James T. Reist

Stuart Butzier has assisted mining, energy, high-tech, industrial and ranching clients throughout his thirty-plus year legal career with Modrall Sperling. His counsel has included helping clients strategically navigate the maze of environmental and mining regulatory and permitting regimes, the morass of litigation, and the unique challenges of complex deals and real property transactions involving private, Federal, State, Indian and split-estate lands. Recognized in the area of Natural Resour...

Meg Meister has served clients for over twenty-five years in the areas of real estate, business, commercial transactions and lending. She guides businesses through siting and re-locating facilities, completes sales and tax free exchanges, represents buyers and sellers in stock and asset transactions, assists with liquor license transfers, and negotiates and drafts leases and other real estate and business documents. Meg advises companies doing business on Indian lands and negotiates and struc...

Since 2004, Bruce E. Thompson has been helping injured people and their families by holding wrongdoers accountable for violations of federal and state law and other safety standards. Practicing since 2004, Bruce handles cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice, construction accidents, brain injury, trucking accidents and sexual abuse in courtrooms throughout New Mexico. Bruce's entire practice is devoted to litigation. A member of the State Bar of New Mexico, the A...

Allegra Carpenter is an all-purpose litigator. She was named 2015 Albuquerque Personal Injury Litigator of the Year, is over ten years listed in Best, recognized in SuperLawyers, and is AV Preeminent with Martindale Hubble. Allegra’s Super Power is her creativity -- which defines and spans every aspect of her practice from case selection to trial. After 22 years with an Albuquerque firm, Allegra established her own practice, Allegra-Law, where she continues her long history of amplifyin...

Meredith A. Johnstone is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Collaborative Law: Family Law and Family Law. Meredith A., who practices law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Meredith A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Lisa K. Curtis is the founding partner of Curtis & Co. Law Firm. She was named the Best Lawyers 2024 Plaintiff’s Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year in New Mexico, was inducted into the Roehl Circle of Honor as the Plaintiff’s Trial Lawyer for New Mexico in 2021, and has received numerous honors over the years, but her $40 Million Jury Verdict in an Albuquerque courtroom for a child in the summer of 2025 is the reason Lisa went to law school over 30 years ago. There is a la...

Art Melendres concentrates his practice primarily in administrative, education, commercial and municipal finance law. For more than thirty-five years, clients have sought Art’s expertise when faced with disputes involving education, administrative law, commercial law or public financing. For more than twenty-five years, Art has served as general counsel for the Albuquerque Public Schools, a school district of more than 90,000 students and 11,000 employees. He regularly advises the Schoo...

Chris Killion’s practice focuses on oil, gas, and mineral development, including issuing drilling, division order, and acquisition title opinions for oil and gas companies for properties in New Mexico and Texas, as well as representing those companies before regulatory bodies. Chris helps clients comply with state and federal regulations related to mineral development and represents clients in transactions involving purchase and sale of mineral rights. An Alabama native, Chris is licens...

Maria Montoya Chavez is an attorney with Sutin, Thayer & Browne APC in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2018 for her work in Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, Family Law Arbitration, and Family Law Mediation. This recognition is based on peer review by attorneys practicing in the same geographic and practice areas. Maria Montoya Chavez has practiced law since 2000 and focuses exclusively on family law matters, including divorce, child custody...

Todd A. Schwarz is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Insurance Law, Litigation - Insurance and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants. Todd A., who practices law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Todd A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.