Two veteran trial lawyers and longtime colleagues from Houston have formed a firm, Heard Merman, specializing in catastrophic personal-injury cases.
Denman Heard, who started the Heard Law Firm in 2016, is a trial lawyer with 25 years’ experience representing plaintiffs in personal-injury cases, as well as Fortune 500 corporations in business disputes.
Derek Merman joined the Heard Law Firm in 2019, but worked with Denman Heard before that on several cases. Merman specializes in wrongful-death, catastrophic-injury, admiralty, aviation, and product-defect claims.
“Derek and I have worked together for years on some of the most significant personal-injury cases in the country,” Heard said. “We are ready to take the next big step with the formation of this firm.”
Heard Merman’s website lists, in addition to its two name partners, three lawyers: managing attorney Kim Truongle, and associates Jennifer Price and Kane Kenney.
Heard has served on trial and discovery teams in national product=liability suits, including those involving Sulzer and DePuy hip replacements; Avandia, a drug to treat Type 2 diabetes; and Fen-Phen, a weight-loss drug. He previously worked at Looper Reed & McGraw (now Gray Reed), and at Williams, Bailey & Associates, where he was a partner.
Merman founded his own plaintiffs’ firm in 2007.
Both men have undergraduate degrees from Baylor University – Heard’s in economics, Merman’s in biology – and law degrees from the University of Houston Law Center, though they attended the schools at different times.