For any firm, losing one-third of its lawyers within two days could be devastating. But at Houston litigation boutique Steele Sturm, the loss of two of the firm’s six lawyers was a reason for celebration. On Nov. 4, firm associate R.K. “Ravi” Sandill won election as a Democrat to the 127th District Court in Houston and the next day, Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed senior counsel Daniel E. Hinde, a Republican, to Houston’s 269th District Court bench. Hinde took the bench on Nov. 14 and Sandill will be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2009.
“It’s been crazy,” says the firm’s co-founding partner Howard L. Steele. “I pinch myself every day. Our firm has been really blessed. To have two such very qualified lawyers get to the bench at the same time, I’m honored to be associated with them. All my friends were asking, ‘What’s in the water over there?’”
