‘’ PRICELESS’ DONATION: Shown, back row, from left: Maria Thomas-Jones (CEO of LANWT), Jeffrey S. Lowenstein (partner, Bell Nunnally), James A. Skochdopole (managing partner, Bell Nunnally), Jean Pierre Boyea (partner, Bell Nunnally), Benjamin L. Riemer, (partner, Bell Nunnally), Charles Grimm (managing attorney for LANWT), and Cornelia Boyea (supervising attorney for LANWT); Front, from left: Tammy S. Wood (partner, Bell Nunnally), Lynn Cromartie (supervising attorney for LANWT), Ericka Prince (supervising attorney for LANWT), Mary Hall (administrative assistant for LANWT), and Tina Wheeler (records and facilities manager, Bell Nunnally), at the firm’s Dallas offices on Aug. 2, 2019.

Firm Donates Office Furniture to Legal Aid 

Dallas-based Bell Nunnally & Martin, following its move last summer to the city’s Arts District, donated furniture from its previous office space to Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal help to low-income residents in 114 counties throughout North and West Texas. The group honored Bell Nunnally with a “Priceless” check during a recent visit to the firm.

Name Partner Joins Firm, Firm Changes Name

Chasnoff, Mungia, Pepping & Stribling in San Antonio announced that Lauren A. Valkenaar has joined the firm as a named partner. The firm will rename itself as Chasnoff, Mungia, Valkenaar, Pepping & Stribling. Valkenaar’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation concerning contractual provisions, breach of fiduciary duties and fraud for clients across many industries, including technology, cybersecurity, real estate, construction, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, financial institutions and transportation. After graduating as valedictorian from St. Mary’s School of Law, Valkenaar gained a wealth of litigation experience at Norton Rose Fulbright. She previously served as president of the Defense Counsel of San Antonio and is an active member of the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the San Antonio Bar Association. 

New Partner

Dallas-based law firm McCathern PLLC announced the addition of attorney Laura Roach to its family law section as a partner. She will be based out of the firm’s office at The Star in Frisco. Roach has focused her career on family law since 2001. Prior to joining McCathern, she led the family law section at Albin Roach, where she honed her family law practice in Collin County for many years. She began her career as an assistant district attorney in the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. She earned her Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law (1996) and her B.S. in political science from the University of Arizona (1993).

New Shareholder

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr announced that Christopher D. Johnson has joined the firm as a shareholder in its bankruptcy, restructuring and insolvency practice. With a specialization in complex commercial bankruptcy matters, Johnson is now resident in the firm’s Houston office. Johnson has represented corporate debtors, official and ad hoc committees, creditors, contract counter-parties, asset purchasers and other parties in complex bankruptcy cases throughout the country. Prior to joining Munsch Hardt, Johnson was a senior bankruptcy attorney at McKool Smith. He previously served as president of the Houston Bar Association, Bankruptcy Section. Johnson earned his Juris Doctorate degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston, and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Partner and Senior Counsel

Norton Rose Fulbright announced that it has expanded its renewable energy capabilities in Texas with the addition of partner Becky Diffen and senior counsel Sam Porter to the firm’s Austin office. Diffen and Porter arrive from McGuireWoods, where Diffen served as chair of the firm’s renewable energy practice. Diffen is currently practicing with Norton Rose Fulbright, while Porter will join the firm later this month. Licensed to practice in Texas, Diffen received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law—where she now serves as an adjunct professor—and her B.A .from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Porter is admitted to practice in New York and Texas and received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from the University of Utah. He is active in the Austin renewable energy community and serves on the board of a local solar nonprofit.

New Shareholder and Associate

Natalie A. Fortenberry has joined the Dallas office of Polsinelli as a shareholder in its national corporate and transactional practice. Fortenberry brings knowledge of complex transactional matters and has represented both public and private companies, as well as private equity firms. Fortenberry earned her J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and previously completed her B.B.A at Harding University. In addition to Fortenberry, Randa C. Barton has joined Polsinelli’s Dallas office as an associate in the firm’s real estate finance practice. She earned her J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law and previously completed her B.A. at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. 

Senior Counsel

Peter Tropoli has joined the Houston office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka as senior counsel in the firm’s business group in Houston. Tropoli has experience advising executives, in-house counsel, boards and investors in the development and successful execution of their corporate strategies. Prior to joining Chamberlain Hrdlicka, Tropoli spent 18 years at Luby’s Inc., most recently serving as Luby’s general counsel and corporate secretary. Tropoli graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, and earned a law degree from the University of Houston.

IP Co-Chair Appointment at Baker Botts

Robert Scheinfeld, a former partner-in-charge of Baker Botts’ New York office and head of the firm’s New York IP section for more than 15 years, has been named co-chair of the firm’s intellectual property department. He joins Dallas IP partner Bart Showalter as department co-chair, and will assume the role of sole chair Jan. 1, 2020. Scheinfeld was a member of the firm’s executive committee from 2008 to 2014, the firm’s New York IP department chair from 2003 to 2018, and the New York partner-in-charge from 2014 to 2019. He is a first-chair patent trial attorney with 35 years of experience. 

Houston Attorney Elected ABA Section Chair 

George W. Jordan III, senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston, has been elected chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL) for the 2019-2020 association year. He is the first-ever African American to chair this section in its 125-year history. In this role, Jordan will lead the 17,000-member section, which focuses on advancing the development and improvement of intellectual property laws and their fair and just administration. At Norton Rose Fulbright, Jordan specializes in patent litigation and investigations, with an emphasis on wireless, mobile and e-commerce technologies, as well as licensing and due diligence in all areas of intellectual property law.

Award

The Texas Center for Legal Ethics announced that Charles “Skip” Watson of Austin will receive the 2019 Chief Justice Jack Pope Professionalism Award. The award, founded in 1989 by Chief Justice Jack Pope and two other retired Texas Supreme Court chief justices, will be presented to Watson by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht at the annual Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Dinner on Sept. 6 in Austin. Watson is an appellate attorney with Greenberg Traurig in Austin. A fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, he chaired the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section committee that drafted the Texas Standards of Appellate Conduct. Watson also serves on the Texas Supreme Court’s Rules Advisory Committee.