1/26/22 - News
At Hicks Johnson, we’re ringing in the new year by ramping up our growth.
View Story1/26/22 - News
At Hicks Johnson, we’re ringing in the new year by ramping up our growth.
View Story1/19/22 - Insights
The past year saw several attempts to apply new applications of the public nuisance doctrine to the opioid crisis, thanks to litigators seeking to expand the definition to areas outside traditional applications. Senior counsel Brandon Winchester reviews key developments in Oklahoma, Ohio, and California.
View Story1/18/22 - Insights
Senior counsel Matt Davis supervises Hicks Johnson’s e-discovery efforts in addition to his litigation work for the healthcare and energy industries. Here, he talks about the genesis of his role, the future of the firm’s e-discovery practice, and why clients are increasingly choosing small litigation firms over Big Law.
View Story1/11/22 - News
In June 2021, Hicks Johnson filed suit on behalf of 57 Texas High Plains vineyards seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Bayer-Monsanto and BASF. While Bayer-Monsanto and BASF removed the lawsuit to a federal multidistrict litigation pending in Missouri, a U.S. district judge announced that the case would be sent back to the Texas state court where it was originally filed.
View Story1/11/22 - Insights
Partner Persis Dean joined Hicks Johnson in 2015 after six years as in-house counsel for Exxon Mobil Corporation and three at Vinson & Elkins. Recently elected to the partnership, she is poised to help lead the firm through its most rapid growth period yet. Here, Dean discusses what it’s like to be a working parent in corporate law, her approach to mentoring, and the benefits of boutique firm life.
View Story1/10/22 - News
A Hicks Johnson team led by partner Varant Yegparian was engaged to represent SynergenX, a nationwide provider of hormone-related therapies, in a dispute over proprietary medical technology appropriated by a competing startup.
View Story1/6/22 - News
Hicks Johnson is pleased to announce the continued growth of its leadership team with the promotion of Persis Dean to partner. Matthew W. Davis and Brandon Winchester have been named senior counsel.
View Story12/20/21 - News
Hicks Johnson is pleased to announce our support of the Houston Bar Association’s 2021 Gender Fairness Commitment Statement, which reflects our firm’s commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.
View Story11/30/21 - News
Congratulations to partner Adam Dinnell, who has been elected to membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation, an invitation only extended to less than 1% of lawyers in the state each year. Nomination is based on outstanding contributions to the legal profession as well as a demonstrated commitment to the community.
View Story10/14/21 - News
In Q2 and Q3 of 2021, we’ve been busy expanding our recruiting efforts and launching new firm initiatives. Our fall newsletter contains recent thought leadership content, hiring news, and updates on the slate of high-profile matters we’ve been handling over the past several months, including a $560 million suit on behalf of 57 Texas High Plains wine grape growers that made national headlines.
View Story10/8/21 - News
Meet the newest member of our legal team: James Keefe.
View Story10/5/21 - News
Chase Hinman joined the firm in May as a project assistant. He recently graduated from Rice University with a double major in Philosophy and Kinesiology. Throughout college, he worked as an EMT and as special events coordinator for Rice’s Emergency Medical Services.
View Story9/28/21 - News
After a wheelchair user was injured while boarding a major airline’s aircraft in Houston, Texas, she was awarded almost $4 million in damages by a jury sitting in the Southern District of Texas. Penelope Nicholson and the Hicks Johnson team were retained by her trial counsel to lead the effort on appeal. Through our briefing and oral argument, we succeeded in persuading the Fifth Circuit to affirm the district court’s judgment in its entirety.
View Story9/23/21 - News
Hana Ferrero joined the firm in June as a project assistant. She recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in Economics and Political Science. Her legal experience includes a judicial internship with a Florida circuit court judge as well as an internship with Michigan Justice Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for legislative change on behalf of incarcerated citizens.
View Story9/9/21 - Insights
As law firm hiring season shifts into high gear, top students are faced with a plethora of choices. In addition to the traditional on-campus interviews (or their Zoom equivalents) by Big Law recruiting departments, a growing number of boutique litigation firms are offering competitive packages—including top-tier salaries and benefits—to prospective summers and first-years. Hiring partner Adam Dinnell of Houston-based Hicks Johnson talks candidly about the pros and cons of boutique firm life.
View Story8/26/21 - News
Hicks Johnson is proud to welcome our largest-ever class of summer associates to the firm. Rachel Brown is a rising 3L at The University of Chicago Law School, where her contributions include serving as president of the Federalist Society.
View Story8/18/21 - News
Hicks Johnson is proud to welcome our largest-ever class of summer associates to the firm. Ryan Penner is a 2L at the University of Texas School of Law. Previously, he worked as a summer associate at Vinson & Elkins. Ryan entered the legal field after seven years as a high school teacher in Houston, where he taught geometry, statistics, and debate. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.
View Story8/16/21 - Insights
Public nuisance claims have long been understood to rest on “an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.” Typically, litigation sought recovery for damages in connection with (among other examples) interference in land use and public spaces, polluting public waterways, or making too much noise.
View Story8/4/21 - Insights
On May 21, the U.S House Committee on Financial Services released draft legislation excluding all SPACs from the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). Hicks Johnson partner Varant Yegparian and Jon Janes, a vice president at insurance brokerage firm Woodruff Sawyer, teamed up to assess the increased potential liability that could befall SPACs, their targets, and their respective directors and officers should the legislation be passed.
View Story7/27/21 - News
Cassidy Viser is a rising 3L at Georgetown University Law Center, where she is an executive editor of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Her legal experience includes two clerkships: one with the Federal Tort Claims Act Section of the Department of Justice, Civil Division, and one for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. She holds an M.Arch II from Harvard University and a B.Arch from Cornell University.
View Story7/21/21 - News
Hicks Johnson is proud to announce that partner Adam Dinnell was named to Benchmark Litigation’s 2021 40 & Under Hot List, which recognizes the best and brightest law firm partners under 40 in the United States and Canada. According to Benchmark, the lawyers named to this annual list are “ambitious and accomplished … able to adapt to rapidly changing times … [and] ready to take the reins from previous generations.”
View Story7/14/21 - News
Adam Greiner is a 2L at The University of Texas School of Law, where he volunteers with the Expunction Project as part of the school’s Mithoff Pro Bono Program. He earned a B.A. in History from the College of William & Mary.
View Story6/17/21 - News
We are pleased to welcome our inaugural class of summer law interns, Katherine Dyer and Ben Blefeld, to the firm. Katherine and Ben are both 1Ls at the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC). Hicks Johnson established the Summer Law Intern Program as part of our ongoing commitment to cultivating lawyers from the local community. The program, which recruits exclusively from Houston-area law schools, gives 1L students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at a successful trial firm and position themselves as outstanding candidates for top summer associate programs the following year.
View Story6/10/21 - Insights
While the recent suit brought by 57 Texas High Plains wine grape growers against Bayer-Monsanto and BASF is receiving extensive press coverage, it is not clear whether the Texas wine industry can survive the onslaught. Some vineyards have experienced a 90 percent reduction in their grape harvest, which brings in more than $2,500 a ton.
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