Alberstone, Dan
Dan Alberstone has nearly 30 years of broad experience prosecuting and defending major commercial and complex business litigation matters. Alberstone has been selected as lead trial counsel by both institutional and individual clients in their most significant and high-profile matters, including partnership cases, real estate cases, breach of contract cases, entertainment cases, environmental cases, and cases alleging unfair business practices.
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Baron & Budd shareholder Steve Baron is an accomplished litigator known for his tenacity in pursuing justice for victims of corporate misconduct. Baron leads one of the nations’ most aggressive litigation teams, representing clients in cases with some of the largest verdicts and settlements for people with mesothelioma and asbestos diseases as well as those who have been harmed by unsafe pharmaceuticals.
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Laura Baughman’s position at Baron & Budd calls upon her to exercise her knowledge as an attorney and a civil engineer. As managing shareholder of the firm’s Qui Tam litigation team, Baughman focuses on strategies to ferret out and litigate against those who have perpetrated fraud against the government.
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Russell W. Budd is a major force in the world of plaintiff’s attorneys, having devoted his three decade career to championing the rights of people and communities injured by corporate malfeasance. Currently Budd presides over one of the nation’s largest plaintiff’s firms, Baron & Budd, PC, headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
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Carla Burke, an attorney and shareholder with Baron & Budd’s water contamination litigation group, began her legal career with the firm’s appellate section. She has a gift for writing and oral advocacy that has been very persuasive in the MTBE Multi-District Litigation cases. Carla has also authored and presented numerous papers and presentations on the topics of toxic tort and water contamination litigation and premises liability law.
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Shareholder Denyse Clancy joined the firm in 2004, already an accomplished litigator focusing on injuries caused by exposure to benzene and other toxic solvents and chemicals. In addition to her toxic tort practice, she has litigated medical malpractice, breach of contract, fraud, product defect and personal injury cases, as well as tax matters.
Click to read more about Clancy, Denyse F..Colley, Christopher
Christopher Colley has dedicated his career to protecting the rights of asbestos victims and seeking compensation for their injuries. Chris worked with the Dallas-based law firm Silber Pearlman until the firm consolidated with Baron & Budd in 2008.
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Chad Cotten’s convictions as a lawyer are founded on his resolute belief that the law is the bedrock of civilization and the cornerstone of the democracy in which we live. “The law is how we order society without resorting to violence and brute force. It protects all people, not just those with power,” he says. “Therefore, the law is very important to me, and the best way to participate in the process of law is to practice it.”
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Irma Espino is an attorney with Baron & Budd’s water contamination litigation group, where she works primarily with clients who have been harmed by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. In 2004, she left the firm to attend law school, where she received honors in Litigation Skills and Trial Advocacy Program and was a member of the Business Law Review. She rejoined Baron & Budd in 2010.
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Celeste Evangelisti is passionate about clean water–so much so that she has devoted the past several years of her career to representing individuals, municipalities, and water suppliers seeking clean-up costs for contamination damaging community water supplies. Hard-driving and tenacious, her legal prowess earned her the honor of being named a “Texas Super Lawyer” (Thompson Reuters, 2003-2005).
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Ann Harper has spent her career representing workers who have developed mesothelioma and other serious illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos. She is an attorney in Baron & Budd’s settlement department, where she works through the issues necessary to get the firm’s clients compensation in their lawsuits and to pursue their claims through bankruptcy trust funds.
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A hard-working and determined advocate, shareholder Stephen Johnston has served Baron & Budd clients since 1997. Stephen puts his degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences to good use as an attorney with the firm’s water contamination litigation section, representing individuals and communities seeking clean-up costs for contaminated water supplies. He also served for several years in the law firm’s asbestos litigation group.
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J. Todd Kale is a shareholder with Baron & Budd. He joined the firm in 2008 when the firm consolidated with Dallas-based law firm Silber Pearlman. Todd worked with mesothelioma sufferers and other victims of asbestos-related disease at Silber Pearlman from 1993 and continues that work at Baron & Budd.
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John Langdoc was a scientist before he was a lawyer. At Baylor College of Medicine, Langdoc researched human neuroscience. Earlier, in graduate school, he researched how prescription drugs like Prozac can cause brain defects in babies born to mothers taking the medications.
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J. Burton LeBlanc, IV is known throughout Louisiana as a champion of the people and an advocate for individuals who have been harmed by toxic exposure or workplace hazards. Mr. LeBlanc’s background covers the spectrum of environmental law and securities litigation. He has extensive experience litigating complex cases and has represented the State of Louisiana in cases against the oil and gas industry involving the underpayment of severance taxes and royalties.
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As a champion of the underdog, Baron and Budd Associate Steven A. Lopez came to the firm to represent people first. Lopez is one of the newest additions to the asbestos litigation group. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas, Steven went on to pursue his law degree at Baylor University School of Law. While at Baylor, he served as an Executive Editor of the Baylor Law Review and was a 2012 National Champion at the American College of Trial Lawyers National Trial Competition.
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Mitchell McCrea is an attorney in Baron & Budd’s water contamination litigation group. Mitchell has always been intensely aware of the need for access to clean water. He grew up among farmers and ranchers in southern New Mexico, southern California and southwest Texas, where water was a scarce and precious commodity.
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Over the nearly two decades that he has practiced law, Cary McDougal has proven to be a formidable trial lawyer with unflinching resolve to serve his clients. Cary has been lead attorney in over 75 jury trials in state and federal court. He has tried cases involving such diverse areas of the law as premises liability, product liability, general personal injury, medical malpractice, insurance litigation, and environmental litigation.
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Natasha Mehta is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Baron and Budd. Her practice includes commercial litigation and class action cases. While completing law school, Ms. Mehta’s interest in international law took her to Tokyo where she studied for a semester at Temple University School of Law’s Japan campus.
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Marty Morris was an attorney with a well-known commercial litigation firm for several years before joining Baron & Budd in 1999. He now works with the firm’s asbestos litigation group, representing people with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases and assisting with the oversight of the firm’s intake department and other firm-wide special projects.
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Mark Pifko has made a name for himself as a staunch advocate for consumers’ rights. Since joining Baron and Budd’s Los Angeles office in 2011, Pifko has taken on powerful corporations on cases involving false advertising, fraud and scientific and technical disputes. Pifko’s practice is focused on representing plaintiffs in complex class action matters.
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Cristina Sanchez had originally planned on going to medical school, but her work at a small plaintiffs’ firm after college inspired her to instead pursue a career in law. Cristina worked for the same firm while in law school and joined Baron & Budd in 2005. “I came to Baron & Budd because I enjoy doing plaintiffs’ work and wanted to continue doing so. It is also such a great firm that I knew I would learn a lot by working with such experienced and respected attorneys.”
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Education Loyola University School of Law, Juris Doctorate, summa cum laude, 1991 (Articles Editor, Loyola Law Review, 1990-1991) University of New Orleans, Bachelor of Science (Chemistry), 1985 Bar & Court Admissions Texas Louisiana Professional Background Baron & Budd, P.C., Of Counsel (present), Shareholder (2003-2006), Associate (2000-2003) Silber Pearlman, P.C., Partner (2000), Associate (1996-1999) Powell & [...]
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Thomas M. Sims has spent much of his career at Baron & Budd litigating complex environmental cases ranging from water contamination to air pollution. Though he has recently expanded his practice to represent public entities in hotel occupancy tax cases and whistleblowers under the state and federal claims act, Sims continues to work on serious environmental cases such as the Gulf Coast Oil Spill.
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Peter Smith brings a wealth of real estate and commercial expertise to Baron and Budd. Whether it’s representing individuals or corporations in trial or arbitration, Peter works to reach the best solution for his clients. His practice focuses on cases involving property, partnership disputes, fraud, antitrust, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair business practices, and copyright.
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Scott Summy is a shareholder at Baron & Budd, one of the largest and oldest firms in the United States that practices environmental litigation. Mr. Summy heads up the firm’s Water Contamination Practice Group, whose practice is dedicated to complex water contamination cases all over the country.
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Associate Christine Tamer is the newest addition to Baron & Budd’s asbestos litigation group. Tamer, a 2011 graduate from the University of Texas School of Law, joined Baron & Budd following a summer clerkship with the firm. During her term as a summer associate, Tamer helped draft a brief to the California Court of Appeals. Thanks to Tamer’s work, Baron & Budd attorneys won the appeal and the case was ordered back to the lower court.
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Roland Tellis co-manages Baron & Budd’s Los Angeles office. His practice focuses on complex, high-profile litigation, including consumer class actions, financial fraud, business torts, corporate misconduct, automobile defect, food labeling, false advertising, securities fraud, and environmental contamination.
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Allen Vaught has more than 12 years of experience working as a litigator on complex, multi-party litigation. Vaught currently manages the Healthcare Third Party Liability Section and the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) Section for Baron & Budd. In addition to his work as an attorney, Vaught also served as member of the Texas House of Representatives and in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S. Army captain.
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Natalie Velasco began working part-time as an administrative assistant for another plaintiffs’ law firm when she was just 19 years old. At Silber Pearlman, which has since consolidated with Baron & Budd, Natalie worked in special projects in several parts of the firm. Natalie became intrigued by the litigation process and quickly realized that she had a passion for the practice of law—and in particular, for representing injured workers.
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Attorney Bryan Warrick works with Baron and Budd clients in negotiating the settlement process. Since he joined the settlement group, Warrick has assisted Baron and Budd clients in obtaining compensation through asbestos settlements, verdicts and trusts. Prior to that, he spent a year with Baron and Budd’s asbestos bankruptcy team where he helped asbestos exposure victims in Louisiana receive damages from bankrupt companies.
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