PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Admitted: Texas, 1977; District of Columbia, 1978.

Education: Harvard College in 1969; University of Texas School of Law (with high honors) in 1977 (Order of the Coif and a Chancellor).

President of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, P.C. (1998-2008).

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Class Actions/Derivative Actions/RICO:

• Representation of a mutual insurance company in a class action lawsuit in South Texas, in which the plaintiffs sought to require a several billion dollar distribution from surplus to the mutual policy holders;
• Representation of a former Enron director, and president of two international subsidiaries of Enron, in class action lawsuits in Houston;
• Representation of directors of a cable television company in a derivative action alleging damages in excess of $100 million;
• Recovery of substantial judgment after a several-week trial in Georgia, representing investors in Mexico in a RICO and fraud suit against land promoters;
• Internal investigation on behalf of a special litigation committee of a public company concerning shareholder complaints of numerous transactions and events.

Trials reflect a variety of disputes:

Significant Commercial Disputes:

• Representation of a power-plant owner in a lawsuit brought by an electric cooperative that complained of a $200-million transaction;
• Representation of the owner of a building in a lawsuit to recover several million dollars due to construction and design problems.
• Obtained take-nothing summary judgment against a $255 million antitrust and disparagement claim, brought against a leading provider of defect-inspection tools for integrated circuit manufacturers.

Professional Liability:

• Representation of a national engineering firm in a lawsuit brought complaining of $7 million in repair costs associated with a 17,000-foot water pipeline;
• Representation of a national engineering firm in a lawsuit brought complaining of $20 million in repair costs associated with a 20-mile water pipeline;
• Representation of a national accounting firm in suit brought by the receiver of a failed insurance company, defending against a claim in excess of $60 million;
• Substantial recovery for receiver of a failed bank, in malpractice suit against the bank’s professionals and the bank’s former directors
• Frequent representation of lawyers in professional malpractice suits.

Employment:

• Representation of various employers in disputes with employees, including lawsuits concerning non-compete agreements, concerning claims of wrongful discharge or discrimination, concerning post-termination contractual disputes, concerning post-employment trade-secret protection, and other disputes; such as defeating injunction efforts by a former employer who wished to prevent its director of engineering from becoming employed by the industry leader.

Natural Resources:

• Representation of a city in a dispute with a water supply company concerning a long-term water contract.

Government:

• Representation of various property owners and developers from time to time in litigation against cities relating to the transition impacts when various cities in Central Texas have adopted new and more restrictive water-quality regulation;
• Defense of municipal utility district against constitutional challenges as to its formation.

Pro bono:

• Representation of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in a 2-week trial for the removal of a Dallas judge from office;
• Representation of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in a 1-week trial concerning conduct of an appellate judge;
• Representation of State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline in suit to disbar a trial attorney.

Clients have included:

Advanced Micro Devices, Alex Sheshunoff Management Services, Arthur Andersen, Austin American-Statesman (Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P.), Austin Police Association, Bank of America, BMC Software, Inc., Buffington Land, Ltd,. CH2M Hill, Inc., Cirrus Logic, Inc., City of Bryan, City of Lampasas, City of Pflugerville, Dell, Inc., Financial Industries Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., General Land Office of the State of Texas, Gray Engineering, HDR Engineering, Inc., Highland Resources, Inc., Hunt Properties, Inc., Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, Lazy Nine Municipal Utility District, Main Street Homes, Motorola, Inc., National Instruments Corporation, National Council on Compensation Insurance, PNB National Bank, Pulte Homes of Texas, St. David’s Healthcare System, State Farm Mutual Insurance, Tenaska, Inc., Texas Disposal Systems Landfill, Inc., Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Texas Wind Power Company, Toll Brothers, Trammell Crow, various local and national law firms.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Member: Governing board, known as the Council, of the American Law Institute (ALI) (since 1998); member of the board of directors of ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Education (2005-2011); the American Bar Association; State Bar of Texas; the Austin Bar Association (for which he has chaired several committees, including the Ethics and Professionalism Committee and the Continuing Legal Education Committee); the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit; Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers; American Board of Trial Advocates; Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers; Master of the Bench of the Lloyd Lochridge Inn of Court; and a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

• Serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of The American Law Institute, was an Adviser for the Restatement of the Law Third, Agency, is an Adviser for the Restatement of the Law Third, Economic Torts and Related Wrongs, and has served on the Members Consultative Groups for the Restatement of the Law Third, The Law Governing Lawyers, the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Apportionment of Liability, and the Complex Litigation Project.
• Co-chaired a United States Magistrate Judge Selection Committee, appointed by the United States District Judges in the Western District of Texas.
• In 2006, was Course Director of The Texas Trial Academy, which serves as an educational resource to public-interest lawyers and which is co-sponsored by The Texas Access to Justice Commission and The American College of Trial Lawyers.
• Serves on the Disciplinary Committee for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
• Chairs the Advertising Review Committee of the State Bar of Texas.

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Honored as a Distinguished Lawyer by the Austin Bar Association, 2012
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® published by Woodward/White, Inc., Commercial Litigation, 1987 - 2011; listed as one of eleven "Bet the Company" Litigation lawyers in Texas 2007 - 2012
• Super Lawyer©, Business Litigation, named by Law and Politics Media, Inc. and published in Texas Monthly, 2003 - 2011
• Super Lawyer©, Business Litigation, Corporate Counsel Edition, named by Law and Politics Media, Inc. and published in Texas Monthly, 2008, 2010
• Recipient of Ronald D. Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award, 2010

COMMUNITY

• Executive Chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School (2002-2008)
• Board Member, Headliner's Club
• Has served on the boards of various civic and community organizations, including the Central Texas Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, the Austin Child Guidance Center, Trine University, Trinity Episcopal School, and Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas