DUBOIS BRYANT & CAMPBELL - Key Persons
Addison focuses his practice on representing clients in a range of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, entity formation, financing, leasing (tenant and landlord), real estate development, and general real estate matters. He has represented clients in a variety of retail, office, mixed-use, multi-family and raw land transactions.
Austin's practice focuses in corporate law with an emphasis on intellectual property ("IP") and IP-related transactions. Clients Austin has represented include high-tech goods and service providers operating in a broad array of technology fields, consumer products companies, literary estates, and brand developers.
Austin is deeply involved in all aspects of the development and commercialization of intellectual property. He helps clients identify, protect, cultivate, and leverage their IP assets in the U.S. and internationally. Austin's experience includes the registration and enforcement of trademarks and copyrights, assisting with the drafting, prosecution, and licensing of patents, identifying and protecting trade secrets, and conducting IP-related due diligence.
In addition to traditional intellectual property counseling, Austin has expertise in the rapidly evolving fields of privacy and Internet law, including handling domain name and cybersquatting disputes, along with counseling clients on all aspects of handling personal information, conducting e-commerce, and commercializing creative online content.
Bill's experience has included the areas of real estate, finance, corporate, commercial transactions, construction, and litigation. He has represented buyers and sellers in commercial real estate transactions, including contract negotiations and closings and title and due diligence review; landlords and tenants in commercial leasing matters, including negotiation and litigation; buyers and sellers in business and stock sales; developers in land acquisition, financing, development, entitlement and municipal law issues; borrowers and lenders in real estate and other asset based financings; business owners in business planning and entity formation and dissolution, including partnership and shareholder agreements; borrowers and lenders in debt restructures and workouts, foreclosures and related litigation; builders and homeowners in residential contracts and disputes; and owners and contractors in construction contracts and disputes. Bill also has experience with general business and contract matters, as well as commercial litigation experience in multiple real estate and business areas.
Throughout his career, Bill has focused his practice on civil litigation resulting in extensive trial and courtroom experience gained in over twenty years of civil trial work. At this time, Bill's practice emphasis is commercial litigation including business-to-business disputes, insurance litigation, contract litigation, fiduciary duty litigation, employment litigation and health care litigation. Bill has been involved with over 100 jury trials during the course of his career.
Bill's trial experience includes handling litigation matters in the following areas:
Business Disputes
Breach of Contract
Legal Malpractice
Insurance Bad Faith
Personal Injury/ Insurance Defense
Jones Act
Medical Malpractice
Bill's practice focuses on intellectual property-based transactions. He has extensive experience negotiating software licenses, patent licenses, technology development agreements, joint development agreements, Internet and content agreements, technology acquisition agreements, strategic alliances and distribution agreements particularly within the context of the Internet, high-tech transactions and e-commerce. He also works on the intellectual property aspects of significant corporate transactions such as mergers, acquisitions strategic alliances, and technology transfers. In addition to traditional intellectual property counseling, he has extensive expertise in the evolving fields of privacy and Internet law, including counseling clients on all aspects of handling personal information, electronic commerce and content development.
As a licensed patent attorney, Bill's practice also includes the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications and the counseling clients on patent-related issues and strategies. He routinely prosecutes patents related to software applications, wireless applications, wireless content development systems, content searching algorithms and systems, compression-decompression algorithms and applications and web based business systems. He is involved in all aspects of domestic and foreign trademark prosecution and enforcement. His practice includes matters involving infringing domain names, meta-tags and spam, as well as world-wide prosecution of Web-based trademarks. His experience includes the preparation of trademark clearance opinions, handling numerous domain name disputes under the UDRP and arguing a variety of proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
While in law school, Bill was the Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal. He interned at the Texas Supreme Court in the chambers of the Honorable Justice Priscilla Owen and at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the chambers of the Honorable Justice Emilio Garza. He is a Registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has served as an assistant professor at the University of Texas School of Law. He is a member of the Austin Intellectual Property Inn of Court and a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.
Mr. Campbell focuses his practice on general corporate, real estate and oil & gas law matters, providing legal advice to both individual and corporate clients. His corporate and business law practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, private equity and venture capital investments and fund formation, recapitalizations, private security offerings, partnerships, limited liability companies and other joint venture arrangements. He also provides general company counseling and performs general contract work, including entity formation, buy-sell agreements, equity compensation plans, employment agreements, real estate lease transactions, distributor and dealer arrangements, dispute resolution, employment and other corporate-related matters. Mr. Campbell has represented companies as well as investors and executives in a wide variety of industries including oil and gas, waste services, construction, marine services, retail, analytical instrumentation, healthcare and real estate.
Mr. Campbell's oil & gas practice focuses on representing upstream independent energy companies, oil field service companies and private equity funds in connection with a wide variety of corporate transactions, including oil, gas and mineral leases, joint operating agreements, purchase and sale agreements, financing agreements and other energy related documents. He also regularly represents land and mineral owners with respect to leasing of mineral interests, family interests management and estate planning related to mineral ownership.
Mr. Lee focuses his practice on corporation, business and tax law matters. Mr. Lee's corporate and business law practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions; private equity and venture capital investments and fund formation; recapitalizations; private security offerings; partnerships, limited liability companies, and other joint venture arrangements; and general company counseling and contract work, including entity formation, buy-sell agreements, equity compensation plans, and employment agreements. Mr. Lee has represented companies as well as investors and executives in a wide variety of industries, including technology (software, hardware, and services), medical device, health care, oil and gas, real estate and retail.
Mr. Lee's tax practice focuses on federal income tax structuring and planning for a wide variety of domestic and international transactions. Mr. Lee has substantial experience in the taxation of corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporate reorganizations, real estate, and equity compensation.
Chris brings an extensive construction background to his practice as an attorney. Before entering law school, he obtained a degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Texas and spent several years working in the construction industry on interstate highway, oilfield, water, wastewater and corrections projects in Texas, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. His practice is divided between drafting and negotiating complex design and construction contracts and litigating disputes that arise in the construction industry. In over 15 years of practice as an attorney, he has:
Developed and negotiated design, construction, construction management, design-build and project management contracts and master contracts for over 500 construction projects in 36 states, Washington D.C., Canada, Latin America and the United Kingdom, encompassing both public and private projects in the commercial, industrial, education, technology, utility and single and multi-family residential sectors.
Developed and negotiated subcontract and sub-consultant agreements for builders and design professionals working on public and private projects in Texas.
Represented owners, developers, contractors, architects, landscape architects and engineers in dozens of design and construction defect suits on residential, commercial, and public projects. These defect claims included allegations of foundation and other structural failures, water infiltration, stone veneer and curtain wall failure, retaining wall collapse, storm water diversion, catastrophic roof failure, sound suppression, and mold and "sick building" cases.
Litigated commercial and consumer disputes-in both federal and state courts-involving claims for breach of contract and warranty; fraud; Building Code, Water Code and DTPA violations; materialmen's liens; delay claims; cost overruns; and statutory and common law bond claims.
Negotiated payment bond settlements and performance bond "takeover" and "tender" agreements.
Represented nationally recognized hotel owners and restaurateurs in franchisee disputes and public interest suits over compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Compiled an impressive record successfully defending design professionals in disciplinary proceedings before the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners and Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
David Hartman has a diversified land use and real estate development practice, including experience in a broad range of land development permitting, entitlement, and natural resource issues on behalf of landowners and developers. His practice focuses on the representation of clients in the areas of zoning, planning, and entitlements law, including representation before city councils, boards, commissions, and other governmental entities. He has worked on diverse real estate projects, including a variety of multifamily, mixed use projects, single family residential and master planned projects, hotels, office buildings, vacant land, and condominiums, among others. He represents some of the most active multifamily developers in Central Texas, and has unique experience in vested development rights/grandfathering, public-private partnerships, development agreements, annexation, and Board of Adjustment variances. His practice encompasses environmental and regulatory compliance issues arising under the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and other natural resource regulatory matters. He has extensive experience in all aspects of conservation transactions, including both fee title acquisitions and conservation easement conveyances, along with conservation banking and related funding mechanisms and programs for conservation acquisitions. Years of working in and around local, county, state, and federal governmental agencies and legislative bodies (both prior to and after obtaining his law degree) allows him to offer clients unique insights to their dealings with governmental entities and related regulatory matters.
Heather is a finance and real estate attorney with over 20 years of experience negotiating, documenting and closing large and small commercial credit facilities and other lending transactions.
She has represented administrative agents, syndication agents, lenders, borrowers and private equity sponsors in a variety of deals, including:
• secured and unsecured credit facilities,
• real estate loans,
• sports venue financings,
• asset based lending,
• mergers and acquisitions,
• syndicated credit facilities,
• bilateral credit facilities,
• subscription line credit facilities,
• equipment and project finance,
• lease financings,
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law
Howard concentrates his practice in corporation and securities law, with particular emphasis on representation of private emerging growth companies and public corporations in public and private financings (equity and debt), negotiation of acquisitions and mergers (involving both public and private companies), negotiation of venture capital transactions and advising clients on intellectual property protection (including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets) and the licensing of such rights. Mr. Nirken's practice also includes: general corporate, business, and securities counseling to corporate and technology clients; preparation of stock options plans, shareholder agreements, non-competition agreements, employment agreements, software license agreements; and negotiation of various transactional agreements a company may face in its everyday ordinary course of business.
Mr. Nirken is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law who teaches a class focused on transactional drafting.
Ira focuses his practice primarily on tax law with tax controversy matters a substantial part of his practice.
Isaac is a double-licensed attorney focusing his practice on domestic litigation and international disputes. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and Mexico and has gained extensive litigation experience in both legal systems.
Prior to joining DBC, Isaac served as law clerk to the Honorable Justice Eva Guzman at the Supreme Court of Texas and to the Honorable Michael Truncale, Federal District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Texas; becoming the first foreign-trained attorney to clerk for the State's highest court and first to clerk for a federal court. He also worked as a litigation associate for one the world's largest law firms. His experience in trial and appellate levels provide him a complete picture of the dispute, and being a former insider in the judiciary allows him to sharply represent his clients' interests in a cost-effective way.
John Nixon Fox III (Nick) has been practicing corporate law in Texas for over 25 years, with a focus on private equity and M&A transactions, representing clients engaged in a broad range of industries, including private equity, energy, technology. and life sciences (including cannabis). Nick also has a strong background in the taxation of business transactions, having earned a masters in taxation at NYU in 1985 after graduating from the University of Texas Law School in 1984. Prior to moving back to Texas in 1995, Nick practiced tax and corporate law in Washington DC and Hong Kong.
Nick acts as outside general counsel for a number of privately-held companies, from start-ups to international business ventures, as well as private equity investors, including buyout funds, venture capital funds, and angel investors. Nick advises start-ups on company formation, capital structure, equity incentive plans, executive employment agreements, corporate governance, and other general corporate matters. Nick helps more mature companies and investment funds successfully complete a broad array of M&A and private equity transactions, including fund formations, debt and equity financings (from angel investments to leveraged buyouts), mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.
Nick holds a BV Distinguished Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the premier rating service for lawyers based upon peer review, which also has awarded Nick a Very High Rating in Both Legal Abilities and Ethical Standards. Nick has been recognized by The American Registry as one of America's Most Honored Lawyers - Top 5%, and also has been recognized as one of the top corporate lawyers in Texas by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business and Best Lawyers in America. Nick is recognized annually by Law.com as one of the top corporate lawyers in Austin and was named Austin's Lawyer of the Year in 2021 for Corporate Law.
Jefferson focuses his practice on a variety of corporate and transactional matters with an emphasis on acquisitions, private securities issuance, private debt and equity financings, securities law matters, entity formation, mergers, corporate restructuring, and corporate governance issues as well as partnership agreements, investor agreements, stock designations, equity incentive plans, employment agreements and other operational agreements.
Jefferson's practice also includes general real estate matters involving residential and commercial real estate transactions and related entity formation, acquisitions, financing, leasing/subleasing (tenant and landlord), construction and development of office, industrial, retail, multi-family projects. He also assists in environmental regulatory and litigation matters, including contribution claims and cost-recovery actions under CERCLA and state environmental laws.
Jennifer focuses her practice on complex mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions and corporate finance (for both issuers and investors) as well as general corporate governance matters within the entertainment, hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare and energy industries. She has broad experience representing a variety of clients from private equity groups to global oil and gas companies to healthcare providers. Her practice also includes reorganizations, recapitalizations and general outside counsel representation.
Kelly focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning and general corporate law. His estate planning practice includes wills, trusts, family limited partnerships, and charitable planning. He also represents clients in probate and estate administration matters.
As part of the general corporate law practice, Kelly provides legal advice to both individuals and business entities in areas including entity formation, contract issues, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate governance.
Prior to joining the firm, Kelly served as the primary in-house counsel for an international environmental engineering firm with annual revenues in excess of $300 million. Using his in-house counsel experience, Kelly serves in an outside general counsel capacity for a number of growing companies.
Also, prior to joining the firm, Kelly provided a variety of legal services to one of Central Texas' largest healthcare providers.
Kendra focuses her practice on representing clients in a wide range of real estate, corporate and commercial transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, entity formation, leasing (tenant and landlord), and real estate development. Her practice includes representation of financial institutions and borrowers in various types of commercial real estate loan transactions. In addition, Kendra often advises real estate investors in the structure and formation of joint ventures.
Krista is a seasoned litigator with a diverse legal background that covers nearly the entire spectrum of practice areas. She has over a decade of experience handling intellectual property matters including claims of patent, trademark, copyright and trade dress infringement. Krista also has extensive experience handling complex commercial business disputes including class actions and litigation centered on claims of trade secrets misappropriation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, unfair competition, false advertising, product disparagement, cyber piracy, racketeering, unfair debt collection practices, violations of the False Claims Act, age and gender discrimination in employment, and professional malpractice, among others. In addition to complex litigation, Krista also handles a number of transactional matters, including the negotiation and drafting of license, service, subscription, advertising, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements.
Matt's law practice primarily involves construction law, including architect/engineer liability, construction defects, delay claims, mechanic's liens, and bond claims. The majority of his practice involves dispute resolution through trial and arbitration, and he also assists clients in construction contract drafting and negotiation. He serves as the principal legal advisor to several construction, architecture and engineering firms. In addition, he regularly serves as an arbitrator and mediator of complex construction claims and other business disputes.
He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law where he teaches courses on Construction Law and Construction Litigation.
Prior to entering law school, Matt was employed as a Project Manager for Fluor Daniel, Inc., one of the world's largest engineering/construction corporations. He has worked on various types of construction projects, including high-rise office buildings, parking structures, high-tech facilities, warehouses, and manufacturing plants located in Texas, Maryland, and Virginia.
Melissa is an experienced trial lawyer, member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and a certified mediator. During her eighteen-year career, she has gained extensive trial experience as managing in-house counsel for an insurance company, head litigation attorney for a plaintiffs' firm, and partner at a mid-size firm before joining DBC. Melissa strives to educate and empower her clients to make the best decisions before, during and after the litigation process. She handles all kinds of civil litigation matters including commercial litigation, business and partnership disputes, construction defects, employment discrimination, premises liability, insurance coverage matters, contract disputes, real estate disputes, and personal injury.
Michele practices in the area of estate planning. She received her B.A. degree, with honors, from Texas A&M University and her J.D. degree, with honors, from Duke University where she was a member of the Duke Law Journal and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She is licensed to practice in Texas, New York and Florida and before the U.S. Tax Court. She is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas. She has been selected by her peers as a Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc. (2006-present), and as a Texas Super Lawyer, Thomson Reuters (2004, 2007-2010) in the area of estate planning and probate. She is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell legal directory. Her practice encompasses a wide range of estate planning subjects, such as wills drafting, trust drafting, estate and trust administration, estate tax, fiduciary income tax, business succession planning, charitable planning and advising non-profits. She has spoken to varied audiences on the subjects of limited liability companies, family limited partnerships, estate planning for the family business owner, planned giving techniques, donor advised funds, legal issues fund raisers face, planning for legacy real estate, planning for retirement assets, and executive compensation.
For over 25 years, Neal has helped business clients large and small, as well as individuals, resolve a wide range of complex problems; always with a singular focus of efficiently wrangling the client's obstacles so they can get back to what they do best - earning a living. Neal focuses his practice on two basic areas of the law - commercial litigation and general construction matters.
On the commercial litigation side, Neal zealously represents clients embroiled in a broad range of commercial disputes arising in a myriad of commercial settings, including development deals gone bad, contract breaches, fiduciary duty disputes, "business divorces" in closely held companies and partnerships, restrictive covenant battles, property owners suffering under overreaching municipalities or HOA boards… The list goes on.
In the construction and development arenas, Neal helps owners, contractors, sub-contractors, and design professionals in just about every aspect of construction and development projects, including breach of contract disputes, project delay and termination issues, M&M lien perfection issues, contract preparation and review, job site injury and death cases, and, of course, litigation and arbitration of all manner of disputes arising in construction and land development transactions.
Rick has over 30 years of experience representing and advising a variety of real estate, financial institution and business clients in connection with their real estate, finance and business operations and transactions. Rick represents:
Developers in office, residential, retail, industrial and mixed use developments
Developers and governmental entities/not-for-profit entities in negotiating master development agreements pertaining to redevelopment of properties of such governmental entities such as former airport, water treatment, rail and power plant sites
End users in campus headquarters acquisition, entitlements, development and construction
Buyers and sellers in acquisition and disposition of real estate, including institutional clients in disposition and acquisition of real estate portfolios
Developers and end users in zoning and other entitlement issues
Lenders and borrowers in loan transactions and workouts
Institutional investors and individuals in entity formation to develop, own and operate real estate
Institutional investors in equity investments
Operating companies in buying, selling and leasing property in multi-state transactions.
Landlords and tenants in office, retail and industrial leases and in enforcement matters
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law
Robert has been practicing law for over 30 years, with a concentration in finance transactions and real estate transactions. He represents individual, financial institution and corporate clients in the acquisition, disposition, development, leasing, ground leasing and financing of commercial real property, including single family, multi-family and mixed-use developments, office buildings, retail shopping centers, and raw land.
Robert's involvement in financial transactions is broad based, representing both borrowers and lenders, with a concentration on the lender side. Types of loan facilities include unsecured facilities as well as facilities secured by real estate and facilities secured by various types of personal property. He has extensive loan workout experience.
Robert's clients tell him them they appreciate his experience and ability to understand their business concerns and develop solutions which address them.
Robert is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law where he teaches courses on Real Estate Transactions and Real Estate Finance.
Prior to entering law school, Robert worked for a financial institution, where his responsibilities included management and real estate lending.
Scott Lineberry concentrates his practice on general corporate, real estate and transactional matters, representing individuals, business entities and financial institutions as clients. He has represented clients in merger and acquisition transactions, real estate transactions, lending transactions, and securities laws offerings (public and private) and compliance matters, as well as joint venture, strategic alliance and general contracting matters. He has also counseled many clients with respect to the formation and governance of partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies and joint ventures.
Seth Meisel represents clients in a wide variety of complex business bankruptcy matters and commercial disputes. His bankruptcy experience includes representing creditors and commercial debtors in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, including all aspects of representing both private and publicly traded companies as debtors-in-possession. He regularly represents purchasers of estate assets; secured creditors and landlords in lift stay litigation; and creditors in bankruptcy adversary proceedings including preference, fraudulent transfer, and discharge disputes. Outside of bankruptcy court, Seth represents both creditors and debtors in workouts, reorganizations, state court receivership proceedings, and liquidations, including asset sales under Article 9 of the UCC.
Seth also has substantial experience litigating a wide range of complex commercial disputes, employment disputes, construction matters, and a multitude of contract disputes and business torts in jury trials, bench trials, administrative proceedings, arbitration, and mediation.
Shana's practice focuses on corporate and securities law in a wide variety of industries. Her experience includes representing public and private clients in the areas of corporate governance, business transactions, securities compliance, fiduciary responsibilities and both debt and equity financings. She has guided non-profit organizations on formation, tax and regulatory issues, and has also counseled clients regarding restructurings, mergers and acquisitions.
Shana provides general outside counsel representation for clients, drafting and negotiating various contract types including service agreements, distribution agreements, custom manufacturing agreements, license agreements and SaaS agreements. She is well-versed in handling employment agreements, separation agreements, and various types of equity and phantom equity compensation arrangements. Additionally, she represents companies at formation, including negotiation of formation agreements, partnership agreements and shareholders' agreements.
Shana also has a strong passion for representing women-owned and family-owned businesses. She is also an active member of the Junior League of Austin.
Taylor focuses her practice on a variety of corporate and transactional matters, including entity formation, corporate governance issues, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. Taylor also has experience with commercial and residential real estate matters, where she has drafted and negotiated transaction documents and advised clients on related entity formation and financing issues.
Practice Areas
Corporate & Securities
Education
Baylor Universtiy, B.A. (2018)
Baylor University School of Law (2021)
Taylor's practice focuses on advising his clients on a wide range of corporate and financial transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, formation of venture capital funds and private equity funds and corporate restructuring and reorganization. He also provides counsel on a variety of general corporate and transactional matters, including corporate governance, distribution and marketing agreements, lease agreements, key agreements with customers and vendors, management, consulting and service agreements and other commercial agreements.
Travis focuses his practice on transactional law with a concentration on real estate, financing and corporate matters. Travis has represented management, executives and individuals in connection with a wide range of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, leasing/subleasing (tenant and landlord), construction and development of office, industrial, retail, multi-family, healthcare and energy projects. In addition, he has advised and counseled clients on the formation of joint ventures with debt and equity interests in commercial real estate projects.
William's practice focuses on advising his clients on a wide range of corporate and financial transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, formation of venture capital funds and private equity funds and corporate restructuring and reorganization. William also serves as de facto general counsel for many of his clients, providing counsel on a variety of corporate and transactional matters, including corporate governance, distribution and marketing agreements, lease agreements, key agreements with customers and vendors, management, consulting and service agreements and other commercial agreements.