 IN THIS NEWSLETTER  Thirteen 2021 Trials for AZA AZA lawyers love to go to trial, which gives the firm’s clients massive clout even when a case settles. In 2021, the team tried 13 cases, with a $62.65 million jury verdict finale in Las Vegas.  The Texas Lawbook featured the Nevada case as the top story in Top Commercial Litigation in 2021. “The Vegas trial, in particular, is notable because it involved the first dispute over employer-sponsored health plans for jurors to decide — health plans that comprise the largest groups of insureds in the U.S. UnitedHealthcare is the largest insurer in the country,” The Texas Lawbook noted. “Although the outcome was determined by a Nevada jury in a Vegas courtroom, the case may have larger implications for Texas and nationwide as TeamHealth and UnitedHealthcare continue litigating in courts in the Lone Star State and beyond Read about the Nevada trial win here: AZA Victorious in $62 Million Nationally Watched TeamHealth Trial Against Insurance Giant UnitedHealthcare. This was the third major jury win that AZA has obtained for client TeamHealth and its affiliate doctor groups. The CEO of AZA client TeamHealth said of AZA’s most recent jury verdict: “Our win … will meaningfully impact every front-line physician in America — and that’s no exaggeration. I know that you each felt the pressure, and Beefing Up Our Bench AZA has beefed up our bench with both experience and promising new lawyers. Our experienced laterals strengthen our Appellate Practice, Intellectual Property Practice and Commercial Litigation Practice.  Ms. Storey joins our appellate group. She focuses on Appellate Law and has been Board Certified in Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1987. She is the past chair of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section and past chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section. Ms. Storey was a long-time member of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s Civil Appellate Law Examination Committee and Civil Appellate Law Advisory Commission. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas School of Law, where she teaches appellate advocacy. Mr. Wyde joins our Intellectual Property Practice. He is a patent attorney whose practice emphasizes patent litigation, PTAB post grant proceedings, portfolio analysis, patent legal opinions, and intellectual property contract provisions. An electrical engineer and an entrepreneur, his software and hardware experience has helped inform his work for both plaintiffs and defendants from pre-complaint investigation to trial. He has worked on patent, copyright, and trademark cases. Mr. Adriatico joins the Commercial Litigation Practice. He is a trial lawyer with experience in a variety of areas of law, including securities, antitrust, intellectual property, white-collar and other commercial disputes. He has experience in all aspects of litigation from initial pleadings to trial and appeal. Mr. Adriatico also has extensive investigative experience where he has interviewed corporate officers, board members and employees in various internal investigations. Our newer lawyer additions: Thomas Frashier is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan Law School who worked for AZA during his two law-school summers. In law school, he was the Executive Articles Editor of the Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review and worked in the Worker’s Rights Clinic, representing unemployment insurance claimants before an administrative law judge. He was co-president of the Michigan Law ACLU, co-founder and vice president of the Texas Club, and a mentor in the First-Generation Law Students organization. Kaitlin E. Hopkins is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law who has worked as a clerk both at a nationally-recognized law firm and in a public defender’s office. Ms. Hopkins has passed the bar, and her licenses to practice in the District of Columbia and Texas are pending. Emily Merritt is a trial lawyer and a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, where she was the Research Editor for the Texas Law Review, the Chief Articles Editor for the Texas Review of Law & Politics, and a member of the Capital Punishment Clinic. Prior to joining AZA, she clerked for the Honorable Brantley Starr of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. During her clerkship, she managed a docket of over 100 civil cases, drafted orders and opinions on a diverse array of legal issues, and assisted Judge Starr with all aspects of trial. We’ve also made partners out of two of our best associates: Rey Flores represents clients in complex commercial litigation involving a broad range of business matters, including contract disputes and business torts; employment matters, including overtime; and trade-secret cases; and wrongful-death and catastrophic injury cases. His clients include some of the largest oil and gas exploration and service companies in the world, petrochemical companies, an international construction materials company, a crane manufacturer, a nationwide retailer, and individual plaintiffs and defendants. Jason S. McManis is a skilled trial lawyer who helps individuals and businesses navigate some of their most difficult problems. He has extensive experience handling high-stakes patent, trade-secret, employment and business disputes across the oil and gas, health care, commercial and residential real estate, automotive, and aviation industries. He also represents plaintiffs and defendants in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful-death cases. The WSJ Celebrates AZA’s fabulous 2021 holiday party was featured in text and photos in the Wall Street Journal story “Omicron Variant Sends Some Office Holiday Parties Back to Zoom.” The story focuses on how the pandemic has changed some Christmas cheer. But it noted: “Houston-based law firm AZA held an in-person holiday blowout with about 300 employees and guests on Dec. 1. ‘I’m comfortable enough  The story featured pictures of our sumptuous dessert table and our delicate and delicious “AZA”-embossed macaron display. Associate Shahmeer Halepota was quoted by the national business newspaper too: “It’s the one thing we all look forward to on a yearly basis,” said Shahmeer Halepota, an attorney at AZA. He stayed for hours. “It was really nice to get together again and see people in this more relaxed atmosphere.” Paralegal Lynette Peter –  Sometimes she sees things even the best trial lawyers don’t. Maybe it’s a witness misrepresenting an arcane detail or an easily missed hole in the opponent’s discovery. Once a client was so grateful for her trial sixth sense, he flew paralegal Lynette Peter and her husband for a vacation to his native Venezuela. “She is worth her weight in Bitcoin. I’d rather go to trial with her than almost any lawyer,” AZA partner Monica Uddin said. Lawyers who work with her say her encyclopedic knowledge of a case, her attention to detail and her organizational skills are so amazing they figure she has OCD. Actually, she has ADHD. To compensate, she double- and triple-checks, and she makes lists. Lots of lists. Lists in trial that help make her colleagues look better and lists at home with excessively meticulous details of upcoming events, household needs and camping packing. Watch AZA Move a Case AZA Blackjack Puzzle Our tactics at AZA may seem puzzling at times, but we always have a strategy in mind. See if you can see our big picture by putting the pieces together.  Recognition Roundup–  AZA has been recognized with more awards for excellence. There is a list of the newer honors below. Most of the awards depend on client evaluations. We were especially thrilled with these comments made to the Best Law Firms guide, where AZA was listed for the 10th year in a row:
We were also pleased to be rated by Vault among the nation’s top 15 midsize law firms to work for and among the top 5 midsize firms in Texas, based on surveys of law firm associates. Here are some of the AZA associates’ comments:
The most recent honors:
John Zavitsanos   AZA co-founder John Zavitsanos appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box show in a segment called “How Businesses Could Approach Return to Work in 2022.” Part of the interview can be seen here. “Being a trial lawyer, that requires a great deal of collaboration. During the pandemic we had a number of jury trials. To get ready for a jury trial requires countless meetings as ideas come up, as issues come up,” Mr. Zavitsanos said, adding that working remotely simply does not allow for the kind of impromptu collaboration – sometimes 30 to 40 brief meetings in a single day – required to He appeared on a panel with Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley whose work focuses on how leaders can scale their organizations by developing and implementing global and digital strategies. Mr. Zavitsanos wrote a July 2021 essay in The New York Times about going back to the office during a pandemic and AZA’s success in doing so. You can see it here. And in August 2021 he was interviewed on NPR about pandemic office openings in “Houston-Based Law Firm Insists That Employees Return To The Office.”  |
