Kyle A. Poelker handles all types of complex commercial litigation in state and federal court. He has experience on insurance recovery litigation, where he has represented corporate policyholders seeking coverage from their insurers. Additionally, he has litigated consumer protection and antitrust actions on behalf of the State of Missouri.

He was named on Texas Rising Stars lists from 2021-2024 for his excellence in business 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.

Recently, Mr. Poelker successfully represented a healthcare client by convincing a federal district judge to reverse an administrative law judge’s ruling that could have excluded the healthcare business from participating in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare or Medicaid, for 15 years.

Mr. Poelker previously worked as a litigation associate at Gilbert LLP, an insurance litigation boutique in Washington, D.C. While there, he represented a large safety equipment manufacturer in a multimillion-dollar dispute over insurance coverage; counseled a creditors’ committee on insurance matters in a manufacturer’s bankruptcy; and represented a large industrial equipment and machinery maker in multiple proceedings seeking insurance coverage for injury claims, as well as claims against the company’s directors and officers in connection with a merger.

Before that, he served as an assistant attorney general in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, litigating consumer protection cases as well as handling antitrust litigation and merger review. His antitrust work involved partnering with the Department of Justice and 16 other plaintiff states in an enforcement action challenging American Express’s anti-steering rules.

A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Poelker served as a research assistant for Professor Thomas J. Miles.

Mr. Poelker is a Texas Bar Foundation Fellow and a member of the 2020-2021 Houston Young Lawyers Association Leadership Academy.

EDUCATION

• University of Chicago Law School, J.D
  • Hinton Moot Court Competition
  • Research Assistant to Professor Thomas Miles
• Georgetown University, B.A., cum laude

ADMISSIONS

• Texas
• Missouri
• Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Texas Rising Star honors as presented by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters Business,  2021-2024
• Texas Bar Foundation Fellow
• 2020-2021 Houston Young Lawyers Association Leadership Academy.

IN THE NEWS

• AZA Wins Take-Nothing Judgment from Jury for Ex-Directors of Chinatown Plaza
• AZA Names Bai, Poelker and Turkevich as New Partners
• AZA Wins $25.6 Million Jury Verdict for Healthcare Client 
• AZA Wins Three Trials in Just Two Weeks in May 
• AZA Wins Take-Nothing Judgment for Fuel Company
• Thirteen AZA Attorneys Earn Texas Rising Stars Honor
• Court Halts Hostile Takeover of Condominium Association in Houston’s Chinatown
• Ten AZA Lawyers on Texas Rising Stars List for 2022
• Eleven AZA Lawyers Make the 2021 Texas Rising Stars List  
• AZA Health Care Client Sees Administrative Judge’s Order Overturned 
• Three More AZA Lawyers Elected Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation