Jeff Levinger, co-founder of Dallas appellate boutique Hankinson Levinger, says he opened his own firm, Levinger PC, on Oct. 26 in office space he is renting from Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank in Dallas. “I think my new firm fits very well with my style of practicing appellate law, mainly working and collaborating very closely with trial lawyers,” he says. Levinger says he had been working on a case with Gruber Hurst lawyers, and with space available there, it seemed like a good opportunity to launch his own firm. Hankinson Levinger officially changed its name to Hankinson LLP on Oct. 19, says Rick Thompson , managing partner of the six-lawyer Dallas boutique. “We talked about a lot of different names and how to do it,” Thompson says. “We honestly decided that that one sounded best and wasn’t a mouthful. I think that a lot of law firms have gone to two names or down to one. Shortening seems to be the way to go, and we thought that sounded pretty catchy.” Deborah Hankinson was not available for comment because she is out of the country on a three-week vacation, “a trip she had planned for a while,” Thompson says. Levinger, former head of the appellate practice at Dallas-based Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, and Hankinson, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, co-founded Hankinson Levinger in 2008. Thompson says Hankinson LLP’s six lawyers all plan to stay with the firm. “We certainly wish him [Levinger] well because he’s a very, very good lawyer,” Thompson says. “We all enjoyed working with him.” Levinger says he took all his clients with him, including Beal Bank, Dillard’s Inc., Devon Energy Corp. and Martin K. Eby Construction Co. Inc. Levinger says he is busy but has not yet decided whether to hire lawyers for his firm or use contract lawyers for work overflow. “I need to get good people to work with me,” he says. Levinger says that opening his own firm was not something he had spent a lot of time planning. “It’s sort of one of those things that lurk in the back of your mind,” he says. “Until you take the plunge you don’t give it a lot of thought.”
Making the List
U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn , R-Texas, have forwarded the names of three people to President Barack Obama to fill the U.S. District Court bench in Sherman. The federal bench in Sherman, which has the busiest docket in the Eastern District of Texas, has been vacant since 2006, when Senior U.S. District Court Judge Paul Brown retired. On Oct. 27, Hutchison and Cornyn notified the White House that they are recommending Judge Martin Hoffman of the 68th District Court in Dallas, Judge Jim Fallon of the 15th District Court in Sherman and Clyde Siebman , a senior partner in Sherman’s Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith, to fill the bench. “Their skill and work ethic have earned them the respect of their colleagues and praise from the Texas legal community. We believe their experience and record of service make them well-qualified to continue the proud tradition of Texas’ federal bench being among the best in the nation,” the senators note in a joint press release. Hoffman and Siebman decline comment, and Fallon did not return a telephone call. Traditionally, the president’s judicial nominees are members of his own political party. Hoffman is a Democrat, while Fallon and Siebman are Republicans. Siebman previously served as chairman of the Grayson County Republican Party and as a member of the Texas Republican Executive Committee. In a May 13 letter to Hutchison and Cornyn, the Grayson County Bar Association (GCBA) asked the senators to help fill the open bench in the U.S. Courthouse in Sherman. “This Division handles more than half of the Eastern District’s entire criminal docket, along with many complex intellectual property cases for which the Eastern District has become known,” the GCBA wrote. “A platooning of visiting federal judges has tirelessly worked to cover the Sherman docket, with considerable attendant stresses on them and their staffs.”
