Jason E. Payne

JoAnn Storey 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 a former adjunct professor at t...

Scott W. Clark is a registered U.S. patent attorney with more than 25 years of experience representing clients in all aspects of intellectual property and other technology-related business controversies. He has litigated dozens of patent disputes in numerous U.S. jurisdictions and before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). He has significant experience in all phases of civil litigation, from pre-filing through trial and appeal. His practice is focused on patent and trade secret dis...

Acclaimed Texas trial lawyer Rusty Hardin is the founder and name partner of Houston’s Rusty Hardin & Associates, LLP , accomplished in both complex civil matters and significant criminal cases. Mr. Hardin has more than 40 years of litigation experience, beginning his career as an assistant prosecutor in Houston’s Harris County in 1975. Since entering private practice in 1991, Mr. Hardin has tried over 70 jury trials, fairly evenly split between civil and criminal cases. His c...

James Grogan is a partner in the Financial Restructuring group, based in Houston. He has a national reputation for successfully representing company and creditor clients in complex financial restructurings, bankruptcy cases, and out-of-court workouts. He focuses on solving his clients’ most challenging problems by designing and implementing negotiation and litigation strategies, and serving as lead trial counsel in bankruptcy disputes. Mr. Grogan recently led the Firm’s successful...

Allan Kirk is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law. Allan, who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Allan is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

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 ...

Dwana Waltman joined The Lanier Law Firm in February of 2009 as an intake attorney for the toxic tort division. Mrs. Waltman was born in Lufkin, Texas. She graduated from Baylor University, magna cum laude, in 1993 with a degree in Sociology and attended law school at Texas Tech University. Mrs. Waltman was in private practice in Lubbock before taking a position as an Executive Director of a non-profit legal organization. Under her direction, the agency tripled in size and vastly expanded ser...

Shawn Bates has more than 22 years of practice in commercial litigation in the energy industry and across numerous other industries. He is a seasoned first-chair trial lawyer, handling cases worth tens of millions. He has conducted hundreds of depositions and supervised trial teams on matters of varying size. He focuses his practice on litigation and arbitration of complex disputes for clients in the energy sector (oil and gas companies, oilfield supply and support companies, pipeline builder...

Yigal Saghian is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Real Estate Law. Yigal, 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 Yigal is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Darrell W. Taylor is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law and Real Estate Law. Darrell W., who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2008. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Darrell W. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.