Co-founder of Dallas Office Returns to Wilson Elser after 18 Years.

National law firm Wilson Elser is pleased to announce three new of counsel hires in its Dallas, Texas office – Jay A. Brandt, Brenda Jeffers Damuth and Andrew Forstenzer – to bolster the firm’s national practices in the Texas market.

Mr. Brandt, one of the founders of Wilson Elser’s Dallas office, returns after running his own firm for nine years, and Ms. Damuth, who worked with Wilson Elser partner Linda Stimmel at a firm where she was a named partner, joins her former colleague. Mr. Forstenzer, formerly with Crump Group, Inc., one of the nation’s leading wholesale insurance agencies and an attorney with a long history of working as in-house counsel, takes his experience and “GC” insight onto the “other side.”

“Although each of our new hires comes from a very different background, they all impact the firm in the same way – by strengthening the firm’s national practices,” shared Stratton Horres, regional managing partner of the Dallas office.

“They are accomplished attorneys who understand not only how to provide the kind of client service and counsel on which Wilson Elser has built its reputation and has earned accolades such as ALM’s “Go-To Law Firm, but they also have the ability and relationships to grow the firm’s business. We are thrilled to have them all on board. We also would like to welcome Jay back to the office that he helped Doug and I open 20 years ago,” Mr. Horres added.

Jay A. Brandt

Formerly with Wilson Elser from 1992 until 1994, Mr. Brandt has been a trial and appellate lawyer for more than 30 years. He has broad experience in complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, fraud, energy matters, construction matters, title disputes and corporate governance.

With extensive trial experience and honed analytical skills, Mr. Brandt advises and advocates on his clients’ behalf, always being mindful of their legal objectives and budgetary constraints. He reaches favorable outcomes in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell, Mr. Brandt is admitted in Texas and in the following courts:

U.S. District Courts for Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas; U.S. District Court Eastern District of Oklahoma; and U.S. Courts of Appeals, Fifth and Tenth Circuits.

He is a member of the Dallas, Texas and U.S. First Circuit Court bar associations. He is also a life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Mr. Brandt graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University (1977). He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law (1980), where he was on the Moot Court team and was editor of the law journal.

Brenda Jeffers Damuth

Ms. Damuth has practiced law in Texas since 1978. Her practice primarily focuses on representing health-care professionals and resolving disputes as a mediator.

Ms. Damuth has extensive first-chair trial experience, representing clients in civil litigation disputes with an emphasis on personal injury. She also represents physicians and nurses before the Texas Medical Board and other administrative bodies.

She facilitates cases by drawing on the unique tools she has developed as an experienced mediator and an aggressive litigator.

Ms. Damuth is admitted to practice in Texas in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. She is a member of the Texas State Bar Association.

AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell, she graduated cum laude from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Arts (1975) and then from Baylor Law School with a Juris Doctor (1978). She is also certified by the American Academy of Attorney Mediators, Inc. (1996).

Andrew Forstenzer

Mr. Forstenzer brings to Wilson Elser experience in retail and wholesale insurance brokerage. He began his career working for the federal government, where he developed a keen appreciation and understanding of the influence that regulators hold. He has since used that understanding on behalf of the organizations for which he has worked, and will now use it to assist Wilson Elser and its clients.

Subsequently, Mr. Forstenzer gained substantial experience in a series of positions with a privately held stock brokerage; one of the nation’s largest syndicators of oil and gas and real estate limited partnerships; a publicly held global leader in delivering risk and insurance services; and most recently as executive vice president and general counsel with Crump Group, Inc.

He speaks frequently on errors and omissions mitigation to audiences from the insurance industry.

Mr. Forstenzer is admitted to practice in New York and California.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School (1972), and his Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law (1975). He also earned an LLM in Corporation Law from New York University School of Law (1981).

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