The Firm to Call to ‘Beat City Hall’

© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.

By Brooks Igo

(Aug. 2) – Andy Taylor and George Hittner, two lawyers with substantial government and private practice experience, have joined forces to start TaylorHittner, a Texas law firm focused on public policy litigation.

Taylor, a former top assistant to then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, met Hittner more than a decade ago when Hittner was running a reelection campaign for former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips. Taylor says he and Hittner have worked on cases together over the past seven years and began exploring the possibility of building a firm together two years ago.

Taylor says the firm’s mission is to serve clients at the intersection of business, politics and the law.

“There is an old adage that ‘You can’t beat City Hall,’” he said. “It is one of our specialties. We represent companies and individuals that find themselves entangled with the government.”

Taylor has been involved in a number of high-profile matters in his career.

As the first assistant to the Texas Attorney General, he argued two cases at the U.S. Supreme Court and helped conclude the settlement in the historic tobacco litigation. He also personally represented then-Gov. George W. Bush in the Florida election recount (Bush v. Gore).

Last fall, Taylor achieved two significant victories against the City of Houston. His legal efforts led to the eventual defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and the voiding of the ReBuild drainage fee, which Taylor says had a $1 billion impact on the citizens of Houston.

Hittner, who was appointed by the President George W. Bush White House to the U.S. Department of Labor, most recently served as general counsel, corporate secretary and senior vice president of Mesa, Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions Inc., a provider of traffic enforcement safety equipment.

Both lawyers are alumni of big Texas firms – Taylor from Locke Lord and Hittner from Haynes and Boone. Taylor believes their firm will be able to attract Big Law talent, due in part to its non-traditional, virtual approach to the business of running a law firm.

Though the firm’s main office is in Houston, both attorneys are available by appointment in Austin, Brenham and La Grange. Taylor and Hittner believe minimizing brick-and-mortar overhead will give them the flexibility to piece together a team of lawyers according to their clients’ needs.

“We can be skeleton-thin on a case or turbo-sized and deep if we need to be,” he said.

The firm is currently representing the family and companies of Julio Palmaz, the vascular radiologist known for inventing the heart stent, in obtaining and defending patents. Taylor says they are working on taking two “life-changing technologies” to market – a cranial stent and a below-the-knee stent.

Taylor and Hittner are joined by associate Amanda Peterson.

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