Allen Stewart Attorneys

Allen Stewart

Trial attorney Al Stewart discovered his calling early in his legal career — to help people who have contracted cancer and other serious illnesses due to negligence find justice. A former research chemist, his practice encompasses product liability and cases against large companies that failed to warn users of the dangers of their products or industrial pollution.
With blue-collar roots and strong family ties to union activity, Al’s compassion for his clients comes naturally. His grandfather, who ultimately died of black lung disease, helped found the coal miners’ union in West Virginia and Kentucky. This personal fact has been a great motivator in his work.
Throughout his career, Al has been responsible for significant trial verdicts and settlements. These successes have brought Al impressive public recognition from fellow lawyers on the local, state, and national levels. What Al is particularly proud of, however, is the pro bono work he’s done on behalf of nonprofits, seeking to protect them from unscrupulous leaders.
Al is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a board-certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
Outside the legal arena, Al is a man of diverse interests. In addition to being an accomplished guitarist, and a self-confessed bookworm, Al also runs his own candy company, producing flavors ranging from granola to yogurt candy bars.

Education

• Juris Doctorate, 1990, University of Arizona College of Law (Editor in Chief, Arizona Law Review)
• Bachelor of Science,1987, University of Arizona

Bar and Court Admissions

• Texas
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas
• United States District Court of the Western District of Washington
• United States District Court of Colorado

Professional Associations

• American Bar Association
• American Board of Trial Advocates
• American Association for Justice
• Dallas Bar Association
• Dallas Bar Foundation – Fellow
• Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
• State Bar of Texas
• Texas Trial Lawyers Association

Steve B. Jensen

Since his days as a college student, Steve Baughman Jensen has always been concerned about the systematic destruction of the environment by domineering corporate interests. During his first year of law school, “I read a case involving a chemical spill on the Mississippi River and its impact on local fishermen, tourism, and residents of the area. I was fascinated by the possibility of using private litigation as a means to securing environmental justice.” After a year-long position as a briefing attorney for then-Texas Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Doggett, Steve has devoted his career to toxic tort litigation.

With over fifteen years of practice, Steve has attained many accomplishments. In 2006, he was awarded the “Trial Lawyers of the Year” award by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) for resolving a 21-year-long case on behalf of over 1,600 residents of Tucson, Arizona who were injured by contaminated drinking water. Steve has worked on a wide variety of toxic injury cases involving such substances as asbestos, trichloroethlyne (TCE), lead, radiation, beryllium, benzene, mercury, arsenic, and dioxins.

Steve is also well-known for his work in successfully fighting several proposed nationwide class action settlements that attempted to resolve “future” asbestos claims; that is, claims that might someday be brought by people exposed to asbestos but not yet sick as a result. The United States Supreme Court twice overturned such settlements in the cases of Amchem v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997) and Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp., 527 U.S. 815 (1999).

Steve has also fought against class action abuses in other cases. In 1997, he received the Public Justice Achievement Award from Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for his successful efforts in opposing a collusive class action involving insurance fraud in Mississippi. Steve also worked on a case opposing a nationwide class action settlement initiated by the tobacco corporation Liggett, which would have capped that company’s future tobacco liabilities. For his many professional accomplishments, Steve has been recognized by D Magazine on its list of “Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas” (2004) and has been named a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics Media and Texas Monthly magazine in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Steve is a past chair of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts and a current board member of TLPJ. Additionally, he devotes his time to litigating many cases pro bono as a TLPJ cooperating attorney.

Steve is an avid guitarist, describing himself as a “strummer and singer.” A lover of big dogs, Steve owns a Great Dane named Layla and a Labrador named Turbo. He is also a dedicated family man, devoted to his 2 boys and his wife of 20 years.

Education

• University of Texas School of Law (J.D., high honors, 1992); Order of the Coif; Clerk of the Chancellors; Order of the Barristers.
• Trinity University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1989)

Bar and Court Admissions

• Texas
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Circuits
• United States District Court for the Northern District of TexasUnited States District Court for Colorado

Professional Associations

• American Association for Justice (past chair, Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts)
• Public Justice (Member, Board of Directors)

Presentations

• Multiple Continuing Legal Education presentations on both toxic tort-related issues and class action issues.

Reported Cases

• AAU v. Wood, 98 P.3d 572 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2004) Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp., 527 U.S. 815, 119 S.Ct. 2295, 144 L.Ed.2d 715 (1999)
• Amchem Products v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997)
• Freier v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 303 F.3d 176 (2d Cir. 2002)
• Walker v. Liggett Group, Inc., 175 F.R.D. 226, 38 Fed.R. Serv. 3d 377 (S.D. W. Va. 1997)

Williams Kherkher Attorneys

Harry G. Potter III

Harry has been with Williams Kherkher since 1999 and currently serves as the firm’s General Counsel.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985
• Law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1987

Memberships

• State Bar of Texas
• Travis County Bar Association
• American Bar Association

Honors and distinctions

• Appointed by the Texas Supreme Court in 2005 to serve on the 9-member Texas Professional Ethics Committee, which issues advisory opinions on compliance with the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct
• Founding Life Fellow of the Travis County Bar Foundation
• Served on the State Bar Grievance Committee for District 9A for six years
• Twice elected Chairman of the State Bar Grievance Committee for District 9A

Licensed to practice

• All Texas state courts
• U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States Supreme Court

Past experience

• Harry spent 10 years as a lawyer in the Texas Attorney General’s Office where he served as Deputy Division Chief of the General Litigation Division and later as a Special Assistant Attorney General
• After leaving the Attorney General’s Office, Harry taught full-time as a Visiting Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he taught Professional Responsibility

Amy M. Carter

Areas of Practice

• Pharmaceutical
• Personal Injury
• Medical Malpractice

Professional Experience

• Williams Kherkher Hart Boundas – February 2005 to Present
• Baron & Budd P.C – June 2000 to February 2005
• Silber Pearlman, L.L.P, Dallas, Texas – January 1997 to June 2000

Education

• The University of Texas School of Law, J.D with honors, December 1997

• Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant Oklahoma, B.S in Business Management, May 1995

Legal Memberships and Professional Affiliations

• Dallas Bar Association
• State Bar of Texas
• Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
• Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
• Texas Trial Lawyers Association
• The American Association for Justice

Licensed to Practice

• Texas, Pennsylvania and California
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas