From youthful debates to co-counseling high-stakes injury litigation with her brother, Tillotson Patton partner Mollie Mallory was made for the courtroom.
“I was like the 13-year-old girl who everybody said, ‘You should be a lawyer,’ probably meaning it as an insult because I argued too much,” Mallory told The Texas Lawbook.
Litigation practice seems to run in the family. Her grandfather and uncle, both litigators, were inspirational figures in her life.
After graduating from Baylor University with her bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy in 2018, Mallory earned a law degree from Baylor University School of Law in 2021.
Her brother, Boston Mallory, is an attorney in Houston. The siblings are working together as co-counsel for the family of an All Saints Episcopal School student who was allegedly forced to stand and walk by school administrators after suffering three fractured vertebrae from an on-campus assault.
Mallory hopes they can team up on more cases in the future.
After graduation, Mallory spent a year at Cooper & Scully before joining Tillotson Patton in Dallas, where she found a mentor in firm co-founder Jeff Tillotson.
“Jeff has just been a champion of me. He is so good at promoting young people and making sure we get good experiences,” Mallory said.
She added that the firm’s collaborative approach to trials is a key to its success. “They’re really good at making it not feel like you have a first or second chair,” Mallory said, “I think those are the most successful trial teams — where the jury sees you’re all a team. And we’re really good at that,” Mallory said.
Mallory recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss her first trial and her favorite Dallas restaurants. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Lawbook: What trends are you seeing in your practice area?
Mallory: The obvious one is that everybody is wondering how to use artificial intelligence. Other than that, I think the thing that I’m seeing really get hot in litigation is everything surrounding data centers. It feels like real estate in Dallas is becoming inundated with these data center issues, and that’s all starting to come up in litigation — where we put them, how we use them. We have a case for Kyle Bass about water. People are making that all about data centers, even though it’s really not. It’s beyond just the way that AI is being used in litigation; AI is becoming the center of disputes.
Another thing that we’ve seen a ton of this year is noncompete litigation. It seems like those cases are coming from everywhere. It’s people litigating noncompetes — even in the AI space and the tech world, so many startups have these noncompete agreements with their employees and then wanting to litigate after the employees leave more than we’ve seen in the past.
Lawbook: What was your first trial?
Mallory: My first trial was with John Patton, and it was a dispute over a promissory note. It was the perfect first trial because it was a really simple case, but it was super interesting. The facts were fascinating. It was against Gene Phillips’ estate, who was a big real estate tycoon. We represented his girlfriend, Marshana de Monserat. We just made it a really simple case. We cut through all the noise, and after a two- or three-day trial, the jury went back to deliberate. You’re never more nervous than when a jury’s deliberating, no matter what. And 12 minutes after they went back to deliberate, they came back and returned a verdict for us. John and I were so excited, and our client was so excited. It was the perfect feeling. It was a short, perfect first trial on a simple issue, and we won. So can’t be mad about that. That was four years ago.
Lawbook: What were your takeaways clerking for Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cureton and U.S. District Judge Alan Albright?
Mallory: I would recommend to anyone in law school to work for a judge, whether it’s a state court judge in the area where you think you’re going to be or a federal court judge if you can — never reject that opportunity, because federal judges are just so good at showing you everything that really a young lawyer needs to see. You get to do legitimate drafting, legitimate research. You get to sit in court and actually see great lawyers argue. You get to see some bad lawyers argue. It was the first time that I was like, “This is what the practice looks like.” Plus, getting to be in a judge’s chambers and see what happens behind the scenes and how they think about things totally shapes the way that you practice. You can see that this judge would not care if I threw a little fit at the beginning of my motion — they don’t care about that kind of stuff. They want to see, What does the law say? How do my facts apply to it? And this is why you should grant my motion. I think that’s just invaluable for young people. I wish I could go do it again. It was just so fun, too. It was a really irreplaceable experience.
Lawbook: What is it like working with your brother?
Mallory: It’s really fun. I think we both always contemplated that we wanted to practice together at some point. It works out well because he’s in Houston and I’m in Dallas, so I think there’s a good separation there. But when I got the All Saints case, it seemed like a natural fit. He does purely personal injury plaintiff work, so he has the resources and understanding of how that world works. Our firm does some of that, but not a lot. I had been calling him and calling him and talking about the case, and he was like, “Let’s just work on this together.” And of course, Jeff Tillotson was like, “Absolutely. Let’s partner with him.”
We had depositions in that case last week, and we were calling and texting on breaks. It’s a really fun dynamic, because I think I found that we work really well together professionally. I hope that we get to work together more in the future, because it’s fun to have that person that you trust so much be your sounding board for ideas. We’re having a really good time doing it. It’s a blast.
Lawbook: What is a memorable moment or experience in your career?
Mallory: I think that the most memorable experience so far was this February after I had been in a mediation all day. I came back to the office, and Jeff says, “Come down to see me when you get back.” I go down there, and he says, “We took on a client an hour ago. It’s a group of people. They left their company, and their company got an ex parte TRO, and the hearing is tomorrow. They really need our help. The hearing’s tomorrow, and I can’t be there. You’re going to need to go do it by yourself.”
So the clients come later that day, and we meet with them for a few hours. We figure out that if these people lose this temporary injunction hearing, they aren’t going to be able to work. They aren’t going to be able to provide for their families. They are the sole breadwinners who really are living paycheck-to-paycheck already. And if this injunction is entered, they can’t go do the only thing that they know how to do to make money. So the pressure was on a little bit.
Starting the next morning, we had an all-day injunction hearing with seven witnesses — it’s just me and Pierce Omer, one of our associates. When we finish the plaintiff’s case, the judge just says, “I’m denying the injunction.”
I was so happy; it was probably the happiest I’ve ever been in a courtroom, because the clients were elated. They had felt so beaten down by the fact that the company was able to get an ex parte TRO — the company was able to do this and make these accusations against them — and then to have the judge right there say, “There’s not going to be an injunction, you’ve won.” I’m not a big hugger, but they all hugged me after, and I was like, “You guys are allowed to hug me because I’m also so happy.”
That was one of those fun, very Tillotson Patton moments where we take something the day before and don’t have very long to prepare, and you go and do everything you can to win. That’s what the clients deserve — that type of advocacy. It was really fun. I think that’s been my favorite and most recent memory. We do lots of fun stuff here.
Lawbook: Do you have a pretrial ritual?
Mallory: I do. I’m a big believer in it. I wake up at like 4 a.m. when I have trial, no matter what. It bothers some of my co-trial teams because I’m always emailing or texting a lot the morning of trial. I like to get up really early so I have a mini day before trial. And then music — I like “Cocky” by Gucci Mane; it’s my favorite confidence song. Chapell Roan right now is a big one. And any party music — a John Summit playlist, something with like a lot of beat to it, really loud in your car.
Getting up and having a mini day, face mask, breakfast, multiple coffees — really get in the zone. I’m a big, big believer in that. Giving yourself the time.
Lawbook: Do you have a posttrial celebration spot?
Mallory: We’re big on getting immediately back to work after trial. I don’t typically take any time off. We finish trials in the morning and then come back in the afternoon and are immediately working on more cases. It’s good, in a way, to immediately move forward. That way, win or lose, whatever the outcome may be, I have to focus on my other clients. I feel like breaks come when they come. For example, I’m going on vacation next week. It’s not correlated with anything. I find it’s best that way, so that you’re not running full steam with the intent of being off for a week or a month.
So I’m big on immediately starting to focus on something else. But we definitely like to celebrate. It’s a small firm. We’re all good friends, in addition to being colleagues. And we like to do what I would call a postmortem to talk about it and have a drink, and then we get on to the next thing.
Lawbook: What are some of your hobbies?
Mallory: I love eating and drinking. I feel like that’s everybody in Dallas’ go-to answer because we have so many good restaurants here and fun places to be. But my mom was an art teacher growing up, so when I can, I like to draw and paint. I love messing around in my house. I would never call myself an interior designer, because they would come for me. I’m sure I’m not very good, but I do love making sure that home is a fun, cozy place to be. We have two dogs. I try to see friends who are not in the legal field as much as possible, because it’s a good reality check.
Lawbook: Do you have a favorite restaurant in Dallas?
Mallory: At the moment, I would say it’s E Bar. It’s really good, super casual Tex-Mex. They have a really good margarita. I’m also a total sucker for Honor Bar in Highland Park. I love sitting on the porch there whenever it’s not 109 degrees outside. We love everything in Lower Greenville, too. Dallas has so much good food right now. It just keeps coming and coming.
Lawbook: Who or what inspires you?
Mallory: My dad probably inspires me the most. He was so good growing up at making sure that we were instilled, my brother and I, with really strong ethics but also grounded in understanding that your friends and family really come first. If you keep that all in line, everything will always work out, because you’ll always have your circle at home. And then if you treat your professional life right, you’ll have your circle there, too.
Dad always worked really hard to support us, and I think that is what has pushed me to keep going and want more from myself, because he’s always been such a champion of me.
And then I always say that I would love to see my grandpa and my uncle in a trial. They obviously inspired part of whatever this is for both me and my brother. I think my inspiration is rooted in family more than anything.
If you or someone you know would like to be profiled in a future edition of Asked & Answered, please let us know at alexa.shrake@texaslawbook.net. Check out our other Asked & Answered interviews below:
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Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing partner Monica Uddin discusses her first trial and what being a hiring partner looks like for her. She also shares her own misconceptions about the practice.
Yetter Coleman partner Tim McConn talks about the first time he took the lead on a case and the most memorable case in his career so far. He also discusses trends he is seeing in his oil and gas practice and using AI.
Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann’s Mary Goodrich Nix looks back on her early years as a trial lawyer. She also shares advice she would give to young lawyers and discusses trends she sees impacting the practice.
FBFK’s Solomon Wisenberg talks about how he got involved in the Whitewater-Lewinsky investigation and what trends he is seeing in his white collar criminal defense practice. While the Texan spent most of his career in Washington, D.C., he returned home to the Lone Star State a few years ago and joined FBFK in December.