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| STATE OF THE UNION: David McAtee (front) is president-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, a group that includes (far left) Stephanie Curtis, Trey Cox, and Ashley Kisner. |
THE BEST LAWYERS UNDER 40 IN DALLAS
Please note that the lawyers name listed in RED link to a profile listed in D Magazine.
Miriam Ackels
Family Law, Webb & Ackels
Jeff Anderson
Family Law, The Andersons
Attorneys and Counselors at Law
Matt Anderson
Patent Law, Davis Munck
Jonathan Bates
Family Law, Burleson, Pate & Gibson
Keith Becker
Family Law, Keith D. Becker
Van Beckwith
Business Litigation, Baker Botts
Keefe Bernstein
Litigation, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Derek Braziel
Labor & Employment, Edwards & George
Murray Bristol
Civil & Criminal Law, Bristol & Dubiel
Lee Brown
Liability, Brown, Sawicki & Mitchell
Kay Lynn Brumbaugh
Antitrust & Business Litigation
Andrews Kurth
Craig Budner
Commercial Litigation, Hughes & Luce
Paul Caver
Corporate/Securities, J. Paul Caver
Ron Chapman Jr.
Labor & Employment
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
Chris Clark
Commercial Real Estate
David, Goodman & Madole
John Clement
Corporate, Classic Industries
Keith Clouse
Labor & Employment, Clouse Dunn Hirsch
David Coale
Litigation
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal
Carlos Cortez
Civil Law, Law Firm of Carlos R. Cortez
John “Trey” Cox
Commercial & Business Litigation
Lynn Tillotson & Pinker
Christina Crain
Family Law, Christina Melton Crain
Rob Crain
Personal Injury, Crain & Montes
Julie Crawford
Family Law
Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson
Stephanie Curtis
Bankruptcy & Commercial Law
The Curtis Law Firm
R. Scott Downing
Family Law, McCurley, Orsinger,
McCurley, Nelson & Downing
Keith Dugger
Healthcare Law, Stewart & Stimmel
Carson Epes
Family Law, McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson & Downing
Joel Fineberg
Plaintiff’s Lawyer
Law Offices of Joel M. Fineberg
Holt Foster
Corporate & Securities
Thompson & Knight
Diana Friedman
Family Law, Diana S. Friedman
Eric Gambrell
Commercial Litigation
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Charles W. Gameros
Civil Litigation
Hoge Carter Holmes & Gameros
Michael Gardner
Business Litigation, Bickel & Brewer
Bob Garrey
Business Litigation, Jackson Walker
Laura Geisler
Personal Injury, Parham, Jones & Shiver
David Genender
Trial, Baker Botts
Paul Genender
Commercial Litigation, Hughes & Luce
Basheer Ghorayeb
Civil Litigation
The Rodriguez Law Firm
Robert Gilbreath
Civil Appellate Law, Jenkens & Gilchrist
Jeff Goldfarb
Commercial Litigation
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Brian Hail
Commercial & Employment Litigation, Godwin Gruber
David Harper
Intellectual Property & Business Litigation, Haynes and Boone
Geoff Harper
Complex Commercial Litigation
Fish & Richardson
Michael Held
Bankruptcy, Jenkens & Gilchrist
John Helms
Commercial Litigation & White-collar Criminal Defense, Fish & Richardson
Carrie Hoffman
Labor & Employment
Gardere Wynne Sewell
Michael Hoffman
Corporate, Vartec Telecom
Thomas Hoffman
Employee Benefits, Hughes & Luce
Michael Hurst
Commercial & Employment Litigation, Godwin Gruber
Monte Hurst
Labor & Employment
Hermes Sargent Bates
Wei Wei Jeang
Intellectual Property, Haynes and Boone
Steve Jensen
Toxic Tort Litigation, Baron & Budd
David Johnson
Litigation, Winstead Sechrest & Minick
Michael Kaeske
Plaintiff’s Litigation, Kaeske Law Firm
Marc Katz
Labor & Employment
Jenkens & Gilchrist
William Katz Jr.
Litigation, Thompson & Knight
Chris Kirkpatrick
Corporate/Securities, White-collar Criminal Defense, Haynes and Boone
Ashley Kisner
Litigation & Environmental Law Strasburger & Price
Richard Krumholz
Litigation, Fulbright & Jaworski
Paul Lackey
Commercial Litigation
Lackey Hershman
Gregory Laird
International Arbitration
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Brad LaMorgese
Family Law, Cooper & Scully
Monica Latin
Litigation, Carrington, Coleman,
Sloman & Blumenthal
Kirk Lechtenberger
Criminal Defense, The Curtis Law Firm
Greg Lensing
Civil Appeals & Litigation
Cowles & Thompson
Chris Lewis
Personal Injury Defense & Criminal Law, Godwin Gruber
Lance Lewis
Insurance Coverage & Business Litigation
Strasburger & Price
Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge
Corporate, Thompson & Knight
Brant Martin
Personal Injury & Business Litigation Puls, Taylor & Woodson
David McAtee II
Antitrust & White-collar Criminal Defense, Haynes and Boone
Scott McElhaney
Employment, Jackson Walker
Kurt Meaders
Product Liability & Business Defense Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold
Walt Miller
Real Estate, Haynes and Boone
John Molinar
Workers’ Compensation
Molinar & Associates
Daniel Morris
Workers’ Compensation
Daniel L. Morris
William Mureiko
Estate Planning & Probate Law
Thompson & Knight
Todd A. Murray
Securities/Corporate Governance Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal
Brad Nace
Family Law, Brad Nace Esq.
Michael Newman
Corporate Securities & Business Transactions, Gardere Wynne Sewell
Toni Nguyen
Litigation & Technology, Travelocity.com
Polly O’Toole
Family Law, Atkins & O’Toole
Kathy Owen
Tort & Civil Litigation, Brown McCarroll
Andrew Payne
Personal Injury, Howie & Sweeney
Eric Pinker
Civil Litigation, Lynn Tillotson & Pinker
Cole Ramey
Civil Litigation, Crouch & Ramey
Todd Ramsey
Personal Injury & Business Litigation Bailey, Crowe & Kugler
Jeff Rasansky
Personal Injury
The Law Offices of Jeffrey H. Rasansky
Eric Reis
Tax & Probate Law, Thompson & Knight
Brian Robison
Business Litigation, Vinson & Elkins
J.R. Rodriguez
Civil Litigation
The Rodriguez Law Firm
Ladd Sanger
Aviation Law, Slack & Davis
Matthew Schindel
Business Litigation, Hughes & Luce
Michael Schmidt
Product Liability & Personal Injury Litigation, The Schmidt Firm
Ellen Sessions
Commercial Litigation
Jenkens & Gilchrist
Bart Showalter
Intellectual Property, Baker Botts
Jeffrey Simon
Toxic Tort Litigation, Waters & Kraus
Renèe Skinner
Intellectual Property Litigation
Law Offices of Renèe Skinner
Eric Stahl
Commercial & Personal Injury Litigation, Vinson & Elkins
Bruce Steckler
Personal Injury, Silber Pearlman
Scott Summy
Environmental Litigation
Baron & Budd
Michael Taten
Corporate, Jackson Walker
Josh Ungerman
Tax, Meadows, Owens,
Collier, Reed, Cousins & Blau
Thomas Walsh IV
Commercial & Patent Litigation
Fish & Richardson
Chris White
Real Estate & Banking
Thompson & Knight
Bryan Wick
Commercial Litigation, Wick Phillips
Kevin Wiggins
Labor, Employment & Benefits
Ohashi and Horn
Douglas Wilder
DWI, Douglas L. Wilder
Robert Witte
Litigation, Winstead Sechrest & Minick
Emeline Yang
Banking & Credit Transactions Winstead Sechrest & Minick
Thomas Yang
Securities/Mergers & Acquisitions Haynes and Boone
Matt Yarbrough
Intellectual Property
Fish & Richardson
Lawrence Youst
Intellectual Property & White-collar Criminal Defense, Danamraj & Youst
Thomas Yoxall
Commercial Litigation
Locke Liddell & Sapp
To
compile our list of the top young lawyers in Dallas, we surveyed 4,000
of their peers, even those over 40. Voters were asked the following
question: which Dallas lawyers, of those whose work you’ve witnessed
firsthand, would you rank among the current best? Nominated lawyers had
to be younger than 40 as of April 30, 2004. Participants could nominate
only one lawyer from their own firms and two from outside firms.
Same-firm votes counted for less than outside-firm votes. All ballots
had to be signed, and voters had to provide their Texas State Bar
numbers. Self-nominations were not counted, and a distinguished panel
of local attorneys reviewed the final list.
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Legal Brief
Pity young lawyers. No, seriously. More than ever, young lawyers
have it tough. Increasingly, they are looking for work with fewer and
fewer jobs available. And once a lawyer is lucky enough to find
employment, he or she is pressured to perform on a higher level than
before with less pay. Plus, they have to put up with all of those
lawyer jokes.
D Magazine recently sat down with David
McAtee to talk about the challenges today’s young lawyers face. McAtee,
35, a business litigation attorney for Haynes and Boone, is
president-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association (he starts his
presidency in June). Organized in 1930, the TYLA comprises more than
20,000 lawyers who are 36 years old or younger or who are in their
first three years of licensure.
D Magazine: What is the benefit of separating the young lawyers from the rest of the crop?
David McAtee:
Number one, young lawyers are different demographically than old
lawyers. And by “old lawyers,” I mean lawyers older than 37. The group
is more diverse. There are more lawyers in private practice who are
young lawyers than those who are in the senior bar.
Number two,
the challenges that young lawyers face are vastly different than the
challenges that more seasoned lawyers face. As young lawyers, I like to
say that we are in our teenage years of being a lawyer. A lot of
changes happen from the time you graduate law school in your mid-20s to
the time you become old enough to no longer be a young lawyer. And so
we try and focus on those needs.
D: When you say “those
needs,” what specifically are you talking about, besides a support
group and a happy hour and that sort of thing?
McAtee:
First and foremost, it’s just technical competence, learning how to be
a lawyer. If you ask any young lawyer these days, you’d find a general
concern that young lawyers are not being mentored like the prior
generation was. It’s a function of the fact that there were fewer
lawyers. So there was more time, and the economic pressures weren’t as
great. And some of this is looking back with rose-colored glasses, but
there’s a truth to it. Someone has to step in and fill in the gap to
try to offer support, just technical mastery.
D: Are there areas of law that young lawyers are more prevalent in than—oh, let’s continue to call them “old lawyers”?
McAtee:
If you’re asking what young lawyers are most interested in today, what
are the hot areas, the honest answer is today’s young lawyers don’t
have the same luxury to choose a speciality as they once had. In the
late ’90s, during the dot-com boom, young lawyers had a variety of
choices, and you saw people really clumped together, saying, “I want to
do intellectual property litigation.” Or, “I want to do Internet
mergers and acquisitions.” Honestly, today, lawyers are more concerned
about having a job with some security and some sense of their growing
in that job for the long term.
D: Do you feel a pressure
to accomplish X amount before you’re 37? To be a young hotshot lawyer,
you have to be young. Is there sort of a Logan’s Run kind of attitude?
McAtee:
I’m not sure I’d phrase it that way. I think all young lawyers
recognize that the competition to be a good lawyer later on—and I
define good as being someone who people will actually hire—is much more
intense than it used to be. There is a pressure, I believe, that most
young lawyers feel to begin to distinguish themselves as early as
possible in the hopes that when they are 40 years old, 45, and 50, they
are what we call a “go-to lawyer.” I’ve heard nice, warm tales of the
old days when you didn’t have to do that. You kind of grew up in a firm
or you grew up in a solo practice or the government, and you didn’t
really have to unveil your talents until you were 45 or 50, and that’s
when you would become a productive lawyer. To the extent that was ever
true before, it sure is not true now. So I think there is a bit of a
race that [all lawyers feel] they are running to distinguish themselves
as early as they can.
D: What age do you stop feeling
pressure? You have to pick the right undergrad in order to get into the
right law school in order to clerk for the right firm or judge, and
then you’re on the partnership track. At what age is it that you can
relax, be yourself, and just be a lawyer?
McAtee: You’re
describing my life story. The honest answer is there is no such age. If
someone is going along the way saying, “I’m going to endure the stress
now because I want to make it to the next hurdle where the stress is
less,” [he or she is] looking at the game the wrong way. In law, you
will never reach a stage, in my opinion, where that stress is
alleviated. That stress only increases if you are attuned to it. What
you have to do, in my mind, is re-orient the way you think. These
milestones will come and go whether you want them to or not. If you
focus on your work, you focus on your clients, and you focus really on
being the type of lawyer you wanted to be when you went to law school,
they will all fall into place. But, if you start focusing on the
milestones themselves and you forget why you were interested in law in
the first place—how law can help people, why you thought that was neat
when you first figured that out—then you won’t enjoy the process of
getting from one to the other.
D: Finally, if I were a client and paying you for this, how much would it have cost?
McAtee: How long have you been here?
D: About half an hour.
McAtee: Half an hour would have cost—what’s $350 divided by two?
Photo: Lisa Means
