Our lawyers are experienced having tried hundreds of lawsuits and been recognized nationwide for their outstanding work. More importantly, our lawyers share the passion to seek and obtain justice for our clients. Our past successes allows us to commit the resources to ensure that our clients receive the best representation available. The following are profiles of some of our lawyers.
Mikal C. Watts Mikal C. Watts earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors from the University of Texas in 1987. He graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989 at the age of twenty-one, was named to the Order of the Barristers and won the Niemann Cup as the top advocate of the UT School of Law. In 1989-90, Mikal worked as briefing attorney for the Honorable Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In 1990, he became an associate at David L. Perry & Associates and was named a partner in 1991. On April 1, 1997, Mikal formed his own firm, which focuses on catastrophic personal injury, product liability, mass torts, commercial and business litigation and wrongful death. Mikal has authored and presented over fifty CLE articles around the world. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is an "AV" rated lawyer in Martindale-Hubbell. Mikal is licensed to practice in the state courts of Texas, the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of Texas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), the State Bar of Texas, the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Corpus Christi Bar Association and the Corpus Christi Young Lawyers' Association and is a charter member of the Reynaldo G. Garza American Inn of Court. Mikal has served as a member of the Board of Directors of AIEG, TTLA, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ); as Co-Chair of AIEG's Chrysler Minivan Lift-gate Latch Litigation Subgroup; as Chair of the State Court Liaison Committee of the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire federal multi-district litigation; and has served on the Statewide Fundraising Committee of TTLA. Mikal was named by Federal Judge Hilda Tagle as lead trial counsel for the consolidated cases arising from the Queen Isabella Causeway barge/bridge collapse disaster. He is a member of the Silica MDL 1553 Plaintiffs' Executive Committee and is the Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel. In 2001, Texas Lawyer selected Mikal as the "Impact Player of the Year." In 2002, The National Law Journal named him "one of the best trial lawyers in the country." Texas Monthly named him one of "Texas' Super Lawyers." In 2004, USA Today noted that Mikal "has soared to the top of the highly-competitive personal injury law business" and The Wall Street Journal tabbed him "a rising star of the plaintiff's bar." Mikal obtained the nation's first jury award involving the withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin (Margie Sanchez, et al. v. Parke-Davis, et al.); the nation's first jury award involving the recalled Sulzer hip implants (Rupp, et al. v. Sulzer Orthopedics, Inc.); and in January 2001, he settled Bailey v. Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone/Firestone on the eve of the first national post-recall trial in the tread separation/vehicle stability cases. Mikal has achieved outstanding verdicts and settlements for his clients. J. Hunter Craft Born and raised in the state of Texas, Hunter Craft graduated from Baylor University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance. In 1999, Hunter earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Baylor University School of Law. While at Baylor, he was selected into membership of the Abner V. McCall Inn of Court, Order of the Barristers, Harvey M. Richey Moot Court Society and Phi Delta Phi Honors Society. Upon graduation, Hunter accepted a litigation associate position with Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P., in Houston, Texas. He quickly distinguished himself as an aggressive advocate for numerous large clients in commercial, product liability, occupational exposure, disaster and personal injury litigation. In April 2001, at the age of 26, Hunter left Fulbright to join Watts Law Firm, L.L.P., as a partner in the firm's Houston office. Focusing primarily on product liability, trucking and construction accident litigation since joining the firm, he has led successful charges nationwide on behalf of the catastrophically injured in cases against numerous large corporations, including Alcoa, BMW, Bridgestone/Firestone, Coastal Corporation, Dorel Juvenile Products, Ford, General Motors, Gilbane, Mattel, Mazda, Nissan, Titan Tire, Union Pacific and Witco. For those efforts, the Texas Super Lawyers recognized Hunter as a "Rising Star" in the state's legal community in 2004. That same year, at age 29, he was elected a "Texas Super Lawyer" by members of the Texas bar, making him the youngest such recipient ever to receive that designation in Texas, was recognized as a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" in "H" Houston magazine, and was selected for membership into the American College of Barristers. In 2005, Hunter served as lead trial counsel in the Garcia v. Ford case which was tried to Plaintif's verdict. A frequent speaker on topics including discovery, product liability and accident reconstruction, he has appeared on television and in several major newspapers nationwide discussing discovery abuse by product manufacturers, vehicle rollovers, child restraint systems and power window strangulations. Hunter is licensed to practice law in the state courts of Texas and the United States District Courts in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA). Gonzalo Joseph Barrientos
Gonzalo Joseph Barrientos earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1987. Joseph served as an assistant Travis County Attorney in Austin, Texas from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, he became a felony prosecutor with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, where he represented victims of serious crime from 1988 to 1992. Joseph concluded his prosecutorial career in 1992 as the chief prosecuting attorney in the 147th Judicial District Court to become associated with the plaintiffs' personal injury firm of Perry & Haas, L.L.P., in Corpus Christi, Texas. Joseph became a member of the firm of Perry & Haas in 1994 and focused his work on negligence, product liability, premises, automotive and heavy truck cases involving catastrophic injury and death against companies such as Ford, General Motors, Navistar, Paccar, Builder's Square and Briggs-Weaver. In 1998, he became a member of the firm of Edwards, Perry & Haas, L.L.P. In 2000, he joined the predecessor law firm of Watts Law Firm, L.L.P., where he is now a partner. He is licensed to practice in the state courts of Texas, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Joseph is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) and the State Bar of Texas. He has served as an Associate Director of TTLA and was the founding Chair of the TTLA Advocates' organization. Joseph has served on the Board of Directors of the Corpus Christi Bar Association, holding the office of president for the 2003-2004 term. He has also served on the Coastal Bend Legal Services Board of Directors and is currently a board member of the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation. Joseph is a panel member of the District 11A Grievance Committee of the State Bar of Texas. He is fluent in written and spoken Spanish.
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