Awards

Haynes and Boone partner Lynne Liberato has been awarded the 2019 Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award by the Texas Bar Foundation. Liberato will be honored during the Texas Bar Foundation's annual dinner June 14 at the JW Marriott in Austin. An appellate partner in Haynes and Boone's Houston office, Liberato has led teams in some of the most significant appeals in Texas. She has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as many federal and state appellate and trial courts. She also served as the first Chief Staff Attorney of the First Court of Appeals.

New Partners

Jackson Walker announced the addition of Jonathan M. Bull as a partner in the firm's Dallas office. He brings to the firm's environment and natural resources practice substantial experience handling environmental issues encountered in land development and construction, manufacturing, and commercial operating sectors. In addition to his environmental practice in the private sector, Bull previously served as enforcement counsel in the Hazardous Waste Enforcement Branch of the Environmental Protection Agency, prosecuting matters related to hazardous waste and the Chemical Accident Prevention Program. He started his environmental career working as a hydrogeologist with a national engineering and environmental consulting company. Prior to receiving his J.D. from SMU Dedman School of Law, Bull studied geology at Washington and Lee University and the University of Massachusetts.

Hedrick Kring in Dallas brought on Katharine Battaia Clark, who joined the firm as a partner. Her practice focuses on bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, including representation of banks, indenture trustees, creditor committees, court-appointed fiduciaries, and creditors in Chapter 11, 7, 15 and 13 bankruptcy cases. In addition to her bankruptcy and insolvency practice, Clark also handles a variety of business disputes in state and federal courts throughout the country. Prior to joining Hedrick Kring, Clark was a partner in the law firm of Thompson & Knight. She received her J.D., cum laude, in 2004 from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she served as associate managing editor for the SMU Law Review.

New Hires

Winstead, with offices in six major Texas cities, has added two new attorneys.

Bhavesh Modi has joined Winstead's corporate, securities/mergers and acquisitions practice group as a staff attorney in the firm's Austin office. Modi's practice focuses on health care IT, transactions, joint ventures and regulatory compliance. He represents public and private companies in a broad range of business transactions and other corporate matters relating to health-care and compliance. Modi received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2017. He most recently served as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division.

Jeff Cagnina has joined Winstead's real estate development and investments practice group as an associate in the Dallas office. His practice encompasses commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, development, construction, financing and leasing. He represents developers, private real estate firms, property management companies, lenders, high net worth family offices, and other investors in their capacities as purchasers, sellers, borrowers, lenders, property managers, landlords, tenants and owners in nationwide real estate transactions. Cagnina received his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2017. He most recently practiced at Liechty, McGinnis, Berryman & Bowen in Dallas.

Honors

Quentin Brogdon, a partner with Crain Lewis Brogdon in Dallas, was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers at the College's 2019 spring meeting in La Quinta, California, on March 2. Brogdon focuses on personal injury law and civil trial advocacy. In addition, three attorneys from Austin — Missy K. Atwood, Karen C. Burgess and Casey Dobson — were also inducted as Fellows at the same meeting.  Burgess and Atwood join current Fellow, Jerry Clements, as the first Austin women inducted into the exclusive litigation organization. Atwood is a principal at Germer Attorneys at Law and has over 27 years of experience in Austin. She is an alumna of Baylor University School of Law. Burgess is the principal attorney at Burgess Law and has been practicing in Austin for more than 22 years. She is an alumna of University of Texas School of Law. And Dobson is a partner at Scott Douglas & McConnico and has been practicing in Austin for more than 33 years. He is an alumnus of the University of Texas School of Law.

The ACTL is an invitation-only fellowship of trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds from the United States and Canada, dedicated to improving the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice.