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Taylor M. Hicks Partner, Hicks Thomas LLP

Education: University of Houston (BBA, 1966); University of Houston Law Center (J.D., with highest honors, 1969) (Houston Law Review); Judicial Clerkship, Honorable Ben C. Connally, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Areas of Specialty: Commercial litigation with extensive experience as lead counsel in approximately 100 jury trials.

Representative Cases/Clients:

• Gas Pipeline Take or Pay Litigation. Lead counsel in numerous cases involving pipelines' obligations to pay for gas not taken. Conducted favorable settlements in some cases; tried two cases to jury with take-nothing judgments in favor of pipeline clients.
• In re Oil Antitrust Litigation. Defended Burlington Resources in industry-wide cases involving payment of royalties based on posted prices. Conducted extensive pretrial discovery and negotiated a favorable settlement.
• Kaiser Aluminum Chemical Company. Served as lead trial counsel in all South Texas asbestos cases. Of the three cases taken to trial, received finding of no liability in every case.
• Chevron Inc. v. Southern Pacific Railroad, Inc. Trial counsel for railroad regarding the transportation obligations in a contract for carriage of polypropylene. Obtained a court ruling in favor of SP, greatly reducing the transportation obligations.
• Newby v. Enron Corp et al. Ongoing representation of Merrill Lynch in federal securities litigation arising from the collapse of Enron.

Accomplishments/Honors: Named one of the best attorneys in Business Litigation, Texas Monthly magazine and Texas Super Lawyers magazine, (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006); Fellow, Houston Bar Foundation.

Direct Line: 713.547.9102
Email: thicks@hicks-thomas.com