Monica Uddin - AZA Law

Monica Uddin

Partner

713-600-4913

muddin@azalaw.com

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Monica Uddin in The New York Times / The Athletic

I’m a trial lawyer and the hiring partner at AZA. I find ways to tell my client’s stories in a clear and compelling way through the jungle of the actual facts and applicable law. Whether it is the story of an individual or finding the human story in the plight of a big company, I explain what happened to juries, judges, and arbitrators. My cases for Mary Kate Cornett, Drake and LyondellBasell have ended up on national news, including the New York Times. Most of my cases haven’t, but they matter just as much. I represent Fortune 500 companies, individuals, and everyone in between in matters as varied as defamation, complex commercial contracts, catastrophic personal injury, trade secrets, and employment.

I’ve been recognized annually as a Texas Rising Star and then as a Texas Super Lawyer in business litigation, by Best Lawyers as “One to Watch” and by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Litigators in America. Most recently, I was named as one of only 240 lawyers nationwide as a BTI Client Service All-Star. I’m a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, a board member of the South Asian Bar Association of Houston, and a co-chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Gender Fairness Committee.

I was born and raised in San Antonio as the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants. Outside of work, I chase around three young children with my husband and enjoy playing casual games inappropriately competitively.

Representative Cases

Managing 13-case multi-district litigation with 75 plaintiffs resulting from an industrial accident for a Fortune 200 chemical company.
Representing a Fortune 100 energy company in post-Winter Storm Uri gas trading dispute in Brazos Electric Power Cooperative bankruptcy.
Alongside the ACLU, won a temporary restraining order and negotiated an injunction and favorable settlement on behalf of Magnolia ISD students who were punished and removed from their schools due to a gender-based grooming and dress code.
Successfully defeated $250 million in fraud claims for a Fortune 500 midstream infrastructure company brought by the world’s largest independent oil and gas trading firm.
Successfully obtained favorable settlement for Texas’s only five-star hotel in a property tax dispute.
Successfully represented the estate of a red snapper fisherman who had been cheated out of $1 million. We obtained $5.1 million for his heirs just when the jurors started to deliberate the four weeks of testimony they had heard. The pre-trial offer was $0.
Successfully represented an exploration and production company win a substantial sum in arbitration on their breach of contract claims against a Fortune 500 refiner, and successfully defeated the refiner’s counterclaims of over $400 million.
After a lengthy temporary restraining order hearing, successfully negotiated a settlement on behalf of a major automotive parts supplier against a specialty transportation service school district.
Successfully obtained a temporary restraining order and negotiated favorable settlement in a business divorce between partners of an energy industry technology company.
Successfully obtained a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction in a business divorce between partners of a medical practice.
Successfully defended a major refiner at trial in a suit to evict the refiner’s pipeline control center, which controlled the refiner’s flow of crude, gas, diesel, and NGLs throughout the United States. Obtained a substantial attorneys’ fees judgment in addition to defeating eviction.
Successfully briefed, argued, and won a Markman hearing in patent litigation representing the inventors of notebook tab-style patents.
Successfully briefed, argued, and won an appeal regarding collateral estoppel for issues decided in private arbitration in California state court.
Represented global specialty chemical company in a non-compete dispute against its former chief executive officers.
Represented inventors in semiconductor technology patent litigation. Took several defendant depositions through translator in Seoul before case settled favorably.
Won total summary judgment and then a Fifth Circuit appeal for a major refiner defendant on a variety of employment claims.
Defeated summary judgment and Daubert motions and ultimately obtained a favorable settlement for a Fortune 500 company against a competitor who paid a former employee to design identical manufacturing equipment.
Second-chaired a federal trial in bankruptcy court for a Fortune 500 company against a competitor who bribed an employee to steal manufacturing drawings and then provided them to Chinese manufacturers. See news coverage here. First-chaired the subsequent attorneys’ fees trial, winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for the client.
Defeated summary judgment and obtained favorable settlement for a Houston-based energy executive in a compensation dispute against a multinational oilfield services technology company.
Stepped in on the eve of trial to represent and favorably resolve theft and other claims asserted against Houston-based IT company.
Defended a variety of contract and tort claims asserted against one of the largest insurance brokers in the world.
Defeated numerous employment claims brought by a former executive on behalf of a major refiner on summary judgment.
Represented a local law firm in a nine-party lease dispute resulting in a favorable settlement.
Second-chaired a federal trial helping Fort Bend County win a take-nothing defense judgment in a First Amendment lawsuit filed by a former sheriff’s deputy.
Obtained favorable settlement on behalf of FMLA plaintiff against a British energy and commodities trading company.
First-chaired a Harris County jury trial, defeating construction claim on behalf of a Houston radio celebrity.
Represented a natural gas trader plaintiff in a $30 million suit for bonus and other compensation. Defeated an array of summary judgment motions before the case was settled.
Obtained multiple favorable settlements for Fortune 500 oilfield services company in Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower lawsuits.
Successfully obtained a pre-suit deposition of a foreign national on behalf of an oil and gas production company.
Successfully arbitrated on behalf of an exploration and production company on breach of contract claims against a Fortune 500 refiner, and successfully defeated the refiner’s counterclaims of over $400 million.
Won a $2 million summary judgment summary judgment in a commercial breach-of-contract case in the 133rd District Court of Harris County, Texas. The Houston-based client sued by an Arizona company for failing to pay as promised under terms of a gold refining contract.
Represented investors in a fraud suit against a $2.6 billion Texas-based hedge fund operated by affiliates of billionaire H. Ross Perot. Successfully argued that Texas law recognized “holder claims” where there was direct communication with investors—claims in which the investor holds their investment based on the misleading advice of a third-party.
Obtained favorable settlement for Houston-based infertility practice in a business disparagement suit against a competitor.
Represented a Houston-based technology company in a multimillion-dollar business disparagement suit against a competitor.

Education

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2010
- Levitan Scholar
- Chicago Journal of International Law member
- Hinton Moot Court Honorable Mention
- South Asian Law Student Association, Chicago, IL – Board of Directors
- Human Rights Law Society – Board of Directors

Stanford University, B.S. in Symbolic Systems, 2007
- Constitutional Council

Publications and Presentations

“Unmasked: Firm Management after COVID,” Houston Bar Association Webinar, May 2021
“Trials, Depositions, Hearings, and other Remote Proceedings,” State Bar of Texas Webinar, December 2020
“Strategies for Corporate Representative Depositions,” State Bar of Texas Corporate Counsel Section Newsletter (2010) (co-author).

Languages

Ms. Uddin is fluent in Bengali and speaks functional French.

Honors and Awards

2026 Premier Women in the Law Award – Association of Women Attorneys Foundation (AWAF)
2023-2027 Best Lawyers
2021 and 2022 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
2024-2026 Texas Super Lawyers honors for business litigation, Thomson Reuters
2013-2020 Texas Rising Star honors for business litigation, Thomson Reuters
Top 500 Leading Litigators in America by Lawdragon, 2025-2027
Texas Bar Foundation Fellow
Presiding Election Judge at a Harris County precinct in November 2020 election