Fogler Leaves Beck Redden to Start New Boutique

© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.

By Mark Curriden

(Jan. 20) – Houston commercial trial lawyer Murray Fogler announced Tuesday that he has departed Beck Redden, a commercial litigation powerhouse in Texas, to start his own practice with four other lawyers from the law firm.

In an extraordinary move, Fogler is joined at the new firm by four former Beck Redden associates – two of them are only three years out of law school – who are now named partners at the new boutique, which is called Fogler, Brar, Ford, O’Neil & Gray.

“Everybody is a partner and everybody has a stake,” Fogler said. “There are no plans to hire associates.”

Widely recognized as one of the best legal malpractice attorneys in the state, Fogler said he dreamed of having his own law firm and the time was right to make the move.

“When you have your own shop, there’s a freedom in how you operate, a freedom in who you work with and a freedom in the kinds of cases you take,” he told The Texas Lawbook. “You have no one to blame but yourself” if things go wrong.

Fogler, who represented Baker Botts last year in a “take-nothing jury verdict” involving a legal malpractice claim, said his departure from his old law firm was amicable. “The folks at Beck Redden are the best,” he said.

David Beck said he hated to see Fogler and the younger lawyers leave, but he understands their desire to be entrepreneurial and independent.

“These are excellent lawyers and I look forward to working with them in the future and watching them grow,” Beck said. “We were disappointed to see the young lawyers leave.”

While Fogler headlines the announcement, the fact that the four associates – Jas Brar, Robert Ford, Robin O’Neil and Michelle Gray – are joining the firm as partners is sure to grab the attention of litigation associates in corporate law firms throughout Texas.

In what may be one of the fastest ever tracks to partner at a law firm, two of the associates – O’Neil and Gray – graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 2011.

“These young lawyers are tremendous and they are ready to fly on their own,” Fogler said. “I want this to be their law firm and to feel the pressures, the risks and the rewards.”

Brar, a Baylor Law School alum, handles complex business cases for clients in the oil and gas, legal, technology and financial industries.

Ford, who has his law degree from the University of Texas, served as lead counsel in a wrongful-foreclosure lawsuit against a large U.S. financial institution, in addition to winning injunctive relief to protect a company’s assets in another case.

O’Neil specializes in commercial contract disputes and legal malpractice defense. Gray was lead briefing attorney in an array of intellectual property cases and employment disputes.

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