HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MehaffyWeber expands its reach in Central and South Texas by adding a San Antonio office. The San Antonio office is located at 4040 Broadway Street, Suite 522, San Antonio, Texas 78209, and the phone number is 210.824.0009. Keith O’Connell, Frank Avery, David Coates, James Goldsmith, and Elizabeth O’Connell Perez bring nearly 100 years of legal experience to the firm. These attorneys will add valuable depth in the practice areas of product liability, labor and employment, wrongful death and personal injury, oil and gas, professional liability, and construction defects.
“We are excited to expand into the San Antonio and Valley areas and to do so with such skilled partners,” says Managing Shareholder Bob Black.
About the team
- Keith B. O’Connell joins as a Shareholder and has over 35 years of experience litigating in State and Federal Court in the areas of product liability, professional liability, wrongful death and personal injury, Title IX and Higher Education Law, Labor and Employment, Business Disputes, and Construction defects. A past president of the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, O’Connell has received numerous honors and awards, including the Fred H. Sievert Outstanding Defense Bar Leader in the Nation Award by the Defense Research Institute (DRI). He has been rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale Hubble for over 25 years (the highest peer review rating possible), and has been a Texas Super Lawyer for six straight years (limited to 5% of Texas attorneys). He is a frequent contributing author and guest speaker. O’Connell graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in English in 1978. He received his Juris Doctor in 1981 from St. Mary’s University School of Law where he also served as the Senior Associate Editor for the St. Mary’s Law Journal from 1980 to 1981.
- Ernest “Frank” Avery joins as a Shareholder and practices in the areas of personal injury, construction defects, consumer law and employment. He has over 31 years of experience trying lawsuits throughout Texas in all phases of complex civil litigation. Avery is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Texas Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Counsel of San Antonio. Avery received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1981. He went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas in 1985, where he was a member of the Arkansas Law Review and served as Articles Editor. Avery was named one of San Antonio’s best lawyers by San Antonio Scene Magazine for a second time this year.
- David Coates joins as an associate. He is a civil litigation attorney with experience in professional liability, products liability, wrongful death and personal injury, labor and employment, and construction defect cases. Coates began his career at the State of Texas Attorney General’s office in the Civil Rights Division, where he represented the State of Texas and state law enforcement agencies and employees. Coates received his Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Houston.
- James W. Goldsmith, Jr. joins as an associate. He has experienced success at trials in multiple venues across the State of Texas, including state and federal courts, in just eleven years of licensed law practice. He has tried or resolved hundreds of cases ranging from wrongful death, personal injury, construction defects, banking, transportation, insurance coverage, premises liability, commercial collections, real estate title disputes and defamation/slander. Goldsmith graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication in 1991. He received his Juris Doctor in 2006 from Baylor School of Law where he participated in the Order of the Barristers and Interscholastic Moot Court Team.
- Elizabeth O’Connell Perez joins as an associate. She is a civil trial attorney with experience representing clients in various civil litigation matters related to labor and employment, consumer law, professional liability and premises liability. She actively participates in the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, serving on the Board of Directors as the Vice President of San Antonio. In 2015, O’Connell Perez was awarded the first annual Young Lawyer Award by the Texas Association of Defense Counsel for outstanding service, leadership, and dedication. She graduated from Texas A&M University-College Station with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Speech Communication in 2009, and from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a Master of Science Degree in Secondary Education. In 2014, O’Connell Perez received a Juris Doctor Degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law where she worked for the St. Mary’s Center for Legal and Social Justice, and served as the Solicitations Editor for The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice.
All five attorneys were previously members of O’Connell & Avery, LLP, an AV rated Preeminent civil litigation firm by Martindale Hubbell®.
About MehaffyWeber, P.C.
Founded in 1946 by two well-known trial lawyers, MehaffyWeber has evolved into a broad-based regional law firm with strong emphasis in commercial, pharmaceutical, labor and employment, health care, premises, product liability, toxic tort, and environmental litigation. The firm’s trial lawyers are licensed to practice in state and federal courts throughout Texas, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, and Oklahoma. The firm functions as national and regional counsel for several clients. MehaffyWeber has represented 1/3 of the current Fortune 100 companies in complex litigation and has handled the legal interests of clients from multi-national corporations, to businesses of all size to individuals.
For more information on MehaffyWeber, please visit http://www.mehaffyweber.com
