Class Notes

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Toni Brown

Toni Brown

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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.

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Brooke Lierman

Brooke Lierman

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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.

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Mark Jones

Mark Jones

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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.

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Jon Hyland

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Jon Hyland honored by the “Best Lawyers in America” publication for 2023 for his work in intellectual property litigation. Hyland is a partner in the Hilgers Graben PLLC Dallas office.

John Hale

John Hale

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John Hale passed away on Jan. 9, 2023. Hale served as a briefing attorney for the Supreme Court of Texas under Justice Joe Greenhill, and later held partnerships at Foreman & Dyess and Norton & Blair.

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Harry Hugly

Harry W. Hugly

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Harry W. Hugly passed away on Jan. 11, 2023. After graduating Texas Law, Hugly served as a special agent with the Army Counter Intelligence Corps until beginning a career in the oil and gas industry.

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James Hal Byrd

James Hal Byrd

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James Hal Byrd passed away on Dec. 27, 2022. A double Longhorn, Byrd served as general counsel at Century Development before moving on to start his own law firm, practicing law in Houston for many years until his retirement.

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Kamron Massumi

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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.

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Isaac V. Sulemana

Isaac V. Sulemana

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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.

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Stephen Fernelius

Stephen Fernelius

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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.

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Josh Reyna

Josh Reyna

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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.

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Edward Burbach

Edward Burbach

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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.

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Charles Taylor Ashworth

Charles Taylor Ashworth

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Charles Taylor Ashworth passed away on Dec. 20, 2022. Ashworth’s legal career spanned four decades, progressing from civil litigation to  oil and gas, then corporate bankruptcy.

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William G. Hagans

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William G. Hagans of Hagans Montgomery Hagans, has become board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in the area of Personal Injury Trial Law.

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Orlando "Jay" Juarez

Orlando “Jay” Juarez

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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.

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Nikki Hill

Nikki Hill

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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.

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Linda Turley

Linda Turley

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Linda Turley has been named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Turley has nearly 40 years of experience pursuing product liability, medical malpractice, and many other types of negligence claims. She is an attorney at the Turley Law Firm in Dallas.

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Russell Budd

Russell Budd

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Russell Budd was named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Budd’s practice areas include pharmaceutical litigation, consumer protection, and environmental law. The Budd Innocence Center at Texas Law is named in honor of Budd and his wife, Dorothy.

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John Elliot

John Elliott

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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.

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James Leech

James Leech

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James Leech has been selected as managing attorney at Cesar Ornelas, a San Antonio-based injury law firm. Leech has  experience as a trial lawyer in state and federal courts and has represented clients ranging from small businesses to large companies.

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Grant Schmidt

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For the fourth consecutive year, trial lawyer Grant Schmidt has been named to D Magazine’s list of the “Best Lawyers Under 40” published in the January. Mr. Schmidt is the managing partner of the Dallas office of Hilgers Graben, a growing national firm.

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William "Billy" Wepfer

William Rollin “Billy” Wepfer

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William Rollin “Billy” Wepfer passed away on Dec. 12, 2022. Wepfer practiced law in the Rio Grande Valley for 40 years between 1980 to 2020.

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Ryan Holcomb

Ryan Holcomb

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Ryan Holcomb has been elected to serve a three-year term on Bracewell’s Management Committee. Holcomb is a partner that represents clients in a wide variety of transactions in the electric power, and midstream and downstream oil and gas industries.

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Stephen Crain

Stephen Crain

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Stephen Crain has been elected to serve a three-year term on Bracewell’s Management Committee. Crain, who has chaired Bracewell’s litigation section since 2014, will be serving a fourth term on the committee. Based in Houston, he has led the growth of Bracewell’s national and international trial practice.

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Oliver Luck

Oliver Luck

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Oliver Luck has been named executive director of the ASUN-WAC Football Conference, a new NCAA Division I conference starting play in 2023. Luck’s career has included many leadership roles in professional and intercollegiate athletics, including serving as the athletic director at West Virginia University and CEO/commissioner of the former XFL. Luck, who was a successful collegiate quarterback at WVU, went on to play for the Houston Oilers.

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Jimmy Don Blair

Jimmy Don Blair

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Jimmy Don Blair passed away on Jan. 3, 2023. In his legal career, Blair served 40 years as an expert in contract negotiation, litigation policies, legislative initiatives, computer capabilities, among other areas.

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Anthony Baca

Anthony Baca

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Anthony Baca has appointed to serve as a La Plata County Court judge in Durango, Colo., area. Baca has served as a judge of Dolores County and a district court magistrate.

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Brent Rubin

Brent Rubin

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Brent Rubin has been promoted to partner at Carrington Coleman. Rubin is a trial and appellate lawyer representing individuals, businesses and government entities in complex business disputes, including non-compete/non-solicitation disputes, insurance coverage, professional liability, real estate and construction matters.

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Monica Gaudioso

Monica Gaudioso

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Monica Gaudioso has been promoted to partner at Carrington Coleman. Gaudioso is a commercial litigator representing financial services, technology, blockchain and cryptocurrency clients in state and federal courts.

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Robert Scott

Robert “Bob” Carlyle Scott

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Robert “Bob” Carlyle Scott passed away on August 18, 2022. Scott was an accomplished attorney who actively supported many nonprofit organizations including the Alamo Heights United Methodist Church.

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Colin Watterson

Colin Watterson

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Colin Watterson has been promoted to partner at Hicks Thomas. An accomplished trial lawyer with broad ranges of commercial experience, Watterson previously was recognized by “The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.”

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Jingli Jiang

Jingli Jiang

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Jingli Jiang has been promoted to partner at Akin Gump. Jiang’s practice focuses on international trade and transactional areas, where her fluency in Mandarin has allowed her to spearhead the growth of the firm’s China and Asia trade practice.

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William "Bill" McCann

William “Bill” McCann

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William “Bill” McCann passed away on Dec. 28, 2022. McCann served in the U.S. Navy until he shifted to the legal field as a partner at Snakard & Gambill for more than 45 years.

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Robert Crain

Robert Crain

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Robert Crain has been named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Crain runs his own firm, Crain Brogdon LLP, working on behalf of injured clients.

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Jennifer Haltom Doan

Jennifer Haltom Doan

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Jennifer Haltom Doan has been named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Doan founded the firm Haltom & Doan, representing Fortune 100 companies and individuals in personal injury, product liability, intellectual property and business and commercial law.

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Anne Johnson

Anne Johnson

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Anne Johnson has been named one of the Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Dallas by Forbes Advisor. Johnson is an appellate specialist at Tillotson Johnson & Patton whose litigation practice has handled cases ranging from commercial disputes to personal injury and products liability law to family law. She is a member of the Leader’s Circle for Texas Law’s Center for Women in Law.

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William "Bill" Lemen

William “Bill” Lemen

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William “Bill” Lemen passed away on Dec. 20, 2022. Lemen was a second-generation Marine who went on to earn his bachelor’s and law degrees at UT following his military service. He settled in San Juan, Texas, where he not only practiced law for 50 years, but also served as the county commissioner, then mayor.

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Mark Flores

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Mark Flores, an attorney in the Dallas office of Littler, has been elevated to shareholder. Flores has served as lead counsel at the hearing, trial and appellate levels on a wide range of complex matters, representing clients in both federal and state courts.

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Michael Fishel

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Michael Fishel has been added as a partner in King & Spalding’s Corporate, Finance and Investments practice group in Houston. A restructuring lawyer with particular experience in the energy industry, Fishel advises both debtor and creditor clients through complex Chapter 11 restructurings, out-of-court reorganizations and refinancings, and contested business litigation proceedings.

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Peter Sakai

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Peter Sakai, formerly a state district judge, has been sworn in as Bexar County judge, managing a county of two million people. Sakai has spent his career in Bexar County, working in District Attorney’s Office, serving as the county’s juvenile section chief, then becoming an associate judge. In 2006, he was elected to the 225th District Court, a post to which he was re-elected three times without opposition.

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Kevin R.C. Gutzman

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Kevin R.C. Gutzman has published a new book, “The Jeffersonians,” about the presidential administrations of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. The book has received notable recognition by The New Yorker and was included on USA Today‘s list of Five Books to Remember in 2022.

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Marie Harlan

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Marie Harlan has joined the Houston office of McFarland PLLC  as a partner. Harlan specializes in private property rights, eminent domain and condemnation law.

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Belvin “Bill” Harris

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Bill Harris passed away on Dec. 23, 2022 in Sherman, Texas. Harris served in several positions throughout his law career, including Cooke County judge and city attorney of both Lindsay and Gainesville.

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John H. McBryde

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U.S. District Judge John H. McBryde passed away on Dec. 25, 2022. McBryde worked at two law firms before being appointed to the U.S. District Bench by former President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He went on to serve in that role for three decades.

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Cindi Graham headshot

Cindi Graham

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Cindi Graham has been named chair of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization Board. In 1994, Graham opened her own law firm and in 2002 became board certified in family law.

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Bradley Cole

Bradley Cole

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Bradley Cole has been added as a partner to Thompson Coe’s Insurance Coverage section. Cole has more than 30 years of experience assisting clients in a wide range of disputes.

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Michael James Bloch

Michael James Bloch

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Michael James Bloch passed away on Dec. 17, 2022. Bloch worked as the appellate attorney for the Ector County DA’s office for more than 10 years.

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Bradley M. Bingham

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Bradley Bingham passed away on Oct. 20, 2022. Bingham was a double Longhorn, having also earned his bachelor’s degree  from UT. Bingham worked as a civil defense attorney in Houston before, e and his wife founded their own law firm, Bingham, Mann & House, in 2006.

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Rudy Metayer

Rudy Metayer

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Rudy Metayer was awarded the Outstanding Community Service Award at the 57th Annual Dewitty/Overton Freedom Fund Banquet by the Austin branch of the NAACP. Metayer is a City Council member of the City of Pflugerville, president of the Texas Black Caucus Foundation, and an attorney at Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody.

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Talmage Boston

Talmage Boston

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Talmage Boston has been selected to receive the 2023 Luther “Luke” H. Soules III Award for Excellence in Litigation, presented by the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas. The honor is given to an attorney who embodies excellence in the practice of the law and exemplary service to the State Bar. Boston is a partner at Shackelford Bowen McKinley & Norton LLP.

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