Wright Close & Barger, LLP

Firm Details:

Wright Close & Barger (WCB) offers its clients wide-ranging expertise in commercial and business litigation, insurance coverage, intellectual property, serious personal injury and products liability, and employment discrimination cases. The firm's eleven board-certified appellate lawyers and three board-certified trial lawyers give it a perspective unmatched by any comparable firm. WCB regularly appears in trial as appellate counsel - and has done so over 100 times in the past 4 years, in cases all over Texas and in many other states. The WCB team's breadth of experience gives the firm the ability to understand which paths are important to pursue and which are unlikely to be fruitful. The firm’s philosophy is that experience, skill, and tenacity, properly applied, will yield outstanding results. This philosophy is brought to bear on every case, saving their clients time and money. The firm's team can take complex cases and present them concisely to a judge or a jury in the limited time typically allowed at a trial or an oral argument.

Firm Overview:

WCB lawyers have successfully handled on appeal hundreds of the largest verdicts in Texas. Its trial lawyers have won verdicts in serious personal injury, oil and gas, intellectual property, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract cases.

Appeals:

Attention to the appeal must start in the trial court, preferably before the trial begins. While the trial lawyer focuses on winning the jury verdict, the appellate lawyer has an eye towards the appeal. WCB appellate lawyers can help trial lawyers remain focused by taking responsibility for matters including pretrial motions, mandamus petitions and interlocutory appeals, research on special legal and evidentiary issues, and critical work on the court’s jury charge. Many WCB attorneys clerked for state or federal courts. Tom Wright, Jessica Barger, Russ Hollenbeck, Brad Snead, Jim Marrow, Rachel Stinson, Natasha Taylor, Marie Jamison, Brian Cathey, Heidi Gumienny, and Kelley Clark Morris are Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Eva Guzman and Wanda Fowler bring 35 years of appellate judicial experience to each case. Unlike appellate lawyers who never tried a case, WCB's lawyers can team up with trial counsel to seamlessly represent the client's best interests.

Please go to https://www.wrightclosebarger.com/practices/our-appeals/ to read about our representative appellate matters.

Trials:

WCB's lawyers have successfully tried oil & gas, patent, trade secret, breach of trust, breach of contract, and catastrophic personal injury cases all over Texas, in both state and federal courts. Howard Close, Randy Owens, and Tom Wright are board certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and along with the rest of the WCB trial team, are regularly in the courtroom. The strength of the WCB trial team is the breadth of its experience and the diversity of its practice. Since just 2019, WCB attorneys have successfully tried and prosecuted a commercial dispute against a major oil company, prosecuted a will contest, defended a racial discrimination case, defended a personal injury electrocution case, defended a construction defect case, arbitrated to a successful conclusion a complex insurance coverage matter, and successfully litigated numerous other matters by dispositive motions.

Please go to https://www.wrightclosebarger.com/practices/our-trials/ to read about WCB representative trial matters.

Clients say:

“I have worked with Tom Wright and Jessica Barger and the rest of the Wright Close & Barger appellate team for 15+ years on a multitude of complex legal issues all of which involved high dollar outcomes. While their brief writing and oratory skills are superb it is there ability to distill complicated fact and legal patterns into coherent, persuasive, and winning arguments that sets them apart from other appellate practitioners. Their comprehension of the nuances in the appellate arena is remarkable advantage. They are both creative and fearless in their approach. They have all my confidence." Andy Barberis, Senior Claims Executive

"I find the Wright, Close & Barger firm to be one of the top defense appellate firms in the State of Texas. Tom Wright, Jessica Barger and their appellate team are approachable, smart and pragmatic. I enjoy their professionalism. When seeking appellate assistance in Texas, I recommend the Wright, Close & Barger firm." Bob Ulrich, Vice President, Excess Casualty, AIG Property Casualty

"Tom Wright and his entire firm of Wright Close & Barger represented me and my company on an appeal in the 5th Circuit regarding a theft of trade secret case. We won and at the time the verdict was upheld and was the largest punitive damage case monetary award that has ever been upheld in the 5th Circuit. Our case was complex, against a very large (Fortune 100) business and Tom argued on my behalf and won decisively."

"One of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life was picking the right law firms to represent me and my company, and I am so thankful that I had Wright Close & Barger on my side."

“I would hire them anytime in the future and could not be more pleased with their advocating on my behalf.” “They were extremely professional and wicked smart and… am just glad that they were on my side and not against me."

"Just knowing the law and the facts is not enough, or even having an excellent strategy: it takes skill and experience to present to the court. Randy Owens has those qualities plus a reputation for honesty and integrity which facilitates the court entering the correct result."

"Wright Close & Barger is one of my most trusted, go-to firms when it comes to Texas trial and appellate work. Their appellate expertise is unmatched. Even when Wright Close & Barger is not the lead firm on a critical case, we will augment the trial team with Wright Close & Barger to ensure we have that appellate expertise for preservation of error, the court's charge, and pre- and post-trial motion practice.” Steve Ryan, Vice President, Global Litigation, TechnipFMC

Office:

Wright Close & Barger, LLP

One Riverway, Suite 2200

Houston, Texas 77056

P: 713-572-4321