MOUNCE, GREEN, MYERS, SAFI & GALATZAN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Vice President
Mr. Koehler's practice includes all aspects of employment law and commercial litigation. His daily practice involves employment litigation, including ADEA, Title VII, ADA, workers' compensation retaliatory discharge, employment contracts and wage suits and commercial litigation. His trial experience in this area includes lead counsel in litigation of discrimination, retaliation, breach of employment contract and FLSA cases. He has also served as lead counsel in trials in deceptive trade practices, breach of contract, environmental and personal injury cases. Mr. Koehler routinely handles charges filed with EEOC and Wage & Hour Division and the Department of Labor. He has also handled a variety of OSHA matters, including contests of OSHA citations. He is very experienced in a variety of labor law matters, including collective bargaining agreement negotiations and union campaign defense.
Job Titles:
- Attorney at Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan Law Firm
Mr. Pine's principal areas of practice are Commercial Litigation, Business/Real Estate Law, Bankruptcy Law, and School Law. By choice, Mr. Pine maintains a broader legal practice than many attorneys. Such a broad understanding of various legal areas has proven to be a significant benefit to his practice (e.g.- since he is retained to handle lawsuits where contracts have gone bad, he is more attuned to avoid such problems for his clients when he is drafting contracts). Mr. Pine is licensed to practice in both Texas and New Mexico, and conducts an active practice in west Texas and southern New Mexico. His clients include local companies and individuals, as well as many regional, national, and international companies. In his career, Mr. Pine has handled individual matters with amounts at issue ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars down to mere hundreds of dollars (i.e.- where principle is at stake for a participant), with a similar level of service to each. Mr. Pine has also made presentations and has authored articles and papers over his decades of practice for a variety of legal and industry seminars and publications, including national ones. Mr. Pine is a Shareholder, and continues to serve as President, of the Firm.
Mr. Vereen has over two decades of experience as first chair, lead trial counsel in both state and federal court throughout West Texas and the Trans-Pecos region. Since he first joined the firm in 1992, he has represented the firm's clients in a wide variety of civil litigation ranging from the smallest car accident case to multi-million dollar catastrophic injury and death claims and just about everything in between. He maintains a large and diverse regional litigation practice, with significant experience in the defense of personal injury claims, and a particular emphasis on the representation of the transportation/trucking industry in all matters relevant to their operations, including regulatory issues, and also the representation of motor carriers from the Republic of Mexico in their cross-border operations. In addition to his transportation practice, he has substantial expertise in employer liability/non-subscriber litigation, premises liability and third party criminal conduct cases, oil and gas related litigation, real estate and title litigation and all facets of landlord/tenant relations, both commercial and residential. He is a frequently requested speaker on topics related to his practice areas and actively holds leadership positions in a number of professional and civic organizations. Mr. Vereen has practiced exclusively at the firm since he graduated law school. He is married to his wife Meg since 1989, and together they have three grown children.
Felicia de León is a native El Pasoan. Her primary practice areas include personal injury and insurance defense litigation, premises and products liability claims, criminal defense, appellate law, and immigration law. Ms. de León is licensed in Texas and New Mexico. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas Tech University School of Law and has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin.
Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese
Hala Abdel-Jaber is a first generation El Pasoan. Her primary practice areas include personal injury and insurance defense litigation, premises liability claims, commercial litigation, labor and employment, business law, and real estate law. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and has a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Languages: English, Spanish, Arabic
Practice Areas
Business, Commercial and Construction Litigation Personal Injury and Insurance Defense Premises Liability Products Liability Real Estate Labor and Employment
Education
University of Texas at El Paso, B.A. (2017)
A native El Pasoan, Jim Martinez maintains an active trial practice that spans a wide variety of industries. His primary areas of practice include commercial and construction litigation, fraud and fiduciary duty litigation, business ownership disputes and catastrophic injury cases. He also counsels businesses and individuals about the assessment of legal risks and opportunities and methods to avoid unnecessary litigation. He serves as outside general counsel to small and medium sized businesses with a particular emphasis on construction companies, advising them about day to day operations and insurance and contracting issues among others.
Jim earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree, with highest honors, from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1991 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1994. After serving as Briefing Attorney to Chief Justice Richard Barajas of the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, he joined the firm in 1995 and became a shareholder in 2001.
In 2003, Jim lost his mind and joined the City of El Paso where he served as Chief Administrative Officer, City Manager and Assistant City Attorney. He recovered quickly and for the next 15 years operated the Law Offices of James A. Martinez. He rejoined the firm as a shareholder in 2020. He has over 60 jury verdicts.
Mr. Dore devotes his entire practice to representing management in the expanding range of employment laws and regulations that affect employers in today's workplace. His practice includes defending employment discrimination and retaliatory discharge lawsuits, advising employers on workplace issues and claim prevention, and providing advice on benefits issues and wage matters. Mr. Dore has been Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1989.
Practice Areas
Administrative Law Labor and Employment
Education
Baylor University, B.A. (1977)
South Texas College of Law, J.D. (1983)
Ms. Perez is a Shareholder who maintains a trial practice of personal injury defense in Texas and New Mexico. Her practice also includes representing management in all aspects of employment law, including ADEA, Title VII, ADA, workers' compensation retaliatory discharge, employment contracts, wage suits, and workers' compensation benefits, involving private and public entities. Ms. Perez also handles and responds to charges filed with the EEOC, Texas Workforce Commission, and New Mexico Human Rights Division.
Languages: English, Spanish
Monica Perez was accepted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Mr. Benavides has extensive litigation background which includes complex Construction Litigation, Products Liability, Premise Liability, Trucking Accidents, Medical Malpractice, and Governmental Entity/Civil Rights Defense.
Practice Areas
Personal Injury and Insurance Defense Premises Liability Products Liability Trucking and Transportation
Education
Baylor University - B.A. Political Science and Speech Communication
South Texas College of Law - Law Degree
Baylor University - B.A. Political Science and Speech Communication
South Texas College of Law - Law Degree
Ryan Little was born and raised in the El Paso and Southern New Mexico areas. After graduating from Texas Tech, he returned to El Paso to practice law where he has remained his entire professional career. Mr. Little maintains a large and diverse practice in civil litigation and handles transactional work for the firm's clients. Mr. Little has over fifteen years of experience in state and federal courts of West Texas and New Mexico handling real estate litigation, foreclosures, landlord-tenant disputes and evictions, commercial, construction and business litigation. In addition, Mr. Little substantial experience in probate and trust litigation, guardianships, non-subscriber litigation, employment defense, deceptive trade practices litigation, personal injury defense and premises liability. His broad transactional experience includes contracts, business and corporate structuring, real estate lending and closing and drafting wills and trusts. He is married to his wife Lorie since 1997, and together they have three teenage children.
Mr. Hughes was born in Big Spring, Texas, and joined the firm in 1986. Mr. Hughes is board certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Languages: English
Practice Areas
Appellate Labor and Employment
Education
Texas Tech University, B.A. in music with highest honors, 1975
Texas Tech University, M.A. in music, 1976