AZA Opens Dallas Office

AZA has broken its 32-year tradition and opened a second office. The 64-lawyer Houston trial boutique has branched out to Dallas with offices in the downtown Trammell Crow Center.

The plan is to have 10 lawyers in Dallas within 12 months, although the office will launch with 5 lawyers. Intellectual property and patent work, a significant practice at AZA, will be one of the mainstays of the Dallas office.

Warren McCarty, a former partner at Caldwell Cassady & Curry, will be managing partner of the Dallas office. AZA partner Kyle Poelker, now of Houston, will be head of commercial litigation for Dallas, and two associates will also be there at launch.

Mr. McCarty says AZA has a world-class commercial practice and is a sleeping giant in intellectual property cases, one of his specialties. Mr. McCarty went to the University of Virginia School of Law with Jason McManis, head of AZA’s intellectual property group. They tried an IP case together in September, winning a $78,512,999 jury verdict against Samsung Electronics Co. for infringing on two patents. The pair worked well together and saw an opening to do more work out of Dallas.

AZA managing partner John Zavitsanos said the move was a logical step with AZA’s IP practice expanding and Dallas having more patent cases than Houston. He expects Mr. Poelker to help build the commercial litigation practice there, since AZA already has a stable of high-profile clients.

AZA is known for trying complex cases, often at least once a month. It frequently is hired on the eve of trial, once it has become clear that the case must be tried. The firm consistently makes top verdict lists in Texas and nationally. Representing a global energy sector client, AZA just won the first case completed in the newly created Texas Business Courts.