In his youth, Jackson Walker partner Juan Alcala saw only two options to escape poverty: become a lawyer or a doctor.
Alcala grew up in Hidalgo, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley, in a small house that had only one light.
“I was the recipient of a lot of government help, and I was a kid who wore secondhand clothes growing up. My father was elderly and blind. My mother worked in the fields for many years and finished her working career as a worker in the school cafeteria,” Alcala said.
In middle school, Alcala decided on law after realizing becoming a doctor takes a long time.
Alcala would go on to earn his bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999.
Alcala, an energy litigator with particular expertise in handling international arbitration and disputes connected to Latin America, joined Jackson Walker’s Austin office in July after nine years at Holland & Knight.
“We are thrilled to welcome Juan to Jackson Walker,” W. Ross Forbes, Jr., partner and chair of the trial and appellate litigation section, said in the announcement of Alcala’s hiring. “Juan’s extensive experience in international arbitration and cross-border litigation, particularly involving Latin America, will strengthen our ability to handle the most challenging disputes, both domestically and internationally. Juan’s arrival continues our momentum of notable hires including Jeff Oldham and former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht.”
Alcala recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss his career in energy litigation and teaching international transactions and disputes at Baylor Law School.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Lawbook: Why did you move to Jackson Walker?
Juan Alcala: I think the thing that attracted me to Jackson Walker was really three things. One is the environment. … I have a lot of friends who work here. I’ve known people here since I was in law school, and some of my best friends were here. Working amongst friends was a big impetus for that.
I think more on the non-personal side is JW dominates the Texas market. It is the largest firm in Texas. There are a lot of other big firms in Texas that are able to offer a number of different areas of practice, but JW really does offer a wide array, and so it dominates the Texas market. I think when you combine that with the fact that Texas plays … an ever-increasing role in the global economy, I felt like it would be a great platform for me to continue my international practice, being at the firm that dominates a state that is at the forefront of the global economy.
Reason number three is that more and more I am hearing from clients that big law firms are beginning to really lose their trial talent, and the ranks of the people that are coming up in the trial community at big law firms have little to no real courtroom experience. It’s hurting a lot of the big law firms. That is, I think, one of the reasons why you’re seeing a lot of this emergence over the last number of years [of] these very, very good boutique litigation trial firms. And the difference here is Jackson Walker actually does have a very deep bench of trial and courtroom lawyers.
Lawbook: What trends are you seeing in your practice area?
Alcala: I think there’s a significant trend in what I’ll call the new energies space, with solar, of course, wind, but also other forms of new energy, like lithium or biofuels, for example. But then accompanying that sort of new energy trend is, of course, the rare mineral trend. They kind of go hand in hand. And so things like lithium and other things that go into EVs, that whole arena is really, really emerging. … That was obviously helped significantly by the Inflation Reduction Act, primarily, but also by the infrastructure bill under [the Biden administration]. Before then, in other parts of the world, including in Latin America, there was a promulgation of a number of laws in an effort to achieve Paris Accord goals. I think not just in the U.S., and certainly not just in Texas, but across the world, you’re seeing this continued growth and push in the renewable energy space.
Lawbook: What do you enjoy about being an adjunct professor at Baylor?
Alcala: Teaching has always been, I would say, one of my two biggest passions. I’ve always done it in one form or another. I’ve taught in universities in Mexico. Every opportunity I get to do a CLE or a presentation, I do. I coached my kids’ soccer teams when they were little. Teaching has always been a passion of mine. Teaching at Baylor Law is just another extension of that. I think with law students in particular, it’s different, and it’s highly energizing to share with others who are pursuing the same career as you are some of your own experiences. And I love to do it because I get to tell war stories as part of my teaching, and it’s always fun.
Lawbook: You’ve argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit three times. Do you have any advice for first timers?
Alcala: There wasn’t any plan or any focus on doing that. It just kind of happened. And [I] absolutely loved the experience. That, for me, was one of those times when I felt in my element, just being in front of justices, getting bombarded with questions left and right, and being in that moment and just going with the flow of the moment. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into that. You really have to know your case. You really have to know the case law. You have to know your judges, your justices, what they have written about the topic and then, as they’re asking questions, being able to answer questions by playing off some of their own decisions as part of the argument. There are a lot of things that happen all at once and in a very short period of time. The amount of preparation that goes into a very short period of time is, in and of itself, an incredible experience.
I do a lot of mentoring, so when I talk to young lawyers, I say the same things. One is, prepare, prepare, prepare. You’ve got to be prepared. It doesn’t matter whether you’re arguing to the Fifth Circuit or whether you’re arguing to a state judge for a hearing. You just have to prepare. And you’ve got to know your material cold. There’s no substitute for that, you’ve got to prepare. And two is to be confident you belong. I think … oftentimes for young lawyers in particular, they go argue at any level, and they are in awe of the robe. They are in awe of the courtroom. And that can sometimes lead to a questioning of yourself. I was blessed to have been in court many, many times during my first year, second year [and] third year of practice, and eventually, you realize that the judges are just people, your opponents are just people, and that as long as you’re prepared, you are going to do fine.
Lawbook: What was a memorable experience or case in your career?
Alcala: I had the incredible opportunity to represent Chevron in its long fight in the courts of Ecuador arising out of alleged contamination of areas of the Amazon. For 30 years, a subsidiary of what was then Texaco operated and explored and produced oil in the Amazon in Ecuador, and that case has been in the news, has been the subject of movies, the subject of books and the subject of many lectures and classes across the world. It had so many different facets. It had multiple pieces of domestic litigation — civil, administrative and criminal. It had an investment treaty [and] arbitration. There was a RICO trial in New York. There were a number of proceedings across the U.S. … There were so many pieces to this case, and I was blessed to have been able to participate in about every single one of those proceedings representing the company in a case where — if you read some of the material on this, you realize how incredible it was from just a number of ways — but it involved a corrupt system and a judgment against the company that was procured by fraud [and] a series of judges that were bought and paid for in that country. And all of that came out with real evidence, including video diaries from the plaintiffs lawyers who decided to film a documentary, and so that that was incredibly fascinating from a rule of law standpoint [and] from an experience standpoint. That is probably going to be the most memorable case that I’ve ever handled. I’ve had other cases in South Texas, in particular, that I’ve tried over the years that were similarly marred with an element of corruption.
Lawbook: What is a hobby of yours when you get a chance to step away from your desk or the courtroom?
Alcala: I love working out. It’s my escape from stress. I work out on an almost daily basis, probably an average of six times a week. I really enjoy that, everything from yoga to weightlifting to some plyometrics classes to a number of things. I think most people know that about me. I love to dance. I grew up dancing to Latin music since I was five years old. My aunt taught me, and I do it every chance I get. But I also love doing just anything that’s live entertainment. Whether it’s sporting events or music festivals or concerts, or comedy shows, anything live I really enjoy. I love spending time with my kiddos. I have two teenagers, and we get to do all kinds of stuff. We went to a soccer game last night. We hang out, we have dinners, we go to movies, we find a lot of different things to do. I love to travel. Think I’m at 17 countries so far.
If you or someone you know would like to be profiled in a future edition of Asked & Answered, please let us know at tlblitigation@texaslawbook.net. Check out our other Asked & Answered interviews below:
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