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Find Lawyers in Houston, Texas for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Joseph Y. Ahmad, a founding partner in the Houston law firm of AZA, is a lawyer for executives and has been recognized nationally as one of the best lawyers in his field. He represents executives in a variety of matters, including breach of contract, trade secrets, covenants not to compete, breach of fiduciary duty and other matters. He was elected to the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates, an elite group of the country’s leading judges and civil trial lawyers. He has been se...
Tom Ajamie is the founder of Ajamie LLP. He represents clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration. His work includes groundbreaking securities and financial cases, cross-border litigation, business contract disputes and employment issues. His cases have been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The American Lawyer. He established The Ajamie Foundation, which provides scholarships to university students. He is co-author of the book Fina...
Amir Alavi handles complex commercial litigation throughout the world with a particular focus on intellectual property cases. IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals describes him as an “unflappable advocate that you can greenlight for a billion-dollar case with 100% confidence,” and a “judicious strategist” with an “acute sense of how to present a damages case.” He’s been recognized for his intellectual property work by...
Fields Alexander has won verdicts for both plaintiffs and defendants in a number of difficult venues. His success with juries has been recognized by his peers, as evidenced by his election into the International Society of Barristers, The American Board of Trial Advocates, and by his repeated recognition as one of the best lawyers in America in several practice areas. He has a national practice, and frequently appears for clients not only across Texas, but throughout the country. He has also ...
Demetrios Anaipakos is widely considered to be one of the country’s top civil trial lawyers, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in patent and complex commercial litigation for nearly three decades. Among his many high-profile victories, Mr. Anaipakos helped a client obtain, and collect, one of the largest patent judgments in the history of the United States; won jury trials against some of the largest technology companies in the world; and has architected dozens of successful i...
In the course of your career, you will likely face at least one legal dispute that you can't afford to lose but can't resolve without expert help. To manage the risk successfully, you will need to partner with someone who has the necessary experience, skill, and resources. Many people in your position seek to engage me to do just that. Read on to see why. Trial counsel People who should know have described me as an "incredibly gifted lawyer" (Chambers and Partners) who is "magic in the courtr...
Stephen Barrick began his career more than 20 years ago as a law clerk in Houston, Texas, where he worked at the federal district court. He later joined international firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he practiced trial and appellate law. Since 2008, Mr. Barrick has made his home at Hick Thomas LLP, where he focuses on business litigation and appeals. Mr. Barrick is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has earned selection to Texas...
Dennis Barrow is a skilled advocate in both domestic litigation and international arbitration. He represents clients in construction, energy, environmental, and commercial disputes. His extensive experience includes representing clients in state and federal trials, domestic arbitrations, and ICC and UNCITRAL arbitrations. Dennis’s combination of a mechanical engineering degree with a degree in economics provides him an advantage in many cases. His engineering training allows him to quic...
Hunter Barrow is a seasoned commercial trial lawyer who leads the firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group. He has a broad litigation practice in trial and appellate courts. Hunter has experience handling a wide variety of matters, involving securities, financial institutions, energy, real estate, intellectual property, antitrust, insurance, product liability, and general commercial litigation. His clients span numerous industries, including energy, banking and finance, real estate dev...
Shawn Bates has more than 22 years of practice in commercial litigation in the energy industry and across numerous other industries. He is a seasoned first-chair trial lawyer, handling cases worth tens of millions. He has conducted hundreds of depositions and supervised trial teams on matters of varying size. He focuses his practice on litigation and arbitration of complex disputes for clients in the energy sector (oil and gas companies, oilfield supply and support companies, pipeline builder...
K. B. Battaglini has for more than 3 decades counseled and represented businesses and individuals. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America© (by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners), has expertise in energy, environmental, natural resources, media and entertainment law, and has significant first chair experience in trials, appeals, arbitrations and mediations. He is on the national panel of arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association and FINRA. Prior to joining Strong Pipkin, he wa...
David J. Beck is consistently recognized as one of our country’s best trial lawyers. This recognition has grown from the consistent results he has achieved for his clients in his more than forty years of practice. From the smallest disputes to the billion dollar cases, David understands the importance of each case to his client, and he approaches each with the same intensity and integrity that has served him - and his clients - so well for so long. For David Beck, every case is a story ...
Your lawyer should know the courtroom (and, for many business disputes, full-blown arbitration hearing action) if you want to know the worth of your case. Yet many lawyers have little or no trial experience. I have that experience – in a diverse array of matters, including energy and technology, corporate fiduciary, securities, executive compensation, banking, and real estate. Nothing but trial work sharpens a lawyer’s professional judgment, handling of hard questions, or accounta...
Alex J. Brown is the Managing Attorney of the Lanier Law Firm’s Commercial Litigation section. Alex represents companies and individuals in federal and state courts across the country at both the trial and appellate level, and in domestic and international arbitration forums. Before he became a plaintiff’s lawyer, Alex was a partner in the Houston office of one of the oldest and largest law firms in Texas. There, he represented multi-national corporations in complex business dispu...
Harvey Brown joined The Lanier Law Firm in 2019 following distinguished service as a District Judge in Harris County and as a Justice on the First Court of Appeals for the State of Texas. Judge Brown is selected to the list of Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Appellate Law and Commercial Litigation. Before his judicial service he was in private practice for more than 20 years, handling both trials and appeals. Judge Brown served on the First Court of Appeals bench from 2010-2018. Durin...
A trial lawyer for more than 35 years, Mr. Campbell has dedicated his professional life to obtaining favorable results for his clients by trial and, where possible, through negotiation. Mr. Campbell represents individuals and corporations, both as plaintiffs and as defendants. He has extensive experience in a wide variety of legal matters, including cases involving allegations of business torts; breach of contract; fraud; breach of fiduciary duty; auditing malpractice; legal malpractice; viol...
Michael Cancienne is a name partner at Jordan, Lynch & Cancienne in Houston. He is a highly-skilled and experienced litigator who focuses his practice on representing companies as plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of contractual disputes and in disputes involving business torts. He has prevailed in commercial matters across multiple jurisdictions, including state and federal courts. Mr. Cancienne’s courtroom success is the result of listening and preparation. Clients find th...
Howard is a trial lawyer. He has tried and arbitrated complex personal injury, commercial and intellectual property cases all over the state. From patent and trade secret litigation in northeast Texas to multiple death and burn cases along the Texas-Mexico border, to massive coverage cases in Beaumont, he and his trial team have handled the difficult assignments. He has tried state and national class actions, medical device, oil & gas, nursing home, insurance coverage and intellectual pro...
Based in our Houston office, Paul Clote has been a litigation attorney handling trials and appeals for more than four decades. His cases involve commercial and business disputes across a variety of industries. He has tried to verdict in both state and federal courts, cases entailing fiduciary duties; partnership termination and windup; letters of credit; business fraud and civil theft; trust account funds; broker commissions; ERISA disability benefits; child abuse; minimum wage and overtime c...
Gregory Cokinos is a founder of Cokinos | Young and he has earned a reputation as one of the preeminent lawyers in his field. Gregory’s practice includes all aspects of commercial and industrial construction, including office buildings, high rise condominiums, schools, power plants, processing plants, refineries, pipelines, highway construction, as well as offshore production and drilling platforms. Gregory has extensive experience in real estate transactions and development, having rep...
Jeff is co-chair of Bradley's Oil and Gas Law team and is a recognized trial lawyer who represents energy sector companies in complex oil and gas litigation involving catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, surface and downhole tool incidents, and royalty and mineral interest disputes. Jeff has significant experience in both the legal and technical issues related to oil and gas exploration, and has been lead counsel in over 100 matters resulting from oilfield incidents. He has tried cas...
Alistair Dawson is an acclaimed trial lawyer. Alistair has handled and tried a variety of challenging commercial lawsuits. As a result of his skills and hard work, Alistair has earned widespread praise from clients and colleagues as a “go to” trial lawyer. He is recognized by Best Lawyers in America (2012-2015) for commercial litigation, Benchmark Litigation as a Local Litigation Star - Texas (2014) for antitrust and commercial litigation, and by Chambers USA (2005-2015) as a lead...
Some cases are complex because of the mountains of evidence at issue; others because of the technical complexity of the industry involved. Either way, John Deis has a knack for distilling his cases down to the core issues and clearly presenting his client’s side to judges and juries. Mr. Deis once spent four days living aboard an oilrig offshore of Libya in order to understand how various equipment worked and the crew's performance. This was key to disproving his opponent’s conte...
Zeke DeRose is a member of The Lanier Law Firm’s Commercial Litigation section. He brings extensive experience to plaintiffs and defendants in a range of disputes before courts and in arbitration, including complex commercial and business litigation, antitrust, licensing disputes, merger disputes, qui tam (under both state and federal False Claims Act), federal securities, and intellectual property. He has represented both large and small clients across the nation in federal court, arbi...
Mr. Dow's practice involves litigating commercial disputes, as well as representing clients in various real estate and business transactions. Board Certified in Civil Trial Law, Commercial Real Estate Law, and Residential Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (one of only 6 Texas lawyers triple Board Certified in those same three practice areas), Mr. Dow, who is also a licensed Texas Real Estate Salesman, is uniquely qualified to assist his transactional clients in avoidi...
Steve Fernelius successfully handles high-profile and complex litigation, especially matters that come under intense public scrutiny. He has a sophisticated understanding of how cases affect his clients’ business, and he does everything he can to resolve his clients’ problems. His work for clients includes representing an international oil and gas company in three separate trials from 2005 to 2009 involving a catastrophic explosion at one of its oil refineries, which ultimately re...
Scott Fletcher is one of the leading securities litigation and enforcement attorneys in the country. He represents institutions and individuals in securities, commercial, and bankruptcy litigation; government enforcement actions; and internal investigations. Before forming his own firm, Scott was co-head of the securities litigation and enforcement groups at Jones Day and at Vinson & Elkins. For more than 30 years he has represented clients in matters ranging from routine securities litig...
Sammy Ford IV has tried over 20 cases before judges, juries, and arbitrators in his career. He represents companies and individuals around the country in all manner of civil matters, including complex commercial litigation, business torts, securities class actions, and catastrophic personal injury cases. He is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Sammy’s favorite place is in the courtroom trying cases. In 2022, he successfully tried a ...
Jarrett E. Ganer is a partner at McDowell Hetherington LLP and has been with the firm since its inception. Jarrett maintains a general complex commercial litigation practice with a focus on serving clients in the insurance and financial services industries. The strength in Jarrett’s practice though lies in his ability to bring the same high-quality advocacy and attentive client representation to straightforward coverage disputes as he does to multifaceted, multi-billion dollar class act...
Over the course of his career, Tom Ganucheau has earned the trust and respect of his peers. He has regularly represented lawyers and law firms in sensitive legal malpractice matters, and is often engaged to protect the intellectual property and trade secrets of his clients. In short, Tom has made a career out of preserving his clients’ most valuable assets: their reputations, their ideas, and their brands. Tom has been recognized in Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers Texas magazine and as on...
Paul Genender is a partner in the Complex Litigation and Arbitration practice, chair of the Texas Commercial Litigation practice, and co-chair of the Houston office at Paul Hastings. Mr. Genender is a seasoned trial lawyer with an established track record of courtroom success representing plaintiffs, defendants, debtors, and creditors. Mr. Genender represents clients in a wide range of business disputes, including antitrust, breach of contract, business fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair...
Jeff Golub has significant trial experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation matters. A lifelong Houstonian, Jeff comes from a family of business owners, and he focuses his practice on helping business owners and companies resolve disputes successfully and efficiently. He has achieved favorable outcomes for clients in courts not only in Texas, but throughout the country. His litigation skill has been recognized by his peers, including as one of the Best Lawyers in ...
Micah A. Grodin is an attorney in McDowell Hetherington's Houston office whose practice focuses on commercial litigation. Micah has represented clients in both state and federal courts, arbitration proceedings, and in administrative law hearings throughout the country. Across all forums, he has provided litigation solutions to his clients in a wide range of matters from limited exposure personal injury claims to complex, “bet the house” fraud and breach of contract disputes. In re...
David Gunn specializes in appeals. For the past two decades, he has done nothing but handle appeals, in both state and federal court, and on both sides of the docket. Although appeals once revolved around attorney oratory, today’s appellate courts do most of their work on the basis of written briefs, and a typical appellate judge has to read hundreds of those briefs every year. So David writes briefs that the reader will find both interesting and easy to follow. Since arguing his first ...
Eva Guzman is a groundbreaking figure, with an impressive history both as a litigator and as a judge. She began her legal career in Houston, managing a successful civil law practice for a decade before accepting gubernatorial appointments, first to the Harris County District Court bench in 1999 and then, in 2001, to the Texas 14th Court of Appeals, where she served for eight years, hearing both civil and criminal cases. In 2009, she accepted a third gubernatorial appointment, becoming the fir...
Patty Hair has over twenty-five years of experience in litigating cases before Texas state and federal courts, presenting cases to arbitration panels and briefing and arguing cases before Texas state and federal appellate courts. Her experience has involved all aspects of commercial litigation, including disputes involving commercial and residential construction, real property development, oil and gas interests, employment, partnerships, contracts, leases, trade secrets and indemnity provisio...
With over two decades of experience as a litigator, Chris Hanslik’s practice has spanned the full spectrum of commercial and business litigation, including contracts, business torts, securities and corporate governance, oil and gas, lender liability, trade secrets, non-compete agreements and other employment-related disputes. Recognizing that the last place most business clients want to be is in the courtroom, Chris strives to develop creative, practical, and value-driven solutions to c...
Acclaimed Texas trial lawyer Rusty Hardin is the founder and name partner of Houston’s Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP , accomplished in both complex civil matters and significant criminal cases. Mr. Hardin has more than 40 years of litigation experience, beginning his career as an assistant prosecutor in Houston’s Harris County in 1975. Since entering private practice in 1991, Mr. Hardin has tried over 70 jury trials, fairly evenly split between civil and criminal cases. His c...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.