Mikal C. Watts, Founding Partner Watts Guerra LLP CONTACT INFORMATION

Transcription

1 Mikal C. Watts, Founding Partner Watts Guerra LLP CONTACT INFORMATION Watts Guerra LLP Dominion/Corporate Office 4 Dominion Drive, Building 3, Suite 100 San Antonio, Texas Office: [email protected] Web: EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Watts Guerra LLP (and its predecessor firms) San Antonio, Texas Position Details: Capital Partner, Owner Dates of Employment: 1997 present David L. Perry & Associates/Perry & Haas, LLP Corpus Christi, Texas Position Details: Associate Attorney, Partner Dates of Employment: Supreme Court of Texas The Honorable Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice Austin, Texas Position Details: Briefing Attorney Dates of Employment: EDUCATION Graduate University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas Dates: Degree: Juris Doctorate with Honors; graduated law school in two years, at age 21

2 Undergraduate The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas Dates: Degree: Bachelor of Arts with High Honors; graduated college in two years, Phi Beta Kappa PROFESSIONAL LICENSES Admitted to practice law Texas, 1989 Supreme Court of Texas Admitted, 1989 United States Supreme Court Admitted, 1989 United States District Court, Southern District of Texas Admitted, 1990 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Admitted, 1990 United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas Admitted, 1997 United States District Court, Northern District of Texas Admitted, 1999 United States District Court, Western District of Texas Admitted, 1999 Board Certified, Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization Certified, 2000 Admitted Pro Hac Vice in Alabama, California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, and Washington SELECTED PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND PRESS HONORS Martindale-Hubbel AV Rated Lawyer Texas Super Lawyers, (every year of the award s existence) Top 10 Super Lawyers in Texas, 2009 Top 100 Super Lawyers in Texas, 2003 Impact Player of the Year, Texas Lawyer Top 15 Go To Law Firms in the U.S. three our of four years One of ten firms on The National Law Journal s 2013 Litigation Boutique Hot List One of the 10 most successful young litigators in America National Law Journal, 2002 Top 40 Under 40 Recognized as one of the best lawyers of any age for Plaintiffs, National Law Journal, 2002

3 PRESS Mikal Watts is a courtroom pit bull, a superstar personal-injury attorney.. Personal-injury law is a game for alpha dogs and Watts is the biggest canine on the block. His chief weapons: a sharply analytical mind that even his adversaries admire, and a competitive streak that doesn t just rest. San Antonio Express- News, March 1, 2013 A rising star of the Plaintiff s bar. Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2004 Watts is so smart he could debate three sides and win four of them. Confident to the point of swagger, he could, when it suited him careen from abject charm to analytical tools, vials of wrath and tearful indignation all in the same breath. Tragic Indifference, One Man s Battle with the Auto Industry over the Dangers of SUVs, Adam L. Penenberg (2003) Watts is making a mark in establishing benchmark rates for settlement in major tort litigation, and is seen as having almost mystic powers in a courtroom. Texas Lawyer, May 3, 2003 Watts has soared to the top of the highly competitive personal injury law business. USA Today, March 12, 2003 PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS American Association for Justice Leaders Forum Texas Trial Lawyers Association Foundation Member Statewide Fundraising Committee Board of Directors American Bar Association Former Tort and Insurance Practice Committee Former Vice-Chair of Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee Former Chairman of Legislative Committee Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Former Member, Board of Directors College of the State Bar of Texas State Bar of Texas

4 SELECT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Watts has authored and presented over 100 Continuing Legal Education articles around the world Litigating Oil and Gas Cases University of Texas School of Law s Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law CLE Pradaxa Litigation Update American Association for Justice, Pradaxa Litigation Group Meeting/AAJ Winter Convention Picking Your Jury by Building the Bridge from the Living Room to the Courtroom Choosing and Courting a Jury Course: Legends in the Courtroom, State Bar of Texas CLE 2012 BP Oil Spill MDL 2179 From Mass Disaster to Mass Payment TEX-ABOTA (Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates) CLE Pradaxa MDL Litigation Update Mass Torts Made Perfect Presenting a Plaintif s Case to a Jury: Voir Dire to Closing State Bar of Texas, Soaking up Some CLE Litigation Course 2011 New Approaches to Damages for Juries Texas Bar CLE Advanced Personal Injury Law Course Voir Dire to Close: Talking to a Jury State Bar of Texas, Soaking up Some CLE Litigation Course Tort Reform San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association Luncheon REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

5 2012 In Re: Pradaxa (Dabigatran Etexilate) Products Liability Litigations, MDL No Role: Co-Lead Counsel, Plaintiffs Executive Committee, Plaintiffs Steering Committee 2010 MDL 2179, Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" (New Orleans, Louisiana) Role: Plaintiffs Steering Committee trial team, Settlement Coordinator 2008 In Re: Levaquin Product Liability Litigation MDL 1943; John Schedin v. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Civil No (JRT), In the United States District Court, District of Minnesota Role: Hired by the Plaintiffs Steering Committee to try the first Levaquin bellwether case in the country and obtain the first and only Plaintiff s verdict 2002 Mario A. Galvan Castro v. Ford Motor Company, et al, Cause No C, In the 197th Judicial District Court, Cameron County, Texas Summary: The first verdict in the country involving defects in the roof of Ford s 2000-vintage F-series pick-up truck Bailey v. Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone/Firestone Summary: Settlement on the eve of what was the first national post-recall trial in the tread separation/vehicle stability cases. Role: The coordination of hundreds of cases against Firestone and Ford for injuries caused by Firestone Wilderness AT tire failures, which led Ford Explorers to rollover, including a record settlement amount and public apologies from both Ford and Firestone in Donna Bailey v. Ford & Firestone 2001 Helen Rupp and Bernard Rupp v. Sulzer Orthopedics, Inc., Cause No , In the County Court at Law Number 4, Nueces County, Texas Summary: The first plaintiffs verdict in the country involving faulty hip implants manufactured by Sulzer Orthopedics.

6 Role: Led trial team, achieved first plaintiff s verdict in the country Sanchez, Margarita "Margie," Sanchez, et al v. Parke-Davis, et al, Case No F, In the 214th District Court, Nueces County, Texas Summary: The first plaintiff s verdict in the country involving the drug Rezulin. PERSONAL INFORMATION & INTERESTS Born: Corpus Christi, Texas, 1967 Family: Interests: Tammy Watts, wife of over 20 years Taylor Watts, daughter Hailey Watts, daughter Brandon Watts, son Spending time with my wife and our three children Texas Longhorn football games San Antonio Spurs basketball games