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Biography
Wesley Ward is a Texas business litigator and trial attorney. His practice includes a wide variety of complex commercial, personal injury and oil & gas litigation, including trial, arbitration and appellate advocacy. He has represented clients in a wide variety of energy, insurance, manufacturing, legal, construction, medical, and financial industries.
Mr. Ward is a native Houstonian, a fifth-generation Texan, and a graduate of both Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. After graduating as a National Merit Scholar from Texas A&M, Mr. Ward worked as a CPA in the international insurance industry for several years before returning to his true calling as an advocate. Graduating with Honors from the University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Ward was recognized as a member of the Order of Barristers and was awarded the Niemann Cup as the top advocate in his class of several hundred lawyers.
Mr. Ward gained significant litigation, trial, and appellate experience as an attorney at Fulbright & Jaworski, handling a broad docket of oil & gas, personal injury, and complex commercial litigation matters. Prior to joining Watt Beckworth Thompson & Henneman, Mr. Ward owned and managed his own civil litigation firm from 2006 to 2008.
In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, Mr. Ward was recognized through voting by his peers as a “Rising Star” for Texas litigation by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics magazine. In 2007, Mr. Ward was profiled as a "Houston Professional on the Fast Track" by HTexas magazine. In June 2008, HTexas magazine listed Mr. Ward as one of "Houston's Top Lawyers."
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| Areas Of Practice: |
Complex Commercial Litigation
Oil & Gas Litigation
Civil Litigation, Trial and Appeal
Personal Injury Litigation
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| Bar Admissions: |
State of Texas
United States Supreme Court
US District Courts – Texas
Southern District
Northern District
Western District
Eastern District
US District Courts – outside Texas
Eastern District of Michigan
Western District of Oklahoma
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| Education: |
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The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas.
J.D., 1998, with Honors
Order of Barristers
Niemann Cup
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
B.B.A., Accounting, 1991
National Merit Scholar
Walter Lechner Fellow
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| Representative Experience: |
- Lead litigation, arbitration, and trial counsel in various well-damage cases arising from oilfield services on wells in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
- Lead trial and appellate counsel for various non-subscriber workplace injury cases.
- Lead counsel for individual defendant in complex personal injury case involving a special-needs child in a paintball incident at a corporate retreat facility.
- Lead counsel for arbitration, defending financial services company and employee on claims of conversion of client funds.
- Lead counsel defending series of personal injury and property damage claims for allegedly defective design and parts manufacturing for truck-mounted cranes.
- Represented plant owner in two-week arbitration concerning delays and cost overruns during construction of a power plant in Pakistan.
- Lead trial, arbitration, and appellate counsel for Kansas-based franchiser of insurance agencies, defending various claims arising in Brownsville, Texas. Claims involved non-competition, breach of contract, business disparagement, and regulatory issues.
- Represented national acquiring entity defending against $60 Million claim for allegedly fraudulent corporate acquisition.
- Lead trial and appellate counsel for defense of non-subscriber worker injury. Argued and obtained appellate affirmation of take-nothing judgment and trial court's ruling striking all or parts of testimony of two of plaintiff's liability and damages experts.
- Represented plaintiff manufacturing company on claims of defective assembly-line machinery and automation software.
- Represented defendant in trial of commercial insurance bad-faith case in Victoria, Texas.
- Represented defendant at trial of insurance bad-faith case, establishing "staged-theft" fraud defense to plaintiff's insurance claim.
- Lead counsel for approximately 25 Contested Case Hearings before the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission during 1998-99. Each case involved opening statements, presentation of documents, examination and cross-examination of witnesses, and closing arguments.
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| Published Appellate Decisions: |
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Moore v. Memorial Hermann Hosp. Sys., 140 S.W.3d 870 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2004, no pet.).
Lette v. Brooke Corp., 2004 WL 1797578 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2004, no pet.) (memorandum opinion).
IKON Office Solutions, Inc. v. Eifert, 125 S.W.3d 113 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, pet. denied).
Cadle Co. v. Morgan, 2005 WL856901 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, no pet.) (memorandum opinion).
Stiles v. Memorial Hermann Healthcare Sys., 213 S.W.3d 521 (Tex. App. – Houston [1st dist.] 2007, pet. denied).
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