As a business litigator primarily, Jennifer works closely with clients to solve problems of all types and sizes. She has broad experience handling construction disputes, defending employers against wrongful termination and wage claims, pursuing and defending breach of contract cases, and handling a variety of disputes related to commercial real estate transactions. Jennifer also negotiates construction contracts, including various AIA forms, and advises construction clients on issues that arise from project start to finish. She also routinely advises clients on non-litigation employment law issues, including developing and updating employee handbooks and providing training on a number of topics, as well as negotiating executive compensation and severance agreements. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer has been called on by clients to offer advice on the multitude of employment law issues that arose and continue to arise related thereto. Jennifer currently serves as a director of the firm and heads the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice groups, which includes the Commercial Litigation, Business Restructuring and Bankruptcy, Construction, and Employment Law practice groups.
While in law school, Jennifer served as President of the SMU Student Bar Association. That tradition of leadership continued when Jennifer became involved in the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers (DAYL) when she began practicing in 2010, and in 2018, she served as the President of DAYL. Inspired by the Good, Better, Best poem she learned from her grandmother growing up, Jennifer focused on making young lawyers the “good, better, best” they can be, establishing the Second Chair Program, which gave an opportunity for young civil lawyers to sit second chair with seasoned criminal defense lawyers at trial, and developing the Continuing the Conversation Interview Series, which focused on keeping women lawyers in the pipeline to become equity partners and to obtain judicial positions. In 2020, Jennifer served as VP Awards Reception for the Dallas Women Lawyers Association (DWLA) and pivoted to change the format of the event from the traditional in-person gathering to a high-quality virtual production. She currently serves as VP Programming for DWLA and is working to bring more relevant and dynamic programming to DWLA’s members this year.
Jennifer has been selected as a D Magazine “Best Lawyer” and to D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers Under 40.” She has been named to the Texas Rising Stars list by Thomson Reuters as published in Texas Monthly from 2014 through 2022. Recently, Jennifer was awarded the Brenda Tso Rising Young Lawyer Award by the Texas Women Lawyers.
- Representation of general contractors in completion, lien, and payment disputes on a variety of different projects.
- Prosecution of claims on behalf of commercial landlords for breach of lease and related causes of action.
- Representation of commercial lenders in workout and other collection matters.
- Defense and prosecution of former employees who have left their former companies and taken confidential information and trade secrets that belonged to the business.
- Representation of interior design firm in dispute related to alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, obtaining a favorable settlement before trial.
- Counsel for multi-faceted telecommunications technology firm in nationwide dispute with AT&T, including first chair trial experience before various state public utility commissions and appearances before federal courts throughout the Southeast.
- Representation of subcontractors in disputes with owners and general contractors for nonpayment of goods and services provided to commercial construction projects.
- Defense of companies in discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Texas Labor Code.
- Counsel for French law firm in dispute with American investors over real property transaction.
- J.D., cum laude, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Dallas, Texas, 2010
- Dean’s List
- Phi Alpha Delta
- Student Attorney, SMU Civil Clinic, Spring 2010
- Student Member, William Mac Taylor Inn of Court, 2009-10
- National Hispanic Moot Court Team, Fall 2009
- National Entertainment Law Moot Court Team, Fall 2008
- Student Bar Association, President
- B.A. Government, with honors, University of Texas, 2006
- Phi Beta Kappa
- President, Order of Omega
Admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
- Dallas Bar Association, 2010-present
- DBA WE LEAD Alumnae Mentor, 2021
- Board of Directors, 2017-2018
- DBA WE LEAD Inaugural Class Member, 2018
- Business Litigation Section
- Construction Law Section
- Labor & Employment Law Section
- Dallas Women Lawyers Association, Member, 2015-present
- VP Programming, 2021
- VP Awards Reception, 2020
- Director at Large, 2019
- Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, 2010-present
- President, 2018
- President-Elect, 2017
- Vice President, 2016
- DAYL Foundation, Chair, 2016
- Treasurer, 2015
- Board of Directors, 2013-17
- Finance Committee, 2015
- Judiciary Committee, Co-Chair, 2013-16
- CLE Committee, Co-Chair/Board Liaison, 2014-16
- Attorneys for Career Advancement, Board Liaison, 2015
- Trial Boot Camp Planning Committee Member, 2015-17
- DAYL Charity Ball, Co-Chair, 2014-16
- Leadership Class, 2013-14
- Membership Committee, Co-Chair, 2014
- Inroads Committee, Co-Chair, 2013-14
- A Walk Through the Courts CLE Planning Committee Member, 2013-14
- Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Foundation, Fellow, 2013-present
- Dallas Bar Association, Fellow, 2018-present
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2016-present
- American Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2019-present
- Attorneys Serving the Community, Member, 2014-present
- Texas Women Lawyers Association, 2017-present
- William “Mac” Taylor Inn of Court, 2017-present
- American Bar Association, 2010-present
- Federal Bar Association, 2010-present
- D Magazine “Best Lawyers in Dallas” 2021-2023
- D Magazine “Best Lawyer’s Under 40,” 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023
- Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, published in Texas Monthly, 2022
- Texas Rising Stars, Thomson Reuters, published in Texas Monthly, 2014-2022
- Dallas Bar Association WE LEAD Program, Inaugural Class Member, 2018
- Featured Performer at the Dallas Bar Association Inaugural Ball, 2018
- Dallas Women Lawyers Association, Rising Raggio Award, 2016
- Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, Outstanding Director Award, 2014
- SMU Dedman School of Law Emerging Leaders Board, Inaugural Board Member, 2017-present
- Junior League of Dallas
- The Family Place Partners, Board of Directors, 2014
- Alpha Phi, Collegiate Chapter Manager for South Quadrant
- Land the Job You Want, Speaker for SMU Law Program, February 2021
- COVID: The Latest Employment Law Developments, Speaker for the Dallas Bar Association, April 2020
- Continuing the Conversation, Texas Bar Journal, March 2020 Issue
- Commercial Landlord’s Remedies for a Tenant’s Breach, Speaker for the UT CLE Leasing Institute, November 9, 2018
- Challenges Facing Women in Leadership, Speaker for the Amarillo Area Women’s Bar Association, May 11, 2018
- Never Miss a Deadline (Again), DAYL Dicta, July 2017
- Challenges Facing Women in Leadership, Speaker at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, June 20, 2017
- Dealing with Combative Attorneys, Panel Moderator, June 9, 2016
- Asserting and Defending Privilege, DAYL Dicta, December 2015
- What to Expect When You’re Expecting…Bar Results: Being a Happy Lawyer, Panel Member, September 29, 2015
- Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, DAYL Dicta, July 2014
- Business Development: How Do I Get Started?, Panel Moderator, January 23, 2014
- Don’t Fall Into the Traps of the New Rules, DAYL Dicta, May 2013
- Author of Northern District of Texas Case Updates, published by the SMU Science and Technology Law Review (https://studentorgs.law.smu.edu/Science-and-Technology-Law-Review/N-D–Texas-Update.aspx), for the following cases:
- Ceramic Performance Worldwide, LLC v. Motor Works, LLC, et al. (2010 WL 234804)
- EsNtion Records, Inc v. JonesTM, Inc. et al. (2009 WL 3805827)
- Chevron Intellectual Property, L.L.C. v. Allen (2009 WL 2596610)
- Challenges under OCSLA and the Future of Offshore Drilling under the Obama Administration, SMU Science and Technology Law Review, 13 SMU Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 55, Fall 2009
