I did my first trial two weeks after I was licensed to practice law, and I was hooked.

I have always focused my practice on representing clients in personal injury law and employment law disputes, like those that arise from

• injuries caused by negligence,

• losses caused by employers who don’t follow the law,

• insurance carriers who refuse to pay what is due,

• and people or companies that just won’t take responsibility for their actions and do the right thing.

I also enjoy helping new business owners get their businesses started.

When I was a child growing up in Chicago, and then Longview, Texas, I wanted to be a lawyer. I came to Austin to go to college and when I graduated from the University of Texas in 1978, I decided to get into the real world before going to law school. I started a construction company and operated several other successful businesses.

After my children were born, I returned to UT to attend law school. After passing the Bar, I worked for other lawyers for a couple of years and then opened my own Austin law firm in 1998. I have been in my element ever since.

As an attorney, it is important to me to provide relief to my clients. At one point during my pre-law school career, I had a serious business dispute. I did something I had never done before – I went to see a lawyer. I remember walking into his office feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders and a sense of dread. The lawyer welcomed me and let me know that I was not the only person who had ever been in that situation. He offered several solutions, but what I remember most was the feeling of relief I had after meeting with him.

I want to do the same thing for my clients that that lawyer did for me. When I’m helping a client, I like to look at the situation and imagine all of the possible scenarios and outcomes. I have the ability to see situations from angles that others may miss and I believe in finding ways to deal with and get beyond issues that some may see as problems in a client’s case.

More than once I have obtained a large recovery for a client whose case other lawyers thought had insurmountable “bad facts” for the client. I enjoy mediation and believe an attorney can achieve a client’s goals through tough negotiation.

I see the law as a way to try to create fairness. That’s what drives me in the often hostile environment of litigation and dispute resolution – the idea that at the end, I can help my clients achieve a sense of justice through the work I do.

Education:

• University of Texas, B.A. in the Plan II Honors Program with High Honors, May 1978

• University of Texas School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1994

• Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review and member of several trial competition teams representing the University of Texas School of Law

Bar Admissions:

• Admitted to Texas State Bar (1994)

• U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Districts of Texas