Kelsi Stayart White

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Kelsi Stayart White

Partner

P: 713-600-4983
F: 713-655-0062
kwhite@azalaw.com
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Kelsi Stayart White focuses on dispositive motions and appeals in state and federal court. Before her focus on appellate work, Kelsi first gained substantial trial experience at AZA. As a result, she brings a trial lawyer’s practical perspective and communication skills to high-stakes motions, appellate briefs, and oral arguments. As a large part of her practice, Kelsi supports AZA’s trial teams in presenting critical legal issues to judges and handling the jury charge and other appellate issues at trial.

Kelsi is Board Certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has handled appeals of all types in both state court and the Fifth Circuit, including interlocutory appeals, mandamus proceedings, and direct appeals. She has oral argument experience before the Texas Courts of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court, and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Some of her noteworthy wins include obtaining a precedent-setting reversal of a female firefighter client’s hostile work environment claim in the Fifth Circuit in 2022; defending the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion and frivolousness finding all the way up to the Texas Supreme Court, resulting in a six-figure fee award on remand; and securing reversal of a federal agency’s FOIA decision concerning a client’s confidential information at the Fifth Circuit.

Kelsi was named to the 2021-2026 lists of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for commercial litigation. This is a national peer review award developed by Best Lawyers in America to target associates for their outstanding professional excellence early in their careers. She was also named on the Texas Rising Stars lists from 2022-2025 for her excellence in plaintiff civil litigation. Rising Stars, which is compiled by Thomson Reuters’ Texas Super Lawyers, honors leading attorneys age 40 and younger and those who have been in practice no more than 10 years.

Kelsi is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. She served as a law clerk for Judge Leslie H. Southwick, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. During law school she served as associate editor of the Texas Law Review and interned for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Tony M. Davis in Austin. She graduated with highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Texas at Austin. Kelsi is actively involved in the Appellate Section of the HBA. She attends St. Martin’s Episcopal Church and is the proud mother of three children.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Handled jury charge and legal issues in AZA’s recent multi-million-dollar jury trial wins: $25.6 million jury trial win in Fondren Orthopedic, Ltd. v. Columbia Hospital Corporation in September 2024; $32.5 million jury verdict in a complex, multi-party construction dispute in September 2023; and a $22 million federal jury verdict for the Port of Houston Authority in March 2022.
Twice defended summary-judgment wins in the Fifth Circuit in 2023 in appeals involving FLSA and employment issues. Hebert v. TechnipFMC, No. 22-20562; Kozlowski, et al. v. Buck, et al., No. 22-40438 (oral argument).
Obtained complete defense victory in a bench trial of novel wrongful-termination claims against Port of Houston in 2023, serving as first chair. Kozlowski, et al. v. Buck, et al., Harris County Case No. 2021-13211
Secured dismissal on standing grounds for Port of Houston in a challenge to the bid process for the Port’s $430M expansion project. Read more about the March 2023 win here: https://www.law360.com/articles/1582952/judge-backs-clearing-430m-deal-of-made-in-us-claims
Successfully defended on appeal the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion filed on the eve of trial and obtained affirmance of sanctions award against the movant, including defeating review at the Texas Supreme Court. Patriot Contracting, LLC v. Mid-Main Properties, LP, No. 14-20-00724-CV, 2022 WL 1251236 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Apr. 28, 2022, pet. denied). Read more about the win here: https://azalaw.com/aza-beats-frivolous-anti-slapp-appeal-in-construction-case/
Obtained affirmance of the denial of a special appearance in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals. Marquette Transportation Company, LLC, et al. v. Simon, No. 14-21-00729-CV (Dec. 13, 2022).
Secured reversal of a district court order that had affirmed federal agency’s FOIA determination that information about client’s accounting methodology was subject to disclosure under FOIA. Ryan LLC v. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 22-10373 (Nov. 28, 2022).
Secured reversal of summary-judgment order on Title VII hostile work environment claim before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in published decision, Abbt v. City of Houston, 28 F.4th 601 (2022).

EDUCATION

University of Texas School of Law, J.D. with highest honors, May 2015
- Chancellors Society
- Order of the Coif
- Associate Editor – Texas Law Review
- Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition
- American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence Awards
- Dean’s Achievement Awards – Outstanding Student in Constitutional Law I
University of Texas at Austin, B.A., with highest honors, December 2011
- Phi Beta Kappa

BAR ADMISSIONS

State Bar of Texas
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

HONORS AND AWARDS

Elected to Texas Bar Foundation in 2024
Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, 2021-2026
Texas Rising Stars, 2022-2025
Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation, 2024

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Author of the Fifth Circuit Update for the HBA’s Appellate Lawyer Newsletter
Panelist on the Texas Supreme Court Update, webinar provided by the Texas Lawbook on September 10, 2024
Moderator/Organizer, Show Down at the Show Cause Corral: Navigating a Civil Contempt Hearing and Avoiding an Ambush, HBA Federal Practice Section (Feb. 16, 2022)
Litigating Non-Competes on Both Sides of the “V”, Texas State Bar, Business Disputes (Sept. 2022)
Error Resuscitation and Resurrection, UT School of Law, 32nd Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals (June 2022)
Experts & Disqualifications, 43^rd Annual University of Texas Page Keeton Conference, presented with U.S. District Judge Jeff Brown, Nov. 22, 2019
Non-Compete Agreements: Leveling Up Trial Techniques and Litigation Strategies, webinar, Knowledge Group CLE , Nov. 20, 2019
SLAPP Your Opponents: What Employment Lawyers Need to Know about the Anti-SLAPP Law, State Bar of Texas Webcast, Oct. 2, 2018
Witness Credibility in Trials and Depositions, In-House Summit in Dallas, Texas on Sept. 20, 2018
How to Try a Trade Secret Case in a Post-M.I. Swaco World, before the Houston Bar Association Litigation Section, Sept. 5, 2018
Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher & Kelsi Stayart White, Litigating Non-Compete and Trade Secret Cases, white paper for American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law, 11th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference, November 2017, Washington, D.C.
Jay Lawrence Westbrook & Kelsi Stayart White, The Demystification of Contracts in Bankruptcy, 91 American Bankruptcy Law Journal 481, Issue 3 (Summer 2017)

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