I have litigated commercial and tort cases for over 40 years, with an emphasis on commercial insurance matters and—for over 25 years—the representation of policyholders in coverage disputes and claims.
After law school at UT, I clerked for a Houston federal district judge. In 1977, I joined a large firm, where I handled a variety of lawsuits and appeals in state and federal courts. I quickly focused on casualty insurance coverage disputes. After I was made a partner in 1984, I gradually expanded the firm’s insurance practice, eventually leading a team of trial lawyers handling a diverse docket of insurance cases.
My insurance experience encompasses the full spectrum of casualty insurance policy disputes, including under crime, directors & officers, environmental, first-party property, primary and excess liability, and marine insurance policies.
I have resolved casualty insurance claims for clients of every size, ranging from individuals to Fortune 100 companies. My clients have included E&P and midstream energy companies, miners, manufacturers and refiners, contractors and drillers, oil field service companies, health-care providers, governmental and not-for-profit entities, private equity companies, and professional service providers, including Houston area law firms.
My practice includes casualty insurance procurement and planning, insurance policy review, claims counseling and preparation, litigation and appeals, and insurance appraisals and arbitrations. I also consult and advise on contractual casualty loss-allocation issues, including under indemnity and related risk-of-loss provisions in various business contexts.
My insurance practice has benefited greatly from the insights offered by the opportunity to handle non-insurance tort and commercial cases. I have, for example, handled a variety of matters for the Port of Houston Authority including trials and appeals of contract, environmental, inverse condemnation, land title, permitting, procurement, and tort claims suits.
In 2008, I left Vinson & Elkins LLP to form a litigation boutique emphasizing the representation of policyholders. Since 2008, I have largely represented the same clients, and types of clients, as in earlier years.
In 2010, I was honored to be the only Texas coverage lawyer to be appointed as an Adviser to the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance project. The seven-year Restatement project—led by two preeminent insurance law professors—afforded me the opportunity to review the nuances of a broad range of liability insurance coverage issues.
Effective January 1, 2018, I joined my former Vinson & Elkins colleagues and partners at Copeland & Rice. Our clients overlap or are complementary; our practice philosophies are the same.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.