Brittany Mortimer

Kelly M. Haas is a partner in the Houston office. Her practice is focused on the areas of admiralty and maritime law and energy-related litigation matters in both state and federal courts. Her practice consists of defending vessel owners and operators, as well as offshore companies, from claims arising from collisions, property damage, personal injury, maritime pollution, environmental issues, cargo matters and contract disputes, and it regularly includes matters involving the Jones Act, the ...

Ryan is a Trial Lawyer who’s recovered the largest verdicts and settlements in history for clients who were catastrophically injured, seriously burned, and tragically killed across Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and the United States. His record-setting verdicts and settlements have received national media attention and distinguished Ryan as one of the top personal injury lawyers in the country. Since founding the firm, Zehl & Associates has repeatedly recovered the largest verdicts a...

David Merkley is a board-certified trial lawyer and Co-Chair of the firm’s litigation group and trial team. He is frequently retained in high-profile catastrophic accident cases to assume the defense or to navigate through complicated discovery issues leading to trial. He has tried dozens of cases to verdict and has been involved in several record-setting settlements for companies seeking to avoid the publicity of a jury trial. David is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates ...

Joe Roden grew up in Liberty, Texas and attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate, where he graduated in 1988. He then went into the U.S. Marine Corps. Joe attained the rank of 1st Lieutenant and was a decorated officer in the Marine Corps during Desert Storm, the first Gulf War. After leaving the Marine Corps, he graduated from the University of Houston Law Center with honors and then clerked for Justice Murry Cohen on the First Court of Appeals. After clerking for the Court of Ap...

Biography His broad-based legal experience includes presiding as a municipal court judge of the City of Houston, a state district judge of both a Civil and Family District Courts, and served as assistant attorney general for the State of Texas and briefing clerk for the Honorable Judge Ingraham, Federal District Judge for the Southern District of Texas. He has extensive experience in civil trials and appeals involving complex litigation and family law cases. His mediation experience includes ...

Christopher L. Bell is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Environmental Law and Litigation - Environmental. Christopher L., who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christopher L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

John Shely concentrates his practice on managed care trials, including litigation involving providers, ERISA benefits and fiduciary duties, and bad faith insurance practices. He also brings extensive experience in handling a wide range of commercial disputes, both for managed care organizations and for businesses across various other sectors. Mr. Shely is frequently retained to try cases that clients believe are likely to proceed to trial. In several matters, clients have engaged him late in ...

Demetri Economou is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management. Demetri, who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Demetri is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Foster C. Johnson is a trial lawyer who focuses on complex commercial litigation. He has represented Fortune 100 companies in a variety civil actions, including contract disputes, oil and gas matters, non-compete claims, intellectual property litigation, and consumer and employment class actions. His recent successes include a six-week trial that ended in a $41.6 million jury verdict against Lloyd’s of London. The case was one of the top 100 2017 verdicts in the nation according to the ...

Kelly D. Brown has practiced environmental, health, and safety (EHS) law since 1991, and is a shareholder in the firm’s EHS Section. Kelly’s legal practice is a broad-based one as he handles EHS-related litigation, transactional matters, remediation projects, and compliance counseling. Kelly defends corporate clients in various personal injury and toxic tort lawsuits and administrative proceedings brought by governmental agencies including the Texas Commission on Environmental Qua...