Chris Pappas served as the Managing Director of the Firm’s Houston office for many years and he practices in the Firm’s litigation section. He has participated as lead counsel in jury trials throughout the State of Texas involving a wide spectrum of civil litigation for more than 30 years. This includes the representation of major institutional clients, corporations, individuals and insurers in a wide variety of complex legal disputes, including:
- Business/commercial litigation
- Construction claims
- Personal injury claims
- Oil/gas litigation
- First and third party Insurance disputes
- Labor/employment claims
- Hospitality/retail litigation
- Product/mass tort liability claims
- Professional liability disputes
A graduate of the University of Houston College of Law and the University of Texas-Austin, Chris has been recognized by his peers as an accomplished trial attorney, which recognition includes the highest professional and ethical rating of AV “Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, his selection by Thomson Reuters to their list of “Texas Super Lawyers” (2005-2020); “Houston’s Top Lawyers” by H TEXAS Magazine (2005-2020); and Best Lawyers in America (2019-2021).
Experience
- Successfully defended oil & gas drilling contractor in significant (8-figure damages) litigation;
- Successfully defended through trial apartment contractor in major construction litigation (8-figure damages) involving ten apartment projects across the State of Texas;
- Successfully prosecuted equitable subrogation action which included claims of professional negligence through trial, resulting in significant 7-plus figure verdict;
- Successfully prosecuted, as lead counsel, claims of professional liability which resulted in 8-figure verdict and was selected by the National Law Journal as one of the biggest verdicts in the U.S.A. (1997);
- Successfully defended and prosecuted claims in commercial dispute involving business partners which resulted in client’s recovery of money damages and defense costs;
- Successfully defended through trial homebuilder in construction defects/commercial dispute through trial;
- Successfully defended through hearing/trial wrongful death action arising out of construction project;
- Successfully defended multi-national firm in complex commercial dispute through trial which involved substantial damages (high 9-figures) and prevailed on counterclaims;
- Successfully defended through trial wrongful death litigation involving gas pipeline incident;
- Successfully defended through trial multi-national company in complex commercial litigation involving claims of unfair competition, usurpation of trade secrets, infringement and other tort-related claims;
- Successfully defended through trial public company in significant commercial dispute (9-figure damages) brought by public energy company/refiner involving property and business interruption losses;
- Successfully defended through trial a large commercial insurer in first party litigation involving substantial commercial fire loss;
- Successfully prosecuted various commercial litigation claims and claims founded on equitable subrogation;
- Successfully defended through trial major privately-held company in employment discrimination lawsuit involving multiple management officials;
- Represented and successfully defended through hearing/trial major homebuilder in multiple employment discrimination claims;
- Successfully defended through trial private individual in substantial oil & gas commercial dispute (involving 8 figure plus damages);
- Successfully defended through trial wrongful death action involving dramshop claims against national retailer and numerous other dram shop lawsuits;
- Successfully defended through trial various significant fire loss claims involving contractors and other clients;
- Successfully defended publicly-held equipment retailer in dozens of personal injury lawsuits throughout the State of Texas;
- Successfully defended multiple Jones Act personal injury claims and maritime disputes involving various energy service and energy-related companies;
- Acted as lead counsel for major multi-national company in class action product liability action and as representative for all manufacturing defendants;
- Served as Regional Counsel for Fortune 500 retailer covering 10 states with litigation management and trial responsibility over thousands of lawsuits;
- Acted as Regional Trial Counsel for Fortune 500 Companies with responsibility over Mass Tort Civil Dockets.
Clients
- Chris serves as Panel Counsel, Regional Trial Counsel, and Specialty Counsel for numerous institutional clients, corporations and insurance companies. References and resume are available upon request.
Presentations
- “How to Properly Use the Mediation/Arbitration Hybrid Dispute Resolution Process”, Texas bar CLE Annual ADR Seminar, Austin, Texas, January 2017.
- How to Use the Mediation-Arbitration Hybrid in Dispute Resolution: Association of Attorney-Mediators/Advanced Attorney-Mediator Training and CLE Seminar (September 16, 2016/Houston, Texas)
- TexasBarCLE Webcast Presentation: How to Use the Mediation-Arbitration Hybrid in Dispute Resolution Process, Austin-Live, July 26, 2016.
- Preservation of Evidence in Texas, Gallagher Bassett/Atlanta, Georgia (April, 2016).
- “What Attorneys Like/Don’t Like About Mediators,” 2013 Annual Conference on ADR (May 3, 2013)
- “Texas Construction Law – Overview,” Republic Insurance Group, Dallas, Texas (March 6, 2013)
- “Communication and Documentation to Avoid Construction Disputes,” Legal Presentation, Houston, Texas (August 21, 2012)
- “Ethics and Professional Responsibility for Design Professionals,” Legal Presentation, Houston, Texas (August 21, 2012)
- “Mediation – From the Mediator and the Litigant,” Houston Bar Association Seminar (October 23, 2008)
- “Update on Texas Law/Continuing Education Seminar,” The Midland Companies/Cincinnati, Ohio (January 14-15, 2008)
- “When to Seek Legal Representation,” AON Risk Management Seminar (September 14, 2007)
- “Trial Preparation for Paralegals Seminar,” National Business Institute/Institute for Paralegal Education (January 29, 2007)
- “Texas Lawyer Insurance Law Round Table” Panelist, Bar Members and Public at Belo Mansion and Pavilion (May 25, 2006)
- “Effective Selection and Management of Counsel,” AON Risk Management Seminar (September 16, 2005)
- “Paralegals Guide to Admissibility of Evidence and Expert Testimony,” NBI Seminar, Houston, Texas (February 24, 2004)
- “Handling the Automobile Injury Claim in Texas,” Legal Seminar, Houston, Texas (January 28, 2004)
- “Strategies for Minimizing Damages in Civil Cases,” HBA/HLAA, Houston, Texas (August 2003)
- “Construction Law Developments and Update,” Texas Association of Defense Counsel Seminar, Cancun, Mexico (July 2003)
- “Trying the Automobile Injury Case in Texas,” Legal Seminar, Houston, Texas (March 2003)
- “Trial Advocacy in Texas,” NBI CLE Seminar, Houston, Texas (July 2001)
- “Litigation Management and Working with Your Attorney,” Second Annual General Practice Institute Seminar, South Texas College of Texas, Houston, Texas (October 2000)
- “Litigating the Class Action Lawsuit in Texas,” NBI CLE Seminar, Houston, Texas (October 2000)
- “Paralegals and the Litigation Team in Texas,” Institute for Paralegal Education, Houston, Texas (October 1999)
- “Paralegals and the Litigation Team in Texas,” Institute for Paralegal Education, Houston, Texas (October 1998)
- “Trying the Wrongful Death Case in Texas,” NBI Trial Institute, Houston, Texas (September 1998)
- “Discrimination in the Workplace,” Homebuilder’s Annual Meeting
- “Evidence in Trial Practice,” NBI Texas Institute, Houston, Texas (July 1997)
- “The Pros and Cons of the Mediation Process as a Tool for Dispute Resolution,” The Association of Attorney-Mediators Convention, Houston, Texas (March 1996)
- “Contractual and Recourse Liability for Mortgage Lenders,” Texas Association of Mortgage Brokers Convention, Houston, Texas (May 1993)
- “The Art of Direct Examination from a Defense Perspective,” Houston Bar Association Serialized Institute – Trial Practice and Procedure (March/April 1993)
- “Punitive Damages After Pacific Mutual Life Vs. Haslip; Liability of Primary Insurers to Excess Insurers in the Claims Process,” National Litigation Conference, Lake Buena Vista, Florida (March 1992)
- “Punitive Damages After Pacific Mutual Life Vs. Haslip; Liability of Primary Insurers to Excess Insurers in the Claims Process,” Fourth Annual Civil Litigation Conference, Vail, Colorado (January 1992)
- “Presentation of Evidence, Impacting the Jury; Expert Witnesses and Their Testimony,” Evidence and Trial Practice in Texas Institute, Houston, Texas (July 1991)
Associations
- American Board of Trial Advocates, Member
- American Bar Association, Life Fellow
- American Bar Association (Litigation Section)
- Associations of Trial Lawyers of America (Civil Sections)
- Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit
- College of the State Bar of Texas; Defense Research Institute
- Houston Bar Association, Life Fellow
- Houston Lawyer Magazine, Editor, Co-Editor & Associate Editor
- Institute for Responsible Dispute Resolution, Charter Member
- Texas Association of Defense Counsel
- Texas Bar Association, Life Fellow
- Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism
- Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline, Special Assistant Disciplinary Counsel
- American Bar Association – Life Fellow
Community
- Former Director, Community National Bank-Bellaire
- Project-LiftHouston, Advisory Director; Pets Are Wonderful Support, Former and Founding Director
- America’s Heroes First Foundation
- Houston Urban Debate League, Advisory Director
- Scenic Houston Board of Directors, Vice-Chairman (2008)
- Appointed Member of Mayor Lee Brown’s Houston Challenge Committee (2000)
- Former Founder, President/CEO and Chairman-Southern Continental Mortgage Corporation Founder, President/CEO and Chairman of Super Chef Corporation
- President/CEO-Pappas Energy
- Jewish Community Center Scholarship Gala, Honorary Chair
- Nominee, American Biographic Institute’s an of the Year Award (1993)
- Scenic Houston, Board Member
- South Texas College of Law-Frank Evans Center for Conflict Resolution, Advisory Director; Team Captain and Participant – YMCA’s Partners of Youth Campaign;
- TEX-PIRG Board of Directors, Travis County, Member/Director (1972)
