Texas

Firm overview

Hicks Thomas LLP is one of Houston’s premier litigation boutiques and is led by experienced senior trial lawyers whose talents rival those in the litigation departments of any of Houston’s global law firms. The firm handles client matters across the country. With a commitment to client service, Hicks Thomas offers superior value to clients facing the significant costs and uncertainty inherent in complex litigation.

Here are some things that the firm’s clients typically say:

• The firm’s lawyers are relentless advocates and fearless in court.
• They are ready for the courtroom and the boardroom.
• They understand our business.
• We get their undivided attention.
• There are no surprises.

Hicks Thomas lawyers have extensive experience representing clients in and out of the courtroom in a broad range of industries and litigation practice areas. Clients hire the lawyers at Hicks Thomas not only for their broad range of subject-matter expertise but also, and more especially, for their strategic insights in managing disputes from prelitigation advice through trial and appeal. Senior management hires Hicks Thomas for its track record and dedication to delivering results. In-house litigation managers want to work with Hicks Thomas because they know they will have the benefit of top-notch trial lawyers who are collaborative, are easy to work with, and will understand how to succeed both in court and for the business.

The firm’s lawyers are widely recognized as part of the upper echelon of the trial bar. Several of the firm’s attorneys are Board Certified in specialties such as Civil Trial Law, Civil Appellate Law, and Personal Injury Trial Law. The firm is also consistently recognized as a top law firm by publications such as Chambers USA, U.S. News – Best Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Benchmark Litigation, and Super Lawyers.

Hicks Thomas’ track record of success has made it a go-to firm for clients facing complex litigation challenges. Founded in 1997, Hicks Thomas is entering its third decade of operation and has offices in Houston, Austin, Beaumont, and Amarillo, Texas, and Sacramento, California.

Updated Sep 2021

Firm overview

Founded in 1980, Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP is a premier full-service law firm located in the heart of Dallas, Texas. With over 60 attorneys, we are recognized among the 25 largest firms in North Texas, and among the 60 largest firms in Texas.

Providing transactional and litigation services to a national and international client base ranging from start-up businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Bell Nunnally has attorneys experienced in a full range of business matters including litigation, real estate, commercial finance, corporate and securities, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, health care, immigration, intellectual property, appeals, entertainment, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, tax, and white collar criminal and regulatory defense.

Litigation Overview:

Bell Nunnally litigators aggressively represent clients across many industries, always driven to achieve our clients’ goals and protect their interests. We have represented some of the largest corporations in America, as well as local businesses, government entities and individuals. Our practice encompasses all aspects of the litigation process, from pretrial matters through trial and all levels of appeal in state and federal courts. We also routinely represent clients in arbitral forums and before regulatory bodies. In addition to litigating individual matters, we have served as regional coordinating counsel for Fortune 500 companies and as de facto national counsel for clients. Not only are we skilled in trials and appeals, we also have a demonstrated record of resolving lawsuits favorably for our clients prior to trial. We have won numerous cases involving a wide variety of commercial issues and are well versed in complex litigation. Virtually no area of civil litigation is beyond our capabilities.

In every lawsuit, we strive to discover the strengths of our clients’ positions and uncover and capitalize on the weaknesses of the opposition. We understand that not all cases are destined for trial, so we evaluate creative solutions to disputes early and often to further our clients’ objectives. As experienced business litigators, we help clients evaluate litigation risks and develop a settlement strategy from the outset of a case when appropriate. Our litigators are seasoned, tough negotiators who guide our clients through settlement discussions from a position of strength. When a reasonable settlement is not possible, we aggressively represent our clients through trial — we are more than litigators; we are trial lawyers.

Our attorneys understand that client relationships extend beyond a single case, so we tailor each litigation plan to achieve our clients’ overall business objectives. We take our clients’ budgets into account, staffing cases leanly and making use of experiences to achieve cost effective solutions. 

Litigation Highlights:

Obtained full acquittal for pharmacist in $100 million TRICARE health care fraud matter brought by federal government. TRICARE is a military service member and beneficiary health care program. The client was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and multiple counts of violations of the federal anti-kickback statute.

Obtained a $23.1 million judgement for a large United States cattle broker after client was defrauded by another Texas-based cattle broker. The case involved the untangling of a check-kiting scheme involving hundreds of transactions, tens of millions of dollars and thousands of head of cattle, which were allegedly bought and sold as part of a check-kiting scheme. The verdict is believed to represent one of the largest cattle frauds in Texas history.

Secured a favorable settlement for Sperlonga Data & Analytics Systems LLC in a $30 million breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets dispute. 

Secured a unanimous jury verdict in a patent infringement case in favor of Odessa Separator, Inc., a Texas-based manufacturer of award-winning downhole sand and gas separation products that are used in oil wells throughout the world. Plaintiff sought damages in excess of $2 million.

Obtained a favorable settlement for Buffalo Wild Wings franchisee, R Wings R Wild LLC (RWRW) in a $3 million class action dispute with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The central claim brought against RWRW, the owner/operator of over twenty Buffalo Wild Wings franchise locations, stemmed from a male bartender who alleged that in 2014 he applied for and was denied employment due to his gender. RWRW agreed to a nominal monetary settlement, a fraction of the total amount initially sought by the Commission, and it agreed to conduct sex discrimination training at its locations to demonstrate its continuing commitment to providing equal employment opportunities for all.

Noteworthy:

• 13 Bell Nunnally Attorneys Named to “Ones to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America® 2022
• 21 Bell Nunnally Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2022
• Bell Nunnally Named to “Best Law Firms” List (published by Best Lawyers and featured in U.S. News and World Reports) in 14 Practice Areas
• Partner Jeffrey J. Ansley Ranked “Band 3” for “Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations” in Chambers USA
• Firm Ranked as “Band 1” for “Corporate/M&A: Highly Regarded” in Chambers USA
• Senior Associate Natasha Gandhi Named an “Associate to Watch” for “Corporate/M&A” in Chambers USA
• 9 Bell Nunnally Attorneys Named to Texas Super Lawyers 2020 List
• 15 Bell Nunnally Attorneys Named to “2021 Texas Rising Stars” List Published by Super Lawyers
• Partners R. Heath Cheek and Ross Angus Williams Named to the “Top 100 Up and Coming Rising Stars” by Super Lawyers
• 5 Bell Nunnally Partners Featured on D Magazine’s 2021 “Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas” List
• D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas 2021” List Featured 13 Bell Nunnally Attorneys

Updated Aug 2021

Firm overview

Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, LLP (“SKV”) is a diverse and growing litigation boutique based in Houston, Texas, with an office in New Orleans, with nationally-recognized civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense practices. 

With its Houston roots, SKV has tried and won numerous energy cases over the years. But our practice is broader than that. We handle civil matters of all sorts, including intellectual property, healthcare, bankruptcy, and general commercial cases. We also have a flourishing white-collar practice, with a third of our attorneys specializing in the area. Our work spans all stages of a case and types of forums. We negotiate favorable resolutions to disputes before they go to court. We go to trial. We arbitrate. We mediate. We handle appeals. And we do so in jurisdictions across the country.

While building our firm, we’ve stayed true to a single principle: People drive success. That’s why we’ve put together a first-class team. The vast majority of our lawyers began their careers as law clerks, and since then, they’ve seen just about everything. So it’s a rare day when we confront a legal issue for the first time. 

Experience, though, is just one piston in the engine that powers our firm. Another is our junior attorneys’ vigor. We hire promising young lawyers out of clerkships or early in their careers, and we treat them as future partners. That means they take depositions, draft dispositive motions and appellate merits briefs, and present oral arguments. The results speak for themselves: our associates provide terrific outcomes for our clients.

But all of the individual talent in the world is useless without cohesion. We understand that, too, which is why we’ve fostered a family atmosphere. We’re not only colleagues; we’re friends. 

As SKV has grown, we’ve developed into one of the nation’s premiere litigation boutiques, and our commitment to excellence has not gone unnoticed. In recent years, SKV has been named:

• The “Best Litigation Firm in Texas” (Benchmark Litigation)
• One of the “10 Best Litigation Boutiques in the United States” (Benchmark Litigation)
• The Small Firm Litigation Department of the Year for 2019 (Texas Lawyer)
• A “Top 150 Under 150” firm for 2021 (Vault)

SKV has also topped Vault’s national rankings for midsize firms, placing #1 for quality of work for associates, #2 for hours, #2 for culture, #4 for compensation, and #5 for career outlook. 

Racking up awards has never been our goal, but we appreciate the high praise. What matters most is delivering exceptional results for our clients while maintaining the family-like culture that brought us together in the first place. And as these decorations suggest, over the past 25 plus years, we’ve done just that.

Updated Oct 2021

Firm overview

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, a leading international law firm, consistently ranks among the world’s top law firms in industry surveys and major publications. The firm is distinctively positioned in today’s global marketplace with more than 1,400 lawyers and 20 offices.

Litigation Practice: Acclaimed as a litigation powerhouse, Gibson Dunn and the members of the Litigation practice have a long record of outstanding successes. The American Lawyer named Gibson Dunn its 2020 Litigation Department of the Year, recognized as the “best of the best.” This unprecedented achievement was the firm’s fourth win in the last six years of the publication’s biennial “Litigation Department of the Year” competitions, and the sixth time in a row the firm has been a finalist.

The members of our litigation practice group are not just litigators, they are first-rate trial lawyers. Each year, we try numerous cases to verdicts before juries, judges and arbitrators. Our clients have trusted us to try their most significant disputes to verdict.

We have tried cases and argued appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court and state supreme courts in addition to federal and state courts across the United States involving almost every foreseeable area of controversy. We also handle disputes before a wide variety of nonjudicial forums, from federal and state agencies to international arbitrations.

Antitrust & Trade Regulation: Gibson Dunn serves clients in virtually every significant area of antitrust and trade regulation law, including cartel and government civil investigations, class action treble damage litigation, private antitrust litigation, government review of mergers and acquisitions, and trade regulation matters.

Appellate: Gibson Dunn has one of the nation’s leading appellate practices with broad experience in complex appellate litigation at all levels of the state and federal court systems. The practice has been involved in matters covering an array of constitutional, statutory, regulatory and common-law issues. Our lawyers have presented arguments in front of the Supreme Court of the United States more than 100 times.

Business Restructuring & Reorganization: The firm has extensive experience in both US and multinational insolvencies. Its lawyers regularly represent and counsel official creditors’ committees, ad hoc creditor groups, secured lenders, investors and companies (including DIP and exit financing) in out-of-court work-outs and Chapter 11 cases.

Commercial Litigation & Arbitration: Gibson Dunn’s approach emphasizes the full spectrum of services for our clients. Our litigators are trained to evaluate actual and potential cases at the earliest stages, to first determine if litigation can be avoided, or, if it is filed, whether the matter can be resolved quickly and economically. We pride ourselves on handling our litigation matters as efficiently as possible. Gibson Dunn lawyers are fully familiar with a wide array of alternative dispute resolution techniques, including arbitration, mediation, “mini-trials” and the like. 

Intellectual Property: Gibson Dunn’s deep bench of trial lawyers with technical backgrounds, advanced degrees and industry experience provides the necessary insight to develop and defend against sophisticated claims in a wide range of industries and complex technologies. Our litigators are recognized throughout the industry as leaders in prosecuting, defending and trying IP claims in federal and state courts, before administrative bodies including the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as well as before arbitration panels.

Labor & Employment: Gibson Dunn is known for our unsurpassed ability to help the world’s preeminent companies tackle their most challenging labor and employment matters. We have prevailed in what are believed to be the largest class actions under several different U.S. employment laws, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the wage and hour laws. Gibson Dunn has also worked on high-profile ERISA cases, nationally recognized Sarbanes-Oxley ‘whistleblower’ cases and aggressive advocacy on OSHA issues. 

Securities Litigation, Regulation & Corporate Governance: A recognized leader in the defense of securities class actions, derivative litigation and SEC enforcement actions, the firm advises companies on disclosure, accounting and regulatory issues for domestic and foreign regulatory bodies. The partners include nationally recognized securities class action defense counsel and a number of former senior officials with the SEC, NASD and DOJ.

Transnational Litigation: Gibson Dunn’s Transnational Litigation practice specializes in protecting clients against claims in U.S. and other courts stemming from overseas activities, as well as reducing and eliminating the risks posed by foreign litigation that, if unchecked, threaten company-wide implications. Our uniquely skilled, creative and experienced transnational team is equipped to manage all aspects of cross-border litigation, including devising, coordinating and implementing offensive and defensive global strategies and has represented clients in some of the highest-profile cases around the world. Gibson Dunn’s international team consists of US, English, French, Spanish and German-qualified lawyers, many of whom are dual qualified.

White Collar Defense & Investigations: The firm defends prominent companies and executives against federal and state prosecutions and has conducted numerous sensitive internal investigations in areas including anti-money laundering; computer and IP crimes; environmental violations and compliance; FCPA matters; forfeiture (civil and criminal); health care fraud; privacy; procurement fraud; securities, financial institution and accounting fraud; and tax offenses. The practice group includes numerous former federal and state prosecutors and officials, many of whom served at high levels within the DOJ, SEC and other key investigative arms of the government. The American Lawyer named Gibson Dunn a finalist for the White Collar/Regulatory Department of the Year in 2020, and in 2016 was the winner.