Dallas Attorney Clayton Bailey Named Benchmark Litigation Star

Bailey Brauer co-founder earns place among Texas’ leading commercial litigators DALLAS – Trial and appellate attorney Clayton Bailey, co-founder of Dallas-based litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC, has earned recognition for a fourth consecutive year as a “Local Litigation Star” in the Benchmark Litigation guide to the nation’s top lawyers. Mr. Bailey was named among the leading attorneys in Texas for his general commercial litigation practice. He was also selected for his professional liability practice, competition and securities-based litigation and his international arbitration work. The 2018 edition of Benchmark Litigation was compiled after months of peer review, client-based research and a review of attorney casework. “Earning recognition from Benchmark Litigation is certainly an honor, not only for me, but also for our firm,” said Mr. Bailey. “It serves as a strong indicator that our commitment to our clients has not gone unnoticed.” The prestigious Benchmark selection is just the latest honor for Mr. Bailey, who was also recently selected to join the invitation-only National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100 civil plaintiff lawyers in Texas. Membership is extended to only those attorneys who exemplify superior qualifications, trial results and professional leadership. For more information on the National Trial Lawyers please visit: https://www.thenationaltriallawyers.org. Founded in 2013, Bailey Brauer has quickly grown to be among the most respected firms in the country, earning multiple individual and firm recognitions from BTI Consulting Group, the National Law Journal, The Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers and D Magazine. About Bailey Brauer PLLC Bailey Brauer PLLC is nationally recognized for its trial and appellate work and provides battle-tested, sophisticated courtroom experience in high-stakes litigation matters. Led by veteran trial and appellate lawyers Clayton Bailey and Alex Brauer, the firm focuses on complex

October 2nd, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Survey Ranks Dallas Law Firm Bailey Brauer Among Most Feared by Opponents

Firm included in prestigious BTI Litigation Outlook 2018 report DALLAS – The Dallas-based trial and appellate law firm Bailey Brauer PLLC has again earned a spot among an elite group of firms that corporate lawyers most fear facing in court. Founded in 2013, Bailey Brauer is among the youngest and smallest firms included on BTI Litigation Outlook 2018’s Honor Roll of the nation’s Most Feared Law Firms. This is the second time the firm has been recognized for its complex commercial litigation, class action and other litigation work. Selection is based upon interviews with general counsel and in-house litigation leaders nationwide who were asked which lawyers they would least like to face in litigation. “To earn a place on the BTI list is an honor because it’s based on corporate counsel feedback,” said firm co-founder attorney Alex Brauer. “And what it tells me is that the businesses we represent appreciate how we handle their most important cases, and that is being noticed by those across the table as well.” BTI Consulting Group, based in Massachusetts, is a national business research company that conducts independent research on how Fortune 1000 companies buy, manage and evaluate their professional service providers. A full list of its 2018 honorees is available at https://www.bticonsulting.com/litigation-outlook-fearsome-foursome. “What BTI focuses on is client service,” said co-founder Clayton Bailey. “And from day one, serving clients has been at the very heart of what we do. To have that dedication recognized by BTI twice in the four years since we opened is validation that we are on target with providing Big Law quality representation in a much more nimble, responsive way. This represents the second year in a row that BTI has recognized Bailey Brauer,

September 13th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Dallas Attorney Clayton Bailey Named a Boutique Law Trailblazer

Bailey Brauer co-founder lauded as ‘legal innovator’ DALLAS – Dallas trial and appellate attorney Clayton Bailey, co-founder of the litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC, is one of 23 attorneys from across the country to be selected to The National Law Journal’s Elite Boutique Trailblazers for 2017. Mr. Bailey is the only Texas-based attorney selected for this honor, which recognizes legal innovators who are changing the boutique law firm landscape. The Elite Boutique Trailblazers supplement is included in the September issue of the National Law Journal and can be found online at http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/supplements/NLJTB_Elite/mobile/index.html. “When Alex Brauer and I opened this firm, we came from Big Law and wanted to be able to offer clients that same level of representation, but in a much more nimble, responsive fashion,” says Mr. Bailey, who explains in the National Law Journal profile that although the firm intends to expand, he and Alex intend to “keep the size of the firm limited. Once you get beyond a certain size, you can become inefficient. And we want to stay very efficient.” Founded in 2013, Bailey Brauer has quickly grown to be among the most respected firms in the country, earning multiple individual and firm recognitions from Benchmark Litigation, BTI Consulting Group, Texas Super Lawyers and D Magazine. Most recently, Mr. Bailey was selected to the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in recognition of his appellate practice. The legal profession’s oldest peer-review publication, Best Lawyers is widely considered the top guide to U.S. lawyers, with selection involving a rigorous peer-review survey that includes millions of confidential evaluations by other lawyers. To learn more, visit https://www.bestlawyers.com. About Bailey Brauer PLLC Bailey Brauer PLLC is nationally recognized for its trial and appellate

September 5th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Bailey Brauer Ranked Among Top Firms in U.S. for Client Relationships

Dallas litigation boutique listed in Top 10 for law firms with ‘consumer goods’ clients DALLAS – Dallas-based litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC has been selected to BTI Consulting Group’s 2017 ranking of the top 10 law firms in the country with the best client relationships within the consumer goods industry. BTI’s inaugural guide, Industry Power Rankings: The Law Firms with the Best Client Relationships, is based on a survey of corporate counsel and executives at the world’s largest organizations representing 18 different industries. “When we started this firm in 2013, it was with the understanding that client relationships would be the foundation for everything we did,” said co-founder Alex Brauer. “To earn this recognition from BTI is an indicator that we have been successful in maintaining that focus.” To achieve the “Clientopia” status given Bailey Brauer, a firm must earn top rankings in two crucial areas of client service: The client must consider the firm as its primary legal provider and spend the bulk of the organization’s legal dollars with that firm; and the firm must be one the client recommends to peers in an unprompted manner. “To fully earn the trust of a client you have to be dedicated to putting their needs first, and you have to fully understand what those needs are,” said firm co-founder Clayton Bailey. “The only way to accomplish that is to develop the type of personal, one-on-one relationships we have with our clients.” Though Bailey Brauer is among the smallest and youngest firms to be selected to this list, it is not the first time the firm has earned recognition from BTI. Earlier this year, Bailey Brauer was selected among law firms with the “best brand standing” in

August 2nd, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Kentucky Court of Appeals Hands JBS USA Win in Land Use Dispute at Butchertown Processing Plant

DALLAS – The Kentucky Court of Appeals has affirmed without oral argument a 2015 ruling by a Jefferson Circuit judge allowing JBS USA LLC and Swift Pork Co. to proceed with improvements at the JBS Louisville Pork Plant in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The July 7, 2017, ruling brings to a close an eight-year legal battle between the company and the Butchertown Neighborhood Association over the issuance of a modified conditional use permit enabling the company to complete a series of building modifications designed to improve the appearance and functionality of the nearly 50-year-old plant. Originally opened in 1969, the Swift Pork plant is the last remaining major meat packing facility in the Butchertown area. “This has been a protracted battle instigated by the Butchertown Neighborhood Association that was unnecessary for all concerned, including Louisville’s taxpayers,” said JBS appellate attorney Clayton Bailey of Dallas-based Bailey Brauer PLLC. “JBS has always shared the goals of the Butchertown Neighborhood Association in wanting to help improve the conditions at the plant, and by extension, the conditions of the entire neighborhood. However, the association overreached from the beginning, fighting every attempt at compromise, even at the expense of its own best interests.” Among the improvements covered under the approved modified permit are a covered outdoor employee break area, a decorative fence in front of the facility, enclosure of a hog unloading chute, and a small modification to the facility that improves the humane treatment of the hogs. The ruling also provides clarification on Kentucky’s land use law, said Mr. Bailey. “The court has shown us that even if the surrounding area has evolved since the original permitting, a long-standing company can’t be forced all the way back

July 17th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

5th Circuit: Texas Partnership Liability Withstands 19th Century SCOTUS Ruling

By Mark Curriden, The Texas Lawbook – (July 4, 2017) – A North Dakota farming couple cannot rely on a 145-yearold court ruling to avoid paying past debts under Texas general partnership liability law, according to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. John and Dawn Keeley have until Thursday to file a petition for rehearing at the Fifth Circuit for their claims that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1872 ruling in Frow v. De Le Vega protects them from individual liability from debts accumulated from a now-defunct agribusiness partnership. But Clayton Bailey, a Dallas lawyer for Crop Production Services, says the Keeleys cannot use the 19th century decision to escape $1.3 million owed his client. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit, in a ninepage per curiam decision, agreed in a unanimous ruling issued June 20. “This case demonstrates that business partners need to take specific steps to protect themselves in general partnerships,” says Bailey, who is a partner at Bailey Brauer in Dallas. The dispute dates back to a January 2008, when the Keeleys and another couple from North Dakota, Tom and Mary Grabanski, formed a business partnership to farm property in Northwest Texas. A month later, the partnership, G&K Farms, borrowed an estimated $642,669.55 in seeds, chemicals and fertilizer from Denver-based CPS. “Mr. Keeley agreed to personally guarantee payment and performance of G&K Farms and assumed personal liability for all obligations due to CPS,” court records show. Court documents show that CPS invoiced G&K Farms multiple times in 2008 and 2009, but was never paid. In September 2009, the Keeleys legally signed over their interests in G&K Farms to the Grabanskis. Four years later, Grabanski filed for Chapter 7

July 7th, 2017|Categories: Cases, News|

Bailey Brauer Helps Secure Appellate Win in Texas Partnership Liability Battle

DALLAS – In a decision pivoting on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ application of a 19th century court ruling to Texas general partnership liability law, an agricultural wholesaler will be allowed to enforce a judgment against individual partners of a defunct agribusiness partnership. The partners of G&K Farms, a North Dakota-based general partnership formed in 2008 to farm land in Texas, amassed debts of nearly $650,000 to Crop Production Services. G&K partners John and Dawn Keeley and Thomas Grabanski made payments on the debt until Mr. Grabanski and his wife filed for bankruptcy in 2013. A default judgment was issued in 2014 against G&K Farms totaling more than $1.3 million, with a subsequent judgment also issued against the Keeleys based on their derivative liability as partners. In their efforts to vacate the judgment, the Keeleys relied on the 1872 United States Supreme Court ruling in Frow v. De Le Vega, which they felt protected them from individual liability after Mr. Keeley avoided a finding of liability based on a guaranty he signed. Frow v. De Le Vega determined that when there are multiple defendants, if some parties present a defense and win, then the ruling can be applied to defaulting parties under certain circumstances. “The courts had already found that there was no logical application of Frow in this case. It was simply a very thinly veiled attempt by the Keeleys to avoid their responsibilities as partners in repaying the general partnership’s debts,” said CPS’s lead appellate attorney Clayton Bailey of Dallas’ Bailey Brauer PLLC. “Crop Production Services’ trial attorneys, John Mark Stephens and Abel Leal, did a terrific job in the trial court demonstrating that the Frow doctrine did not apply.” “This has

June 26th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Alex Brauer Selected to D Magazine’s Best Lawyers Listing

Bailey Brauer co-founder recognized among Dallas’ top business litigators DALLAS – Dallas-based complex litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC congratulates firm co-founder Alex Brauer for his second consecutive selection to D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas listing. Chosen for his outstanding commercial litigation work, Mr. Brauer represents companies and high net worth individuals involved in business disputes. Clients, from data and analytics companies to real estate financial services providers, rely on Mr. Brauer to represent them in cases with millions of dollars at stake. Recently, he obtained a multimillion-dollar arbitration award for a Chinese telecom company in a dispute with a Brazilian supplier and successfully resolved a dispute between a forging company and oilfield supplier. “Alex is without a doubt one of the very best attorneys I’ve ever faced or worked with, which is demonstrated by the continued trust business leaders in Texas and across the nation place in him,” said firm co-founder Clayton Bailey. In addition to the D Magazine honors, Mr. Brauer has made Thomson Reuters’ Texas Rising Stars list each year since 2010. Bailey Brauer also was recognized recently by BTI Consulting Group as one of the law firms with the “best brand standing” in the country, an indicator of how likely a firm will be considered for new work. A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Brauer has served on several key Dallas Bar Association committees. A devoted community advocate, he is a board member for literacy program Readers 2 Leaders and is on the Host Committee for the Great Investors’ Best Ideas Foundation, benefitting The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation. The Best Lawyers in Dallas list is based on a review

April 20th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Dallas-based Bailey Brauer Earns Spot Among BTI’s ‘Best Branded’ Law Firms

Litigation boutique recognized in national survey of corporate counsel DALLAS – Dallas-based litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC has been recognized by BTI Consulting Group as one of the law firms with the “best brand standing” in the country, based on a survey of corporate counsel and executives at the world’s largest organizations. Bailey Brauer is among the smallest and youngest firms to earn this prestigious recognition, which is an indicator of how likely it is a firm will be considered for new work. The three-lawyer firm has enjoyed noteworthy successes in complex commercial litigation and appellate matters since its opening in 2013. “We started our careers at big firms. So when we launched Bailey Brauer, we maintained that same sophisticated, aggressive form of client representation you expect from a large firm. But as a small firm, we have the added benefit of being able to provide much more individualized service,” said firm co-founder Clayton Bailey. Selection to the BTI Brand Elite 2017 list is based on in-depth interviews with more than 600 corporate counsel and executives at the world’s largest and most influential companies. Respondents are asked about the law firms they hire and why. Final selection is based on intangibles that differentiate the law firms. “In the BTI interviews, the GCs are not asked directly about any firm and instead are encouraged to talk about who they turn to for legal help,” said co-founder Alex Brauer. “We built this firm on relationships, and this recognition demonstrates that we have the trust of our clients.” Bailey Brauer PLLC is nationally recognized for its trial and appellate work and provides battle-tested, sophisticated courtroom experience in high-stakes litigation matters. Led by experienced trial and appellate lawyers Clayton

March 27th, 2017|Categories: News, Press Release|

Dallas Lawyer Benjamin Stewart of Bailey Brauer Selected to Texas Rising Stars

DALLAS – Attorney Benjamin Stewart of Dallas-based litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC has been selected to the 2017 Texas Rising Stars listing of the top young lawyers in the state. Mr. Stewart represents clients in complex commercial and bankruptcy litigation in federal and state courts and assists companies with both internal and governmental investigations. This is his first year to be selected to the prestigious Texas Rising Stars list. “Ben is an exceptional attorney who is very deserving of this recognition,” said Bailey Brauer co-founder Alex Brauer. “It is an indication of the respect he has earned throughout the legal community.” Mr. Stewart’s practice includes work on behalf of companies and individuals facing litigation involving contractual disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, insurance coverage, officer/director liability, contested confirmation hearings, and estate valuation matters. “Having the opportunity to watch Ben’s practice grow, I am impressed by his tireless work ethic and a dedication to the best interests of his clients,” said firm co-founder Clayton Bailey. “Texas is home to some of the very best attorneys in the country, which makes me even prouder to be selected to a group as elite as Texas Rising Stars,” Mr. Stewart said. Texas Rising Stars recognizes the state’s top attorneys who are 40 years or younger or who have been in practice for 10 years or less. Selection is based on peer nominations, independent research and review by a separate advisory group. Only 2.5 percent of eligible attorneys earn recognition each year. The full 2017 listing will be published in the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine and the April issue of Texas Monthly. Bailey Brauer PLLC is nationally recognized for its trial and appellate work and provides battle-tested, sophisticated courtroom

March 20th, 2017|Categories: Cases, Press Release|