HALL OF FAMER: Shown, at right: J. Allen Smith with Sean Riley (at left), Chairman of the Board of Out of Home Advertising Association of America. Smith recently received the OOAAA’’s Hall of Fame Award.

Awards

J. Allen Smith of SettlePou in Dallas was recently presented with the Out of Home Advertising Association of America’s (“OAAA”) 2019 Hall of Fame Award. Founded in 1891, OAAA is the national trade association for the out of home advertising industry. OAAA established the Hall of Fame in 1991 to recognize individuals for their exceptional contributions to the industry. Allen is board-certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and also chairs SettlePou’s Commercial Litigation Division. He served as the firm’s president for 15 years.

New Partners

The Dallas office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig continues its strategic expansion with the addition of Daniel P. Elms as a shareholder in the firm’s Global Litigation Practice. Elms assists clients with business litigation and arbitration matters, including risk assessment, pre-trial litigation strategy and discovery, as well as trial and post-trial proceedings. He joins Greenberg Traurig from Bell Nunnally & Martin. Elms has substantial first-chair trial experience including jury, nonjury and injunction matters, as well as in AAA, ICC and FINRA arbitration proceedings. His focus extends to breach-of-contract claims and business torts, earn-out and deferred compensation claims, franchisee and distributor/dealer disputes, financial services and hedge fund litigation, and securities litigation, including broker-dealer and registered representative disputes. He is the Litigation News team editor for the American Bar Association and a former co-editor for the ABA’s Business Torts and Unfair Competition Journal. Elms received his J.D. from Rutgers Law School and a B.S. in political science from Texas Tech University.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton is pleased to announce that Jarrett Reed has joined the firm’s Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental practice group as a partner in the firm’s Dallas office. Reed joins from Norton Rose Fulbright. Reed represents investors, developers, managers and brokers in a wide range of complex real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, restructurings, leasing, development and partnership and joint ventures. His clients include institutional investors and developers throughout various real estate product types, including health care, senior housing, multifamily, hospitality, retail, industrial and office. Reed earned his J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and his B.S. from Texas A&M University.

The law firm of Thompson & Knight announced that George Humphrey has joined the firm’s Houston office as a partner in the finance practice group. Humphrey’s practice focuses on U.S. and international project finance and development and mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the energy industry. He has overseen the development, financing and closing of billions of dollars in energy projects. Humphrey received his J.D. from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, and his B.A., with honors, also from the University of Florida. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Humphrey was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

New Position

Robert “RJ” Shannon, a bankruptcy counsel, has joined Barron & Newburger as an attorney in its Austin office. Shannon will join the firm’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization practice group, where he will focus on business reorganization and bankruptcy litigation. For the last three years, he has represented debtors, committees, trustees and creditors in bankruptcy litigation, and out-of-court workouts, and distressed acquisitions. Prior to beginning his practice, Shannon served as a law clerk for Bankruptcy Judge Tony Davis in the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas. Prior to that service, Shannon was the law clerk for Judge Glenn Harrell, the senior judge for the Court of Appeals of Maryland. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Towson University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School. He is licensed to practice law in Maryland and Texas, and in the U.S. District Courts for all districts in Texas and Colorado and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

New Associates

Victor Viser has joined the San Antonio office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka as an associate in the firm’s tax practice, where he will focus on federal, state and international tax planning and controversy matters. He also specializes in the corporate, securities and finance law. Viser earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, has a J.D. from the University of Virginia’s School of Law and a LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Tax Section; the State Bar of Texas, Tax Section; and the Mexican American Bar Association of San Antonio.