EGAN NELSON - Key Persons
Andrew represents clients in tax matters relating to corporation, partnership and LLC formation and operation, taxable and tax-free mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and internal restructurings and reorganizations. He has extensive experience in both domestic and cross-border engagements involving corporate and partnership tax issues and has worked with a broad range of clients across many sectors, including Fortune 500 companies, private equity, venture capital and investment funds, family offices, local companies and individuals. His expertise includes structuring and implementing stock option and other equity incentive plans and tax issues relevant to executive compensation, as well as debt restructurings and workout transactions.
Prior to joining Egan Nelson, Andrew practiced law at Thompson & Knight LLP and was a senior manager in the Dallas office of Ernst & Young LLP's transaction advisory services group, and was a tax accountant prior to attending law school.
Education
Southern Methodist University (J.D., magna cum laude, 2010)
University of Texas at Austin (B.B.A., 2001)
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Co - Chair of Egan Nelson 's Commercial Litigation Group
Brad Whitlock focuses his practice on representing a wide variety of business clients. He has experience in a broad scope of business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity securities financings, complex company formation, contracts, employment matters, corporate governance issues and numerous other legal arrangements and agreements. In many instances he serves as an outside general counsel for his clients, helping them with both business and legal issues. He has been involved in the drafting of many Texas business statutes and is a frequent speaker on corporate law topics.
Education
Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law (J.D., 1988)
Westminster College (MO) (B.A., 1985)
Casey Ragan's practice focuses on corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, and corporate governance, working for company and individual clients in sectors ranging from energy to technology, manufacturing and real estate.
Casey previously served as associate general counsel to a Texas-based capital management company and its wholly owned subsidiaries in the oil and gas, technology, real estate, restaurants, sports, transportation, and beauty industries. He has extensive experience serving as both in-house counsel and providing interim or provisional legal assistance for clients in need of support inside their organization. Prior to joining Egan Nelson LLP, Casey was an attorney in the Dallas office of McGuireWoods LLP.
Education
Texas A&M University (B.S., 2004)
Southern Methodist University (J.D., 2010)
Chris Groves focuses his practice on a variety of commercial litigation matters, including contract disputes, insurance coverage litigation, bankruptcy adversary proceedings, employment-related class actions, consumer class actions, corporate takeover litigation, shareholder derivative litigation, patent infringement ligation, and license agreement disputes. He has also handled mass tort litigation involving consumer, toxic tort, and product liability claims.
Chris has led Egan Nelson's litigation section since joining the firm in 2013. Among the victories Egan Nelson has achieved for its clients since then are the following:
$15,000,000 arbitration award in a construction case. Enjoining a memorabilia sale at a well-known auction house leading to the return of an iconic Master's champion's green jacket to the club that awards them each April. Compelling the largest software company in the world to cease its infringement of the registered trademark of an Austin based technology consulting company and obtaining damages related to the infringement.Favorable results in numerous real estate and commercial contract disputes. Prior to joining Egan Nelson, Chris was a partner at Jones Day.
Chris has handled matters for clients including Allied Riser Corporation, Alon, Beazer East, Computer Sciences Corporation, Delphi, Fina, Goodman Manufacturing, Invensys, KB Home, Lowe's, Morgan Stanley, North Safety Products, Occidental Chemical, Parker Hannifin, Texas Instruments, Textron, Toni & Guy, Transocean, U.S. Silica, and Verizon.
Chris led Jones Day's efforts on behalf of Transocean in response to the many congressional and Coast Guard factual inquiries related to the BP Gulf oil spill in 2010.
He successfully argued an appeal at the 10th Circuit that affirmed the dismissal by the U.S. Court of the Northern District of Oklahoma of a putative class action against Goodman Manufacturing alleging that Goodman breached its warranty on 800,000 air conditioning units due to an unmanifested defect. Chris has also been involved in a number of bankruptcy-related adversary proceedings.
Education
Southern Methodist University (J.D. 1995; Articles Editor, The International Lawyer)
The University of Texas at Austin (B.A. 1992)
Dean is a corporate and securities attorney representing emerging companies in a variety of complex transactional matters. He has experience in venture capital, angel, equity and convertible debt financings, private and public securities offerings, entity formations, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate counseling, and SEC reporting and disclosure. His practice also includes expertise in the esports industry, including corporate matters, sponsorships, and player agreement negotiations. Dean has represented esports companies from entity formation through player and team acquisition, and has acted as general counsel to esports athletes, Youtubers and Twitch streaming personalities.
Prior to joining Egan Nelson LLP, Dean practiced in the New York office of Latham & Watkins LLP and the Austin office of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.
He is admitted to the New York and Texas Bar, and is a member of the Esports Bar Association.
Education
University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with Honors)
Southern Methodist University (B.B.A.)
Dustin Lucas is a commercial and technology transactions attorney whose practice focuses on helping clients develop, protect and commercialize intellectual property and technology assets. Dustin regularly drafts and negotiates agreements related to commercialization and licensing of intellectual property intensive assets, including cloud computing (SaaS and IaaS), cybersecurity, data privacy, master services, joint development, collaboration, distribution, end-user license agreements and other forms of commercial agreements. He regularly advises on related regulatory compliance matters, including GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.
Before joining Egan Nelson LLP, Dustin practiced in the business transactional groups of Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Holland & Knight LLP, was corporate counsel in the AWS Sales and Marketing Group at Amazon.com, Inc. and was Senior Corporate Counsel at Splunk, Inc.
Education
Baylor Law School (J.D., Summa Cum Laude, 2012)
Janice is a transaction and corporate attorney whose practice includes mergers & acquisitions, private equity & venture capital, investment funds & partnerships, asset sales, and corporate reorganizations. She has advised clients on securities compliance and corporate governance and has negotiated and drafted a wide variety of commercial agreements, including strategic alliances, information technology services, employment, and non-competes. She has represented public and private companies in a broad spectrum of industries, private equity firms, and investment funds.
Prior to joining Egan Nelson, Janice was in the Private Equity group at Neuberger Berman. Prior to that time, she practiced at Locke Purnell Rain Harrell (now Locke Lord) and Electronic Data Systems.
Education
University of Texas School of Law, J.D.
Texas Tech University, B.S. in Engineering
Katherine focuses her practice on corporate matters, and also has experience with ERISA and labor and employment matters. Her business background and experience as a transactional attorney provides clients with insightful and efficient counsel on a broad range of needs. Katherine has worked on all aspects of acquisitions, including drafting and negotiating a variety of transaction documents and conducting background due diligence. She has extensive experience in complex entity formations and in contract drafting and negotiations. She has also worked with clients on 401(k) plans and other retirement plans, as well as tax issues involving health plans, Section 125 cafeteria plans and Section 409A deferred compensation plans. She is skilled at counseling employers on a variety of human resource matters, such as employment agreements, handbooks, company policies and actions, employee complaints, and compliance with federal and state employment laws.
Education
Texas A&M University (B.B.A., 2017)
Southern Methodist University (J.D., 2020)
For more than 25 years Matt Bair has advised companies, investors and entrepreneurs in connection with venture capital investments and debt financings, acquisitions and divestitures, startup formation and exit transactions, board governance matters, strategic alliances, and technology-based transactions, including software licensing and services agreements.
Matt draws on his broad professional experiences to address client needs, having served for ten years as general counsel to two startups, overseeing a wide range of legal affairs, including significant capital raises from both venture firms and strategic partners, U.S. and international acquisitions, vendor and customer agreements, equity incentive plans, IP portfolio management, and board and investor relations. During that period, he also built out and managed the human resources department at one company, with responsibility over recruiting, employee benefits, compensation strategies, and career development and performance management.
Prior to his in-house roles Matt was a partner in the corporate and securities practice group of the international law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, representing a diverse client base in the technology, entertainment, hospitality and healthcare industries, in connection with public and private securities offerings, SEC compliance and reporting obligations, corporate reorganizations, corporate governance matters, and general corporate, business and securities law counseling.
Education
University of Texas School of Law, (J.D., with Honors, 1988)
Trinity University (B.A., cum laude, 1985)
Michael's practice focuses on a broad range of corporate and securities transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private and public securities offerings, divestitures and asset sales, fund formation and investment partnerships, corporate reorganizations and distressed investing, public securities offerings and private placements, and securities compliance and corporate governance matters. Michael has represented and counseled a broad spectrum of investment firms and their portfolio investments, including private equity, hedge and other alternative investment funds, retail investment companies, and commercial and investment banks. Prior to joining Egan Nelson LLP, Michael served as General Counsel of Highland Capital Management, L.P. Prior to that time, he was a partner in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP.
Education
University of Kentucky (J.D., 1994)
Western Kentucky University (B.S, 1987)
Michael advises clients across the spectrum of corporate and securities transactions ranging from mergers and acquisitions, growth capital investments, asset sales, senior and mezzanine debt financings, venture capital investments and corporate reorganizations. Michael has regularly represented leading private equity investors and entrepreneurs providing strategic advice, efficiency and deal execution expertise. Michael's diverse deal background, including working as a principal investor, has provided him with a multi-faceted understanding of businesses and deal making.
Prior to joining Egan Nelson LLP, Michael was a partner at Wachtel Missry LLP, and a managing director at GH Partners, LLC, a boutique investment bank. Michael began his legal career with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Education
Yale University (B.A., Economics, 1996)
Duke University (J.D., 1999)
Mitul is a corporate and securities partner in the Austin office of Egan Nelson. His practice focuses on the representation of companies, entrepreneurs, and investors on a range of finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance matters. Mr. Patel also has extensive experience representing corporate borrowers and private lenders on a diverse set of lending transactions, including asset based and cash flow loans, leveraged financings, senior secured loans, acquisition financings and cross border transactions.
Prior to joining Egan Nelson LLP, Mr. Patel was a corporate associate in the New York offices of Kane Kessler P.C., where he counseled several NYSE listed issuers on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance matters.
Education
Brooklyn Law School (J.D. 2010; Magna Cum Laude)
New York University (B.A. 2007)