© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Patricia Baldwin
Lifestyle Writer for The Texas Lawbook
To borrow some country western lyrics, 51-year-old Austin attorney Geoff Weisbart is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. Growing up in Amarillo, he would take on any odd job at the nearby Tradewind Airport just to get the chance to fly over the sprawling ranchlands of the Texas Panhandle. By age 16, he was a licensed pilot. Land, horses, cattle, planes defined “home.”
Fast forward to the early 1990s and that intrinsic definition of home had not changed for Weisbart and his attorney wife, Diane Senterfitt, someone equally at home in the country. Yet their law practices were citified, sophisticated and successful. They set out to find symmetry and discovered it surprisingly close in the deceptively pronounced Manchaca (Man-shack), a small, unincorporated community southwest of Austin.
Today, Weisbart practices his longtime specialty of commercial litigation in a fledgling boutique firm headquartered in Austin’s posh W Hotel development. Off the clock, the cowboy-at-heart heads for his other passions. Most notably besides his wife, these include a competitive cutting horse named “Snap Peas” and a Piper Malibu airplane known as “One-Three-Zulu.”
Of the myriad interests, Weisbart simply states, “It’s who I am. It’s how I grew up.”
Weisbart, however, quickly rebuts any description akin to “multitasker.” In fact, the opposite is true, he says. Each of his avocations demands total concentration – perhaps the attraction for him. “When I am flying an airplane, I am thinking about one thing,” he adds. “Thoughts of cases do not get into my head.”
Overachievement obviously runs in the family. Senterfitt raises golden retrievers. She notes the rewards of working with animals: “They have no deadlines, no quotas, no billing requirements. They don’t know what quarter we’re in nor do they really care. And they think everything we do is perfect. Whenever life becomes stressful or insanity is setting in, I just grab one of my older and wiser golden retrievers, and we go on a walk, a swim or sit and watch the sunset.”
Weisbart definitely needed the focus for his most recent achievement: an Airline Transport Rating issued by the F.A.A. Airline captains go through the same training. Although he has no aspirations to be a commercial pilot (“I love practicing law”), he immersed himself in the rigors of the experience during which he had to respond to “every kind of emergency.”
As a result of his immersion in an activity, Weisbart says he is re-energized for whatever challenge comes next, a segue that could elicit another “M” word: mare.
“My wife and I were raising cattle on our property, and we bought a mare, which had been a cutting horse, to help us work the calves,” Weisbart recalls. “The horse was so successful in those tasks we decided to breed her.”
The first colt launched a specialized breeding program that has resulted in more than 50 foals and has produced two world champion cutting horses. Weisbart’s calendar is annually blocked for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where he competes in the cutting horse competition. He fondly remembers making the finals two years ago atop Snap Peas, only to come home to find his AARP membership card in the mail.
“I suppose it may sound like I refuse to get old,” he says, then adds thoughtfully, “The truth is – I do.”
Although he has practiced law in Austin since late 1986, Weisbart formed a new commercial litigation firm in March with partners Julie Springer and Butch Hayes – aptly named Weisbart Springer Hayes. The firm has grown to six attorneys, and Weisbart foresees continued expansion.
Springer notes, “For years, Geoff and I worked with each other, against each other and for each other.” Over that period of time, she says she has “marveled” at his many interests, but adds that Weisbart approaches each aspect of his life the same way – “all in and to be the very best.”
She adds, “Geoff, Butch and I formed this law firm to build a practice where lawyers are committed to providing superior legal service with the highest integrity, but also to have fun and enjoy life in the process.”
In a similar refrain, Weisbart sums up his philosophy on the law and life: “I’m only as good as I was today.”
Postscript: The three partners at Weisbart Springer Hayes all own golden retrievers. Wonder how the next person invited into the partnership will feel about this requirement …
Jessica Huseman contributed to this story.
Do you have a special hobby – or other lifestyle interest – to share? Please email patricia.baldwin@texaslawbook.net.
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