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas.
Joshua Kelly has joined Botkin Calaf, an Austin-based commercial and IP litigation and business law firm, as an associate. He will support the commercial litigation team in resolving business, intellectual property, and employment disputes. While at Texas Law, Kelly was an editor for the Texas Environmental Law Journal and a judicial intern in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Matt Gates has joined Wittliff Cutter as senior counsel. Gates, who has more than a decade of experience in trial law, focusing on complex commercial litigation and intellectual property matters, antitrust matters, and product defect cases.
James Lloyd has been promoted to Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Lloyd previously served as Acting Deputy for Civil Litigation and Associate Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation.
International arbitration lawyer David Weiss has joined Mayer Brown as a partner in Houston. His background includes substantial experience in investor-state arbitrations, commercial disputes in Latin America, international arbitrations among parties in the energy industry, and post-M&A disputes.
Lori A. Gobillot has been elected to the board of directors of ONEOK, Inc. Gobillot has held officer roles in both business and legal functions, and has served on the board of directors of Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. since 2017.
Jayme Partridge has joined Spencer Fane’s patent litigation practice as a partner. Partridge combines her technical engineering background with proven trial advocacy skills to provide unique insight into her clients’ complex intellectual property litigation.
Charles Fowler has returned to McKool Smith as a principal in Austin, where he will focus his practice on appeals, trials and critical motions in complex commercial and intellectual property litigation. Fowler started his career at McKool Smith, then spent four years with the U.S. Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California and Western District of Texas.
Brenda Barrett has been added to Husch Blackwell’s Energy & Natural Resources industry group as a partner in the firm’s Austin office. Barrett represents clients in the energy and credit union industries, overseeing corporate transactions and providing general corporate counsel.
Stephen K. Moulton has been joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Dallas office as a senior attorney. A former federal prosecutor and assistant United States attorney, Moulton is a member of the firm’s Government Enforcement & Investigations Practice Group.
Kate Higginbothom has been named chief administrative officer at the U.S. International Trade Commission. Higginbothom previously served for more than a decade in multiple roles with the Federal Election Commission.
Obadele Thompson has been elected to the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) Board of Directors. Not only is he a skilled litigator, Thompson is also a three-time Olympian and the only Olympic medalist from Barbados.
Darcell Walker has co-developed a new app to help inventors, artists, businesses, and others identify the appropriate protection for their ideas. Walker has nearly 30 years of experience in intellectual property law and has authored two books.
Rebecca Olla has joined the Bishop Law Firm in Raleigh, N.C., as an attorney, representing the firm’s personal injury and workers’ compensation clients. Olla previously worked for the Texas State Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. District Court of Southern New York.
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.
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.
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.
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.