Eight Attorneys from Houston’s AZA Earn Texas Rising Stars Recognition

HOUSTON – The Houston-based trial firm AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is proud to announce that eight firm attorneys have been selected to the 2015 Texas Rising Stars list, which recognizes the state’s leading young lawyers.

Selected to the 2015 listing in recognition of their business litigation work are AZA partners Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher and Steve Mitby, along with associates Jamie Alan Aycock, Benjamin Foster, Tiffany N. Joudi and Monica Uddin. Firm associate Alisa Lipski is recognized for her intellectual property litigation expertise, and associate Adam Milasincic for his plaintiffs’ civil litigation work.

Published by Thomson Reuters’ legal division, Texas Rising Stars is an exclusive list of the state’s top attorneys who are 40 or younger, or who have been in practice no more than 10 years. Based on peer nomination and extensive editorial review, only 2.5 percent of eligible attorneys are chosen for this honor each year.

“As a firm we are very proud to count these attorneys among our colleagues,” says John Zavitsanos, an AZA founding partner. “They are among the very best in Texas, something they have proven that time and again in their successful representation of both plaintiffs and defendants.”

This is the fourth Texas Rising Stars selection for Ms. Fletcher. Her practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including antitrust, securities, employment, trademark, trade secret, commercial contract and tort disputes. She is a graduate of William & Mary Law School.

This is the fifth consecutive Texas Rising Stars selection for Mr. Mitby. He represents clients in intellectual property and complex commercial litigation, with a special focus on patent infringement and technology-related litigation. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.

Mr. Aycock concentrates his practice on complex commercial and appellate litigation, including contract disputes, fraud and business torts. The 2015 Texas Rising Stars recognition is the second for the Harvard Law graduate.

This is the first Texas Rising Stars selection for Mr. Foster, who represents clients in commercial litigation and intellectual property litigation. The University of Chicago Law School graduate has handled a number of software licensing, patent, trade secret and complex commercial matters.

Ms. Joudi is a commercial litigator who defends cases for large companies, including insurance, oil and gas, and software businesses. She earned her law degree from the South Texas College of Law. This is her second appearance on the Texas Rising Stars list.

Ms. Uddin is a trial lawyer who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation. She graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a Levitan Scholar. This is her third selection to the Texas Rising Stars list.

Ms. Lipski’s practice focuses on patent infringement litigation and appeals. She has successfully litigated patent issues covering software, communications, satellite, oilfield and medical technology. This is the third selection to the Texas Rising Stars list for the University of Houston Law Center graduate.

This is the first Texas Rising Stars selection for Mr. Milasincic, a trial and appellate lawyer who focuses on complex commercial litigation involving multimillion-dollar contract disputes, partnership break-ups, business torts and more. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

The complete Texas Rising Stars list can be found in the May 2015 issues of Texas Monthly and Texas Rising Stars magazines, and online at www.superlawyers.com.

AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized in Chambers USA 2014 among the best in Texas commercial law; U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in 2014; and Law360 as one of only 13 Texas Powerhouse law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. Read more at https://azalaw.com.