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Education and Honors
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J.D. (with high honors), The University of Texas School of Law, 1993 Order of the Coif
Associate Editor, Texas Law Review
Chancellors
Townes-Rice Scholar
B.A. ( summa cum laude), history, Yale University, 1989 Phi Beta Kappa
Listed in Chambers USA, 2007 - 2010
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2005 - 2010
Recognized by Law & Politics as a "Texas Super Lawyer," 2003 - 2009
Named a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" by H Texas, 2004
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Admissions and Affiliations
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Practice Areas
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Concentration Civil appellate law
Summary Macey Reasoner Stokes is head of the firm's appellate section. She has handled a wide variety of civil appeals and extraordinary proceedings in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits, the Supreme Court of Texas, the Arkansas Supreme Court and several of the intermediate Texas courts of appeals. Her experience includes a broad range of interlocutory appeals, amicus curiae briefs and preserving error at the trial level.
Ms. Stokes has been Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1998. She served as a briefing attorney to Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1993 to 1994.
Representative Engagements
- Successful appeal of judgment against oil and gas operator, resulting in holding that lease termination did not automatically terminate lessor's participation in validly formed unit (Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Sheppard, 52 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 130 (Tex. Nov. 21, 2008))
- Successful petition for writs of mandamus and prohibition to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which ordered circuit court to dismiss putative class action against gas utility (CenterPoint Energy, Inc. v. Miller County Circuit Court, 372 Ark. 343 (Ark. 2008))
- Successful appeal establishing the rule that as a matter of law, a refiner that sets a commercially reasonable price applicable to all similarly situated dealers complies with its duty to set prices in good faith under UCC section 2-305(2) (Shell Oil Co. v. HRN, Inc., 144 S.W.3d 429 (Tex. 2004))
- Successful defense of the appeal of the dismissal of franchisees' claims against refiner for constructive termination and nonrenewal under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (Abrams Shell v. Shell Oil Co., 343 F.3d 482 (5th Cir. 2003))
- Successful appeal establishing a new rule of law that under the discovery rule, a claim for professional malpractice against an auditor accrues when the plaintiff learns of an injury caused by wrongful conduct, not when the plaintiff learns of the auditor's involvement in the wrongful conduct (KPMG Peat Marwick v. Harrison County Housing Fin. Corp., 988 S.W.2d 746 (Tex. 1999))
- Successful petition for writ of mandamus resulting in the vacatur of the trial court's sua sponte transfer of venue of the claims of hundreds of products liability plaintiffs (In re Masonite Corp., 997 S.W.2d 194 (Tex. 1999) (orig. proceeding))
Publications, Speeches and Presentations
- "Fifth Circuit Update," 16th Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals, The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, June 2006 (Martha Newton, co-author)
- Moderator, "Special Considerations in Handling Appeals From Jury Verdicts," 20th Annual Federal Practice and Advocacy Seminar, New Orleans, April 2005
- "Important Things to Know About Postverdict and Postjudgment Motions in Texas State Court," Ten-Minute Mentors, video presentation on the Web site of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, 2005
- "Appellate Issues That Affect Trial Judges," 2004 Harris County Judicial Education Conference, San Antonio, July 2004 (paper co-authored by Karlene Poll)
- "State Court Procedures Take on a Federal Flavor: Review of Damages for Excessiveness," 14th Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals, The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, June 2004 (paper co-authored by David Rodi)
- Co-Chair and Moderator, "Practicing Before the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals," Appellate Practice Institute, Houston Bar Association, Houston, May 2004
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