On the Move
Congratulations to Jennifer Banda, who has been hired as the new executive director of the Center for Women in Law at UT Law. Jennifer has more than 25 years’ experience in state and federal government relations and was most recently senior vice president for advocacy and public policy at the Texas Hospital Association. She is a graduate of UT Law.
Congratulations to Cathy Garza, who has joined Jackson Walker’s Austin office as a partner in its Electric Regulatory practice. Cathy’s experience includes extensive experience advising clients in the electricity sector, including investor-owned utilities, power-generation companies, retail electric providers, and developers, as well as on regulatory and commercial litigation and compliance issues. She is a graduate of UT Law.
Kudos
Congratulations to the following attorneys, who were among those named by Texas Lawyer as “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective practice fields in and around Austin:
Eric A. Groten
Litigation Environmental
Eric is a senior partner in Vinson & Elkins’ environmental and natural resources practice group. His practice specifically focuses on state and federal air quality laws, and Eric is an accomplished Clean Air Act practitioner. He is a graduate of UT Law.
Stacey A. Martinez
Litigation – Health Care
Stacey is Norton Rose Fulbright’s chief operating officer for the United States, based out of the Austin office. She previously served as the firm’s global co-head of life sciences and healthcare and, before that, as the Austin office’s partner-in-charge. Her practice focuses on product liability and class actions, including pharmaceutical and medical-device matters and cases involving exposure to toxic substances. She is a graduate of St Mary’s Law School.
Paul Parsons
Immigration & Nationality Law
Paul previously served as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and as chair of the Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico chapter of AILA. He’s also a recipient of AILA’s Pro Bono Award for his efforts to provide immigration representation to those unable to afford counsel. Paul is a graduate of UT Law.
Steven J. Pollinger
Litigation – Intellectual Property
Steven is the principal at McKool Smith’s Austin office and has more than 30 years litigating patent and intellectual property cases. Steven practices at trial and on appeal nationwide and has courtroom victories involving diverse software, electronics, and medical-device technologies. He is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law.
Catherine Robb
Litigation – First Amendment
Catherine is counsel in the business litigation practice group in Haynes and Boone’s Austin office, where she primarily represents clients in the broadcast industry. Her diverse client roster includes online and traditional news organizations, magazines, radio and broadcasters, cable television stations, production companies, and music entities. She is a graduate of UT Law.
Matthew C. Ryan
Litigation – Construction
Matthew is a partner at Allensworth, where his practice specifically focuses on architects, engineers, and landscape architects. His representative experience includes handling professional licensing issues, defending against claims of defective design or construction, and clients’ affirmative claims for relief. He is a graduate of UT Law.
Jason S. Scott
Litigation – Trust and Estates
Jason is a partner at Osborne, Helman, Scott, Knisely & Stanton. His practice focuses on fiduciary litigation, including trust, estate, partnership, and guardianship disputes, representing parties on both sides of the docket. He is a graduate of UT Law and also earned his LLM from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Law.
Peter A. Stokes
Litigation – Securities
Peter is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, where his practice focuses on representing clients in securities lawsuits, SEC enforcement matters, internal investigations, corporate governance matters, and complex commercial litigation and appellate matters. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.