HOUSTON – Accomplished trial lawyer Tim Shelby has been named a partner in the Houston complex commercial litigation firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C.

“Tim is a person who can connect with jurors, witnesses and clients alike. But he also possesses a superior intellect and amazing legal acumen that allow him to simply take the air out of an opponent’s case,” says AZA founding partner John Zavitsanos. “We’re thrilled he is becoming a partner. We sure wouldn’t want him anywhere else.”

Mr. Zavitsanos credits Mr. Shelby for his work on behalf of an oil field supplier that faced $35 million in exposure when the company hired AZA.

“Within six months of Tim being on the case, the company that sued actually paid our client a multimillion-dollar cash settlement,” says Mr. Zavitsanos.

Mr. Zavitsanos also lauds Mr. Shelby for his uncanny ability to elicit information from just about anyone, including witnesses in an ongoing case where the firm has helped a client uncover a Chinese counterfeiting scheme that now is being probed by federal investigators.

Mr. Shelby focuses on complex commercial litigation, energy litigation, securities litigation, professional liability matters, and real estate disputes. His many professional honors include multiple selections to the Texas Rising Stars list of the state’s top young lawyers.

A graduate of Harvard Law School who served as a teaching fellow in the economics department, Mr. Shelby earned his Masters of Public Service and Administration from the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University, where he was recognized as a Bush Fellow. He earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in economics and political science from Baylor University.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, securities fraud, construction and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in the 2013 listing of the nation’s leading law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

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Mr. Gorman is an acclaimed litigator and former managing partner of a national law firm’s Houston offices. He focuses on aggressive advocacy in high-risk and high-value business disputes in the U.S. and abroad.

Providing extensive experience in complex business litigation and arbitration matters, Mr. Gorman represents both plaintiff and defendant clients in contract, fraud, energy, real estate and intellectual property matters. His legal track record includes work for clients based in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Mr. Gorman’s clients hail from a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, petrochemical, steel, communications, oil field services, medical products, software, accounting, financial services, construction, real estate and manufacturing.

Mr. Gorman’s profile in Chambers USA can be found here, and the AZA firm profile can be found here.

“It’s a pleasure to see the hard work we put in for our clients being recognized by this respected international rating group,” says Mr. Gorman.

Chambers and Partners is recognized worldwide for its thorough guides to the legal profession. The company bases its rankings on thousands of interviews with attorneys and clients to identify those lawyers and law firms that demonstrate the top technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, diligence, commitment and other qualities most valued by clients.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, securities fraud, construction and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in the 2013 listing of the nation’s leading law firms. Fortune 1000 corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service. AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

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HOUSTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., has affirmed a $391 million patent infringement judgment for Versata Software Inc., which was successfully represented by the Houston complex commercial litigation law firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. (or AZA) and co-counsel McKool Smith in a lawsuit against global software company SAP America Inc. and its German-based parent company SAP AG (NYSE:SAP). The judgment is believed to be the largest ever affirmed by the Federal Circuit in a software dispute.

The May 1, 2013, ruling from the Federal Circuit is posted on the court’s website and reported by Bloomberg News.

Austin, Texas-based Versata is a pioneer in front-office enterprise software. The company sued SAP over software used in customized pricing and first won a smaller verdict against SAP in 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The trial judge set aside that verdict and ordered a new trial on damages. Versata then hired AZA to assist as co-counsel for the second trial, and AZA’s team was led by AZA attorneys Demetrios Anaipakos, Amir Alavi and Steven Mitby.

In September 2011, another jury in the Eastern District unanimously awarded Versata $260 million in lost profits and $85 million in reasonable royalties after finding that SAP infringed the Versata patent.

The final judgment of $391 million was affirmed in the Federal Circuit’s ruling in Versata Software Inc. v. SAP America Inc., No. 12-1029, which upheld the trial court ruling in Versata Software Inc., et al. v. SAP America Inc., et al., No. 07-CV-00153.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, securities fraud, construction and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in the 2013 listing of the nation’s leading law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

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Attorney Adam Milasincic, who earned the highest score on the Texas bar in July 2011, joins AZA from one of the nation’s largest firms. Paloma Zepeda, a Harvard Law graduate, joins AZA after working with a large firm in Washington, D.C. Michelle Ahmadian, another graduate of Harvard Law, joins the firm after working at the Dallas office of a large, national firm.

“We’re regularly going up against larger firms in court and getting big wins for clients, and the three new firm attorneys are proof that we’re attracting talent from some of the top legal shops in the country,” says John Zavitsanos, a founding partner of the firm.

Mr. Milasincic is a trial and appellate lawyer who focuses on complex commercial litigation. He was selected by an appellate judge and a panel of practitioners to serve as an editor of the Appellate Advocate, a publication of the State Bar of Texas. Before joining AZA, Mr. Milasincic was a litigator at Baker Botts LLP, where he represented plaintiffs and defendants in lawsuits involving securities regulations, fiduciary duties, partnership disputes, environmental liabilities, pipeline development and various business torts. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as an articles editor for the Virginia Law Review.

Ms. Zepeda is a complex commercial litigator with experience in government and internal investigations, including work on complex international cases. Formerly with the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Ms. Zepeda is a graduate of both Harvard Law School and Harvard College. During law school, she served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Latino Law Review, and as a teaching fellow and chair of the Latino Law, Business and Policy Conference. She is licensed to practice in both New York and the District of Columbia, with her Texas license pending.

Ms. Ahmadian is a trial lawyer with patent litigation and prosecution experience in a variety of technologies, including software, telecommunications, electronics hardware, mechanical arts, and computer networking. A graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a Dean’s Scholar in Legal Research and Writing, Ms. Ahmadian also has a bachelor’s degree with high honors in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the intellectual property and litigation teams at AZA, Ms. Ahmadian practiced at Baker Botts in Dallas. Prior to law school, Ms. Ahmadian applied her science background working as a systems analyst for the information technology consulting firm Deloitte Consulting.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, securities fraud, construction and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in the 2013 listing of the nation’s leading law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

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Last week, the judge in Harris County’s 80^th District Court awarded $453,400 in attorneys’ fees for Plains Pipeline based on arguments from attorneys John Zavitsanos and Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher from Houston’s Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing, P.C. (or AZA).

Two weeks ago, the judge dismissed a BP lawsuit filed in 2011 that sought to force Plains Pipeline to indemnify BP in a Louisiana trespass lawsuit. The Houston case was filed by BP due to a prior lawsuit by landowners who claimed BP trespassed on their property by using an oil pumping station on Grand Terre Island for 26 years without leasing or having any easement on the land. BP sold the pumping station to Plains Pipeline in 2006 before filing the Harris County lawsuit in an attempt to require Plains Pipeline to cover any BP losses. Click here (subscription required) to see a story from Law360 about the case.

In 2012, before AZA was hired, the Court granted BP a summary judgment that required Plains Pipeline to cover BP’s losses, including awarding attorneys’ fees to BP.

That’s when Plains Pipeline hired AZA to step in. Five months after AZA asked for the court’s reconsideration in October 2012, the case was dismissed with attorneys’ fees being awarded to Plains Pipeline instead. AZA made clearer the full terms of the agreements between BP and Plains Pipeline and why BP had no actual claim to indemnification.

“This is a just reversal of fortune for our client. It’s unusual, but entirely appropriate here, to see a defendant granted attorneys’ fees under the declaratory judgment statute,” says Mr. Zavitsanos, a founding partner of AZA.

The case is BP Oil Pipeline Co. v. Plains Pipeline, L.P., No. 2011-39550.

Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, intellectual property, securities fraud, construction and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms in the 2013 listing of the nation’s leading law firms. National corporate counsel named AZA one of the country’s best in client service among law firms serving the Fortune 1000. AZA has been hired on many occasions by the same companies the firm has prevailed against at trial. Read more at http://www.azalaw.com.

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Ms. Zepeda has worked on complex international cases. Formerly with the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Ms. Zepeda is a graduate of both Harvard Law School and Harvard College. In law school, she was editor in chief of the Harvard Latino Law Review, a teaching fellow and chair of the Latino Law, Business and Policy Conference.

She is licensed to practice in both New York State and the District of Columbia, with her Texas license pending.

HER REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE INCLUDES:

• Conducting dozens of international witness interviews in white collar corporate investigations in both English and Spanish.
• Supervising international securities litigation electronic document collection and production for a Fortune 50 company.
• Second chair in multiple examinations at trial, preparing both fact and expert witnesses in a landmark education trial and second-chair and defending depositions in insurance coverage litigation.

Prior to law school, Ms. Zepeda was a consultant with Monitor Group where she prepared quantitative and qualitative analysis to support competitive strategy decisions for retail, pharmaceutical and telecommunications clients. She was a labor relations intern for Major League Baseball, a U.S. Congressional intern and a consultant for the D.C. Department of transportation.

EDUCATION

• Harvard Law School, J.D., 2010
  • Editor in Chief, Harvard Latino Law Review
  • Chair, Latino Law, Business and Policy Conference
  • Teaching Fellow, Sports Law
  • Federalist Society
• Harvard College, A.B., English and African-American Studies, 2006 cum laude
  • Mellon Mays Scholar
  • Homenaje Latino Award Winner
  • Harvard – Institute of Politics – SAC member, run internship program

LICENSES

• New York, 2011
• District of Columbia,  2012

PUBLICATIONS

“U.S. Regulators Penalize Fund Advisers,” co-author, Kirkland & Ellis – Private Equity Newsletter, July 30, 2012

“U.S. Regulators Penalize Fund Advisers,” co-author, The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, July 2, 2012

“U.S. Regulators Penalize Fund Advisers,” co-author, Kirkland & Ellis – Alert, June 12, 2012

“United States Expands Iran Sanctions,” co-author, Kirkland & Ellis – Alert, December 2, 2011

“Top 10 Trade Topics Since the Start of August 2011,” co-author, Kirkland & Ellis – Alert, August 5, 2011

LANGUAGES

• Spanish, Fluent
• Portuguese, Reading Knowledge

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© 2013 Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., Attorneys at Law. All rights reserved

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