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Connell Hess

Connell’s practice focuses on commercial litigation and legal counseling for businesses. Throughout his career, Connell has represented clients from a variety of industries and of various sizes, including those from the energy, healthcare, real estate, and manufacturing sectors.

Connell’s litigation experience includes appearing and arguing motions throughout Texas federal and state courts, taking and defending fact and expert witness depositions, conducting jury research and testing, drafting substantive pleadings and discovery, managing large scale and MDL related discovery projects and responding to third-party subpoenas. As a volunteer in the City of Houston’s Volunteer Prosecutor Program, Connell first chaired over ten jury trials to verdict. Connell also routinely counsels businesses on contract matters, business formation issues, sales agreements, and other transactions. In his pro bono practice, Connell has represented veterans in appeals of veteran’s benefits eligibility determinations.

Connell studied at the University Texas School of Law where he was the submissions editor for The Review of Litigation. During law school, Connell worked as judicial intern to the Honorable George C. Hanks of the Southern District of Texas and was a law clerk in the Antitrust Division for the Attorney General of Texas. Before law school, Connell graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in finance and participated as a member of the football team for four years.

Relevant Experience:

• Lead associate on Texas trial teams representing defendant in federal and state court actions stemming from MDL 2179 in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident.
• Lead associate representing valve manufacturer in complex litigation alleging the theft of multimillion dollar trade secrets in federal court.
• Lead associate for publicly traded REIT for Texas held properties in commercial real estate disputes and evictions.
• Lead associate advising and serving as outside counsel on major oil and gas company’s nationwide federal and state court third-party subpoena matters.
• Represented oil and gas company as lead associate against subcontractor’s claims for breach of contract and fraud in state court for cleanup work performed in connection with oil spill.
• Represented large pipeline company in a dispute with a producer of natural gas who repudiated natural gas purchase and transportation agreements.

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