Texas Lawyer has singled out Heim, Payne & Chorush partner Miranda Jones as its “Top Woman in IP” for the publication’s 2018 Professional Excellence honors.

The statewide recognition is based on Jones’ intellectual property law experience and numerous successes and professional accomplishments, which include trial counsel leadership roles in multimillion-dollar patent infringement litigation and significant appellate work at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jones is a partner in the firm’s national patent litigation practice group, representing patent holders as trial and appellate counsel in infringement litigation involving new technology in cutting-edge areas.

Read more about the honor.

Cathy Altman, a partner in the Dallas office of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, LLP, has been appointed to the Trinity River Authority Board of Directors by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Altman, who chairs Carrington Coleman’s construction group, is one of five new directors appointed to the 25-member board that oversees the development and conservation of surface water resources of the Trinity River, according to a release from the firm. Three additional members were reappointed to new six-year terms.

“The Trinity is one of this state’s most vital resources,” said Altman. The river flows 710 miles from North Texas to Galveston Bay, making it the largest river basin with a watershed entirely within the borders of Texas.

“It is a privilege to be among this select group of individuals entrusted with the responsibility of not only being good stewards of the environmental resources of the river, but also guiding development across the Trinity basin.”

The board is composed of directors representing each of the counties in the Trinity River Basin and three at-large directors. Altman, a resident of Midlothian, replaces longtime board member Harold Barnard, who represented Ellis County for 17 years. The appointment was applauded by State Sen. Brian Birdwell, who called Altman an “exceptional choice. Ellis County and the state of Texas will be well served by her.”

Altman is a member of the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Construction Law and serves on the Construction Industry specialty panel of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) National Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators. She is chair of the Midlothian Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a board member of the North Texas Commission, a public-private partnership.

Dallas business trial law firm Loewinsohn Flegle Deary Simon won the No. 1 spot for the Elite Trial Lawyers award, based on research by VerdictSearch, The National Law Journal and Law.com.

Three of the firm’s co-founders, Alan Loewinsohn, Craig Simon, and Matt Ray, accepted the award during a reception at the Las Vegas Bellagio Hotel on October 5.

The firm’s recent litigation includes a trial victory that resulted in a $6 billion verdict – the largest verdict of 2017 and one of the Top 10 verdicts in U.S. history.

Read details about the honor.

Five Estes Thorne & Carr partners have been named to the 2019 listing of The Best Lawyers in America and the 2018 listing of Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters.

In commercial  law, Dawn Estes was recognized by Best Lawyers, and she won Top 100 recognition from Super Lawyers.

In family law, Jessica Thorne won recognition from both awards lists, and Lori Carr won dual recognition in labor law.

In commercial litigation, Carol Payne won dual recognition, and Linda Moore was honored by Super Lawyers.

Read about the honors.

The readers of Texas Lawyer have selected Muse Communications LLC as one of Dallas’ best legal public relations agencies. The recognition came as part of the publication’s “Best of 2018” survey, in which readers selected the state’s best legal vendors.

Founded in 2016, Muse Communications provides content marketing and public relations for lawyers and law firms.

“We’re excited to make this list after only two years in business, and it’s wonderful to be in such great company,” says Amy Boardman Hunt, the firm’s founder.

Read more about the honor.

Five lawyers with with Houston-based Rusty Hardin & Associates have earned recognition in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, a U.S. peer-review guide to attorneys.

Firm founder Rusty Hardin, who has won some of the nation’s most high-profile trials and earned some of the legal profession’s most prestigious honors, is featured for both commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense work. He was also rated Lawyer of the Year for 2019 in the Houston area for white-collar criminal defense.

Firm partners Andy Drumheller and Derek Hollingsworth, both former prosecutors, are recognized for their white-collar criminal defense expertise. Of counsel Cathy Cochran and firm partner Joe Roden are listed for their appellate work. All of the five lawyers have been recognized in previous editions of the Best Lawyers list.

Read details about the honors.

Alternative dispute resolution attorney and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Deborah Hankinson has earned recognition as one of the Top Three attorneys in the state by Texas Super Lawyers.

It is the fourth time since 2012 that she has been selected among the Top Three attorneys in the state by the peer-review rating service. She also has ranked consistently among Texas’ Top 10 lawyers over the past eight years and has been selected among the state’s Top 50 Women attorneys every year since the inaugural Texas Super Lawyers listing was released in 2003.

Earlier this year, Hankinson was named the Dallas Arbitration Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America. In 2016, she was selected to The National Law Journal’s inaugural ADR Champions list recognizing alternative dispute resolution trailblazers from across the nation. She also has garnered wide-ranging recognition from legal guides and business publications, including Chambers USA, Benchmark Appellate, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, D Magazine, the Dallas Bar Association and Lawdragon.

Texas Super Lawyers selections are based on peer nominations and evaluations, as well as independent editorial research. No more than 5 percent of eligible Texas attorneys are chosen each year for practice-specific recognition. The attorneys with the highest rankings regardless of practice focus are chosen for additional recognition. The full 2018 listing appears in the October edition of Texas Monthly and in the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine. The list also is available online at http://www.superlawyers.com.

Lawrence J. West and Joshua W. Mermis, co-founders of the Houston-based litigation boutique West Mermis PLLC, have both been named to the 2019 listing of The Best Lawyers in America as well as the 2018 listing of Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters.

West and Mermis have been recognized for two consecutive years by Best Lawyers for their work in construction litigation.

In addition to this year’s Super Lawyers recognition, West has been named to the Texas Super Lawyers list each year since 2014.

Mermis was first recognized in 2017, after earning appearances on the companion Texas Rising Stars list from 2010-2011 and again from 2014-2016.

Read about the awards.

Attorney Michael Lyons, co-founder of the Texas-based trial firm Deans & Lyons, has been selected among Dallas-Fort Worth’s Top 100 attorneys in the 2018 edition of the Texas Super Lawyers legal guide.

The Top 100 list recognizes the DFW region’s leading attorneys regardless of practice focus. In addition to this distinction, Lyons earned selection among The Best Lawyers in America for 2019. He has also been recognized among the top “high stakes” trial lawyers in the state as a member of both the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums, as well as a member of America’s Top 100 Attorneys for Texas Lifetime Achievement. In 2017, he was named among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators for North Texas.

Also earning 2018 Texas Super Lawyers honors were firm co-founder Greg Deans for his products liability and mass tort work and partner Katie Stepp for her general litigation practice.

Earlier this year, three of the firm’s lawyers were selected to the companion Rising Stars list of the top young attorneys in the state. Partners Chris Simmons and Courtney Bowline were recognized along with associate Lana Beverly for their outstanding work on both personal injury and commercial litigation matters.

Read details about the honors.

Trial lawyer David Bissinger, a founder of Houston-based Bissinger, Oshman & Williams LLP, has been selected for a 12th consecutive year to the Texas Super Lawyers list.

Bissinger was recognized in the annual legal guide for his work involving complex commercial disputes. The honor is particularly significant, he said, given the number of exceptional litigators practicing in Texas. “The scope, complexity, and magnitude of business in Texas attracts the best lawyers in the world. To continue to be chosen among this elite group of advocates is a true honor.”

In a news release, the firm said Bissinger’s practice focuses on representing clients involved in securities and commercial fiduciary litigation, energy and technology matters, and executive compensation, banking, and real estate. He has first-chair jury trial and complex commercial arbitration experience for both plaintiffs and defendants. He also routinely represents businesses and individuals in internal and government investigations. He has served as an arbitrator in disputes before the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA).

A frequent writer and speaker on legal issues, he has written extensively on commercial trial advocacy in a world of digital evidence and vanishing jury trials. Most recently, he has written on courtroom psychology, trial tactics, and controlling trial costs. For example, he shared his tips for keeping jurors engaged during trial in an Aug. 8, 2018, Texas Lawyer commentary, “Want to Improve Your Trial Skills? Be Cognizant of the Clock.”

“Lawyers today come to court with evidence in dozens of boxes or gigabytes of hard drive space. They often forget that their audience – whether judges, jurors, or even seasoned commercial arbitrators – need to see the big picture before they can absorb the details that the lawyers have spent months or years collecting. A major aspect of what I do for my clients involves eliminating unnecessary details from a case whenever possible and to lay bare the core decisions that the judges, jurors, or arbitrators must make.”

A former chairman of the Houston Bar Association’s Securities Litigation and Arbitration Section, Bissinger is AV-rated “Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, the organization’s highest peer rating for legal skills and ethics. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa.

Texas Super Lawyers is published annually by Thomson Reuters in Texas Monthly and Super Lawyers magazines. Selection is based on a statewide survey of lawyers and extensive editorial review. For more information, visit http://www.superlawyers.com.

Edward S. Sledge IV, a partner in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Birmingham office, has been appointed to the board of directors of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) Foundation. His term runs until February 2020.

“We are proud of Ed’s ongoing service to the legal industry and community, and we congratulate him on his appointment to the board of the International Association of Defense Counsel Foundation,” said Bradley Birmingham Office Managing Partner Dawn Helms Sharff.

A member of Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group, Sledge represents businesses, including private equity groups, product manufacturers and financial services institutions, in high-exposure civil disputes in a variety of industries, the firm said in a release. His national practice focuses on complex business and commercial litigation in courts across the country. In addition, he routinely represents businesses in consumer finance disputes and in personal injury and wrongful death matters.

Sledge received his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law and his Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy.

Founded in 1920, the IADC is the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. The mission of the IADC’s Foundation is to support the rule of law and access for all to a fair and just legal system through education and research, strategic partnerships, and relevant projects.

Texas law firm Chamblee Ryan is observing its 20 years of litigation by compiling a long list of victories.

The firm has offices in Dallas and Tyler. Name partners are Bill Chamblee and Jeff Ryan.

“Some firms say they focus on effective client representation,” the firm says on its website. “But our record and reputation in trial litigation compares favorably to any other firm in North Texas, large or small. Since 1998 our attorneys have tried hundreds of cases in the court room, as well as secured favorable results through effective negotiation involving many industries and in many areas of the law.”

See the list of victories.

The publishers of Texas Super Lawyers have selected five partners with the family law boutique Orsinger, Nelson, Downing & Anderson, LLP, among the state’s Top 100 attorneys.

Partners Richard Orsinger, Keith Nelson, Scott Downing, Brad LaMorgese and Lon Loveless were selected to the Top 100 list from the nearly 90,000 eligible attorneys in Texas. The Top 100 recognizes the state’s elite attorneys, regardless of their primary area of practice. No other family law firm in the state has so many attorneys named to the Top 100 for 2018, the firm said in a release.

A total of 11 lawyers were selected among the state’s leading family law attorneys, with several earning additional 2018 accolades.

Six firm attorneys were selected among the Top 100 attorneys in Dallas-Fort Worth: Nelson, Downing, LaMorgese and Loveless, along with partner Jeffrey Anderson and of counsel Marilea Lewis. Lewis also was named to the list of the Top 50 female attorneys in Texas. Orsinger was selected among the Top 50 attorneys in Central/West Texas.

Orsinger, Nelson and Downing have been selected among the state’s top Family Law attorneys every year since 2003. The 2018 recognition is LaMorgese’s 15th time to make the list.

Partners Amber Liddell Alwais and Paul Hewett each earned their sixth selection, while William Reppeto and Loveless were honored for a fifth year. Lewis was selected for a seventh year and associate Hunter Lewis earned recognition for a sixth year.

Super Lawyers selections are based on a combination of peer nominations, evaluations and independent editorial research. No more than 5 percent of Texas attorneys are chosen each year. The full 2018 listing appears in the October editions of Texas Monthly and Texas Super Lawyers, and is available online at http://www.superlawyers.com.

Julie A. Springer, a founding partner of the Austin-based commercial litigation firm Weisbart Springer Hayes, LLP, has been accepted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

ABOTA dedicates itself to the preservation and promotion of the Seventh Amendment, which guarantees the right to civil jury trials. Members in this prestigious invitation-only group must have tried a minimum of 10 civil jury trials to conclusion. More than 7,600 lawyers and judges are involved in ABOTA chapters in all 50 states.

“ABOTA is one of the nation’s most effective organizations in championing the ethics, professionalism and principles of the legal profession, and I’m honored to be part of this select group,” Springer said.

In her practice, Springer represents clients in all types of employment and business-related disputes in federal and state courts and before regulatory agencies throughout Texas and the United States. Springer’s litigation experience includes claims of discrimination, harassment and other traditional employment claims; defense of national wage and hour collective and class actions under federal and state law; and business disputes involving breach of contract, breach of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, and misappropriation of trade secret claims.

In addition, Springer has experience in issues involving higher education, such as Title IX litigation, as well as other issues affecting colleges and universities throughout the country. Springer also regularly counsels corporate and individual clients on all facets of the employer-employee relationship, including the negotiation of executive compensation and separation agreements.

A graduate of Baylor Law School who also earned her undergraduate degree from Baylor University, Springer is one of the few lawyers in Texas who is Board Certified in both Labor & Employment Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She has earned recognition on the Texas Super Lawyers list each year since 2011, and is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Texas lawyer Deborah Hankinson has been selected Arbitration Lawyer of the Year for Dallas in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The former Texas Supreme Court justice specializes in conflict resolution, including arbitrations and mediations.

In 2016, Hankinson was selected to The National Law Journal’s inaugural ADR Champions list recognizing trailblazers from across the nation. She also has been recognized by Chambers USA, the Benchmark Appellate guide, Texas Super Lawyers, The National Law Journal, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, D Magazine, the Dallas Bar Association and Lawdragon.

Hankinson serves on the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association. She is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Trial law firm Sayles Werbner is home to seven attorneys selected once again to the annual Best Lawyers in America listing.

Co-founders Richard A. “Dick” Sayles and Mark S. Werbner are included in the list, having earned recognition for more than a decade. Both men are on the 2019 list for their commercial litigation work and bet-the-company prowess; Werbner also is recognized for his white-collar criminal defense work.

Board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law, Sayles’ record includes 150 cases tried to verdict, more than a dozen multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and significant defense wins, the firm said.

Werbner, who is board certified in Civil Trial Law and Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, also has tried more than 150 jury cases.

The 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America includes the following Sayles Werbner shareholders:

· Shawn C. Long: Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants

· Darren P. Nicholson: Litigation – Intellectual Property

· Robert L. Sayles: Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

· William S. Snyder: Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Securities

· Mark E. Torian: White-Collar Criminal Defense

The Best Lawyers in America guide is compiled annually from independent nominations. Prior nominees who handle similar cases review the nominations. Editors make the final selections, recognizing the top attorneys in the country based on their practice areas.

Dallas insurance coverage and litigation attorney Meloney Perry, founder of Perry Law P.C. has been named to the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in recognition of her work in insurance law.

Perry has more than 20 years of experience defending insurance companies in coverage disputes, bad faith and class-action litigation. She serves as the primary regional counsel for a major national insurance firm. She also represents business owners across the country in insurance and business disputes in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

“I’m honored to be included among such a talented group of lawyers,” said Perry. “Our team works very hard for our clients, and being recognized by our peers is confirmation of this hard work.”

Perry was recently named Vice Chair of the Council of Chairs Committee for the State Bar of Texas after holding a position as the 2017-18 Chair of the Insurance Law Section. She is an author and presenter, frequently conducting seminars that focus on insurance coverage issues and the law.

This is the first selection to the respected peer-review listing for Perry. Recognizing the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the country based on their practice areas, The Best Lawyers in America is compiled through a process of independent nominations, followed by a review by prior nominees who handle similar cases. Editors make the final selections.

Day Pitney LLP announced that the firm has been ranked among the top 20 Am Law 200 firms for gender diversity, specifically, the percentage of female equity partners, in The American Lawyer‘s annual A-List ranking.

The newest metric included in the A-List ranking is a score based on the percentage of female lawyers in a firm’s equity partnership ranks. Equity partnership, or law firm ownership, is considered to be among the most important indicators of a law firm’s enduring diversity achievements.

This year, Day Pitney was also ranked among the top 50 law firms in the National Law Journal (NLJ) 500: Women’s Scorecard. Only the largest 350 firms in the nation are eligible for a Women’s Scorecard ranking, and the “score” is determined by adding the percentage of the firm’s female attorneys with its percentage of female partners.

Loewinsohn Flegle Deary Simon has earned a place on the 2018 Elite Trial Lawyers finalist list for Business Torts as selected by editors and reporters of American Lawyer Media’s National Law Journal.

The publication’s research staff selected the Dallas-based firm for its lawyers’ “exemplary performance in cutting-edge work on behalf of plaintiffs over the last 18 months.” Finalists were chosen from 300 submissions across 23 categories.  The selection process is designed to identify firms “that have achieved exemplary results for their clients.”

Earlier this year, the firm was honored as a Tier 1 Law Firm, the highest-possible ranking, by U.S. News – Best Lawyers in America based on confidential feedback from clients and other lawyers. All six of the firm’s principals are listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Read about the honor.

Attorney Michael Lyons, co-founder of the Texas-based trial firm Deans & Lyons, has earned selection to the 2019 listing of The Best Lawyers in America for his commercial litigation work.

“Throughout my career, my singular focus has been on achieving the best result possible for my clients,” said Lyons. “Being supported by my peers for Best Lawyers in America confirms that commitment.”

Lyons is a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums. He also has earned recognition as a Lifetime Achievement member of America’s Top 100 Attorneys for Texas and in 2017 was named among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators for North Texas.

In addition to his selection to the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America guide, Lyons has earned recognition on the Texas Super Lawyers list. In addition, he has been recognized multiple times on D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas list for both personal injury and business litigation.