HOUSTON – Partner Shahmeer Halepota has once again been honored by a legal group as a rising star in the profession.
The National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML), a 30-year-old organization, named Mr. Halepota as its Rising Star Award recipient at the group’s annual conference in Irvine, Calif., this month.
The NAML award is the latest in a string of honors Mr. Halepota has received this year, including speaking at the United Nations.
From Ben & Jerry’s to the Republic of South Sudan, high-profile clients have trusted Mr. Halepota with their most important complex commercial disputes. This year alone, Mr. Halepota has secured a favorable settlement for UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov against an NFT company, won an $80 million partnership arbitration, helped get a “first of its kind” social media influencer copyright litigation dropped against his client and convinced a California court to remove the secrecy veil from Meta employee arbitration agreements.
In September, Mr. Halepota was named to Texas Lawyer’s 2025 Texas Legal Awards list of the best young lawyers in the state. The On the Rise award recognizes Texas’ most promising lawyers under the age of 40. Only 21 attorneys were recognized statewide.
In June, the South Asian Bar Association of North America listed him as one of only five attorneys to receive its 2025 Rising Star Award. And in April, the Asian Pacific Interest Section of the State Bar of Texas gave him the 2025 Best Lawyers Under 40 award.
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 was recognized again by Chambers USA 2025 as among the best in Texas in commercial law and intellectual property; the firm has been listed by Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for 14 years; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer three times; and was dubbed a Texas Powerhouse law firm by Law360.