HOUSTON – Weining Bai, Kyle Poelker and Paul Turkevich have been named new partners at AZA.
All three have been named Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch by The Best Lawyers in America, as Texas Rising Stars by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers, or were named to both lists.
“This is a talented trio of new partners. All three have proved themselves to be extraordinary in courtroom successes with juries and judges,” said John Zavitsanos, managing partner of the firm.
Mr. Bai is a trial lawyer with extensive experience in patent litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants across a variety of forums and technologies, in trade secrets litigation and in a variety of other types of commercial litigation.
He has handled cases in China as well as here at home in the United States. He tried and won a jury verdict as first-chair trial counsel on behalf of a Houston area healthcare company, defeating a seven-figure damages claim in which the plaintiff also sought punitive damages.
He has been named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Texas Rising Stars and Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation.
Mr. Poelker handles all types of complex commercial litigation in state and federal court. He has experience in insurance recovery litigation representing corporate policyholders seeking coverage from their insurers. Also, he litigated consumer protection and antitrust actions for the State of Missouri.
For example, Mr. Poelker successfully represented a healthcare client by convincing a federal district judge to reverse an administrative law judge’s ruling that could have excluded the healthcare business from participating in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare or Medicaid, for 15 years.
He has been named to Texas Rising Stars for excellence in business litigation. Before joining AZA, Mr. Poelker worked as a litigation associate at Gilbert LLP, an insurance litigation boutique in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Turkevich focuses on commercial litigation and has experience representing businesses and individuals in trade secrets, breach of contract, employment and environmental cases.
For example, he represented a construction company accused of damaging a retaining wall in the Port of Houston and secured his client’s early dismissal after a few months of being retained. He also represented a businesswoman in multiple defamation cases, including drafting two winning briefs to the Texas First Court of Appeal.
He has been named to the Texas Rising Stars list. Before joining AZA, he served as a law clerk to Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The partnerhsips become official in January.
AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, healthcare, intellectual property and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by Chambers USA 2024 as among the best in Texas in commercial law and intellectual property; has been listed by Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for 13 years; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer three times; and was previously dubbed a Texas Powerhouse law firm by Law360.