- Business Litigation
- Appellate Law
Overview
Andrew Bender briefs and argues appeals. He leads the Andrews Myers appellate practice and is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization—a credential held by roughly 400 of the more than 110,000 lawyers licensed in Texas. He has represented clients in the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Texas, the Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits, and most Texas intermediate appellate courts. Most appeals are won or lost before the notice of appeal is filed. So trial teams bring Andrew in early: to brief the dispositive motions, handle the jury charge, and preserve error while the record can still be shaped. As embedded appellate counsel, he helped one prominent Texas firm secure the seventh highest verdict in Texas in 2025.
Appeals are often decided on the briefs, and the brief is Andrew’s craft. As a varsity advocate in South Texas College of Law’s top-ranked program, he won best-brief honors in five national competitions—including the Scribes Award for the best brief in national competition—and helped the program claim its 108th and 110th national championships. He now teaches that craft each semester as an adjunct professor of appellate advocacy.
Areas of Practice
Bar & Court Admissions
- Texas
- U.S. District Court, Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
- U.S. Supreme Court
Representative Experience
- Won summary judgment in the Texas Business Court for a commercial real-estate seller in a dispute exceeding $5 million over the enforceability of a contract for the sale of an 11.5-acre commercial tract, defeating the buyer’s counterclaims for breach of contract and specific performance.
- Persuaded the Twelfth Court of Appeals to reverse and render judgment in an accelerated interlocutory appeal, dissolving an ex parte order that had appointed a receiver and directed the immediate liquidation and turnover of every asset the client company owned to enforce an approximately $7 million judgment that remains on appeal.
- Persuaded the Thirteenth Court of Appeals to affirm the denial of a city’s plea to the jurisdiction in a municipal roadway-construction payment dispute, preserving the contractor’s breach-of-contract and Prompt Payment Act claims; the court rejected as frivolous the city’s attempt to confine appellate review to a fraction of the record.
- Secured the Texas Business Court forum for a commercial real-estate brokerage pursuing trade-secret claims over a former executive’s alleged use of generative-AI platforms to commercialize the company’s confidential information, prevailing on a question of first impression under the Business Court removal statute; the court adopted the client’s proposed construction in full, and the parties then entered an agreed temporary injunction protecting the trade secrets.
- Helped secure a $137.5 million breach-of-contract jury verdict and a final judgment of approximately $210 million in federal court in a dispute arising from a $900 million sale of natural-gas assets, providing appellate support at trial and in post-trial proceedings.
- Provided embedded appellate support through a three-week federal jury trial over the pricing terms of a long-term petrochemical supply agreement, culminating in a $57 million unanimous verdict for the client, which had obtained summary judgment on declaratory-judgment claims that avoided as much as $1 billion in exposure under the parties’ ongoing contract.
- Obtained a judgment for sanctions against opposing counsel individually under Rule 13 and Chapter 10 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code after counsel continued to pursue claims despite his client’s admission that he had no personal knowledge of any facts supporting them, then defeated a motion to recuse the trial judge.
- Persuaded the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to affirm a take-nothing judgment rejecting a $23 million trade-secret misappropriation claim against the client.
- Won affirmance in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of a $4.9 million judgment for the purchaser of turbine-powered mobile generation units.
- Secured remand of a limited-partnership dispute from the Texas Business Court to district court and then persuaded the Fifteenth Court of Appeals to deny the removing parties’ petition for writ of mandamus, in a decision holding that an amended petition adding a publicly traded company does not “commence” a new civil action for purposes of the Business Court’s September 1, 2024 effective date.
- Persuaded the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to reverse a take-nothing summary judgment and reinstate a resort owner’s construction-defect claims seeking damages in excess of $10 million against the project’s construction manager, general contractor, and construction-administration consultant, defeating each defendant’s limitations defense and the construction manager’s standing, capacity, and economic-loss-rule challenges.
- Persuaded the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to affirm the denial of special appearances by a New York-based real estate investment manager, its lending affiliate, and their managing director, holding that alleged misrepresentations made at a Houston meeting concerning a proposed $230 million real estate financing, together with the ensuing term-sheet negotiations, subjected the defendants to specific personal jurisdiction in Texas.
- Persuaded the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to reverse the denial of a motion to compel arbitration for the owner of a construction project, holding that the owner did not impliedly waive its arbitration rights by substantially invoking the judicial process; the court also denied the general contractor’s motion to dismiss the appeal and remanded with instructions to compel arbitration and stay the litigation.
- Persuaded the Texas Supreme Court to reverse and hold that an insurer’s acceptance and partial payment of a claim within the statutory deadline does not preclude liability for interest on amounts owed but unpaid when the deadline expires.
- Persuaded the Eleventh Circuit to affirm a seven-figure judgment for a passenger injured aboard a cruise ship, establishing that the proper measure of medical-expense damages under maritime law is the amount the jury determines to be reasonable.
- Persuaded the Fort Worth Court of Appeals to reverse a summary judgment granted to the insurer, holding that the appraisal panel had no authority to make findings on whether hail damage caused a covered loss under the policy.
- Won reversal of summary judgment in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, establishing that an insurer’s payment of an appraisal award does not, as a matter of law, bar the policyholder’s claim under the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act.
- Secured a Texas Supreme Court decision holding that a trial court does not implicitly rule on an objection to summary-judgment evidence merely by ruling on the summary-judgment motion itself, clarifying error preservation in Texas summary-judgment practice.
- Prevailed in companion appeals in a dispute between a statewide fraternal grand lodge and a subordinate lodge over property and naming rights, winning reversal of a judgment awarding possession of the disputed property in one appeal and affirmance of a judgment declaring the client entitled to possession of its property and use of the subordinate lodge’s name in the other.
- Erased a six-figure attorney’s-fee award, persuading the Fourteenth Court of Appeals that the general contractor seeking fees lacked a valid statutory basis to recover them.
- Persuaded the Tyler Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment for a tax-foreclosure purchaser, holding that the purchaser failed to conclusively prove that the original property owner had not substantially complied with the statutory right of redemption.
- Defeated summary judgment in a Louisiana Products Liability Act action brought in federal court on behalf of a worker injured by a pressurized water tank while working on an offshore platform.
- Persuaded the Fourteenth Court of Appeals to affirm the denial of summary judgment, preserving claims brought by the parents of a young man killed during an encounter with a law-enforcement officer.
- Persuaded the Amarillo Court of Appeals to reverse and render judgment for a prime contractor because the damages sought and awarded exceeded the statutorily prescribed remedy.
Education
- South Texas College of Law, J.D.
- University of Florida, B.S
Certified Legal Specialties
- Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Professional Recognition
- Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
- Texas Super Lawyers® by Thomson Reuters (Business Litigation); Since 2026
- Recognized in Legal 500 US 2026 Rankings by Legalease, Ltd., General Commercial Disputes – Mid-Market ($0-250m) – Tier 3
- Benchmark Litigation by Legal Benchmarking Ltd, "Future Star," 2026
- Benchmark Litigation by Legal Benchmarking Ltd, "40 & Under List," 2024-2025
- Texas Rising Stars® Super Lawyers® by Thomson Reuters, 2017-2024
- Scribes Award for Best Moot Court Brief in a National Competition for Academic Year 2011-2012
- 2012 Justice Bud Warren Memorial Award for Appellate Advocacy Writing
- Best Brief & First Place, 2012 Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship
- Best Brief & First Place, 2011 Judge John R. Brown National Admiralty Moot Court Competition
- Best Brief & Third Place, 2011 National Health Law Moot Court Competition
- Best Brief, 2011 National Latina/o Law Student Association Moot Court Competition
- Best Brief, Runner-Up, 2012 State Bar of Texas (TYLA) Moot Court Tournament
Teaching Experience
- Adjunct Professor, Appellate Advocacy, South Texas College of Law
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS)
- Houston Bar Association, Appellate Practice Section
- American Bar Association
- American Society of Legal Writers
Speeches and Publications
- “Contract Provisions in Writing,” AM Monthly Law Alert, May 2022
- Oil and Gas Class Actions in Texas, TXCLE Oil and Gas Disputes Course (2019)
- Texas Court of Appeals Update, 30 App. Advoc. 380 (2018)
- Texas Court of Appeals Update, 30 App. Advoc. 177 (2017)
- Cloaked in Attorney Immunity: The Lone Star State’s License to Lie?, 58 S. Tex. L. Rev. 145 (2016)
- National Health Law Moot Court Competition: Best Brief, 33 J. Leg. Med. 459 (2012)
- Brief for Respondent, 24 U.S.F. Mar. L.J. 127 (2011)
Contact Andrew B.
Download Bio
Contact
We represent a diverse clientele in the Houston area, and Austin greater metropolitan areas, coastal Texas and statewide.
Please note, as a corporate-based law firm, we do not represent individuals seeking to sue their employer for wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, or unpaid overtime. We also do not represent homeowners in contractor disputes.
Contact us using this form or call 713.489.8799 for an appointment.
|
Andrew B. Bender
|