DALLAS, February 9, 2021—Duane Morris LLP has opened a new office in Dallas, Texas, with the addition of Trial partners Robert M. Castle III, Randy D. Gordon, Jamie R. Welton and Lucas “Luke” Wohlford. The group joins Duane Morris from Barnes & Thornburg LLP. The move further aligns Duane Morris’ domestic operations with the robust high-technology and energy sectors in Texas. The firm opened its Austin office in 2017 and its Houston office in 1999. The new Duane Morris LLP office is located at 100 Crescent Court in Dallas.
[Update: On March 9, 2021, Duane Morris expanded its new Dallas office with the additions of Trial partner John S. Polzer and special counsel Jason E. Boatright.]
“For more than 20 years, we have focused on and invested in Texas. With our new Dallas location and team, our commitment is clear,” said Matthew A. Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Duane Morris. “Duane Morris now has a critical mass of legal talent and a footprint in key markets, including Houston and Austin, and we expect to expand our presence in Texas in the years to come. We look forward to supporting our broad client base with high quality and cost-efficient legal services.”
“Texas is central to Duane Morris’ strategic growth plan, and our Dallas office creates more opportunities to better service our technology, corporate and energy clients and grow our business in-state,” said Tom Sankey, managing partner of Duane Morris’ Houston office and Texas operations. “Our Corporate, Trial and IP practice groups represent a large client base in Texas, and our interdisciplinary, industry-sector approach to legal services enables us to deliver additional value.”
“Dallas, in particular, is an extremely positive business climate for entrepreneurs, the many Fortune 500 firms headquartered here and a broad array of high technology, healthcare, financial, energy and transportation clients,” added Randy Gordon, the managing partner of the Dallas office. “We are excited to plant the flag for Duane Morris in Dallas.”
“Matt Taylor’s vision for Texas is exciting, and the firm’s industry-focus groups represented a great opportunity to collaborate in new ways,” noted partner Rob Castle. “Overall, Duane Morris offers a unique and collegial culture that will enable me to better serve my healthcare client base.”
As one of the most diverse regional economies in the nation, Dallas offers a thriving commercial environment. With more than 65,000 businesses located in the metropolitan region including Texas Instruments, AT&T, Comerica and Southwest Airlines, the city serves as headquarters to more than 20 Fortune 500 firms.
Robert M. Castle III represents clients in a variety of industries; however, the majority of his practice focuses on healthcare industry clients. His nationwide healthcare practice includes qui tam defense, civil and criminal government investigations, internal investigations, internal compliance review, billing audits, white collar criminal defense, hearings before administrative law judges, contract review, medical board hearings and investigations, licensing matters, certificate of need disputes, ERISA claims and counseling on compliance issues. Castle represents multiple types of providers, including hospitals, hospices, home health agencies, long-term acute care facilities, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care providers, community care providers, pediatric home care providers, ambulatory surgery centers, physician groups and individual physicians. He also represents compounding pharmacies, reference laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment manufacturers and distributors, and medical device and implant manufacturers and distributors. Prior to law school, Castle worked in medical sales for manufacturers and distributors in the clinical laboratory and medical/surgical fields.
In addition to healthcare law, Castle has also handled disputes for financial services institutions, private wealth managers and financial advisers, oil and gas companies, current and retired professional athletes and a variety of other commercial businesses. He has experience filing and defending cases involving common law claims, including breach of contract, business torts and equitable claims, as well as state and federal statutory claims involving, among others, the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, securities laws, ERISA, Title VII, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act and other state and federal healthcare and banking statutes. Castle has experience in state and federal courts and representing clients in venues throughout the United States, including Texas, New York, Delaware, Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Colorado, California, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada, Alabama and Wyoming. A frequent speaker, he has delivered numerous presentations to attorneys and physicians on securities and healthcare issues.
Castle is a graduate of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2002), where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and Texas Tech University (B.A., 1999), where he was on the President’s List (students who earn a 4.0 GPA) each semester.
Randy D. Gordon has more than 25 years of complex litigation experience working with public and private companies in more than two dozen industries. He focuses his practice on helping a range of entities with antitrust, RICO, class-action, university-related, securities and intellectual property matters. Gordon advises businesses on distribution plans and provides legal and economic analysis of proposed transactions, including mergers and acquisitions. He formerly served as general counsel to a global trade association serving the semiconductor industry and recently served as the lead attorney for a major research university in international product liability litigation. Gordon is an executive professor of law at Texas A&M University, where he also holds joint appointments in history and is a special adviser to the dean of the School of Innovation and vice president of entrepreneurship and economic development. He is a frequent lecturer and has many published works on topics such as antitrust, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and class action matters in multiple media publications. Gordon’s most recent book, Rehumanizing Law: A Theory of Law and Democracy, was published in 2011 by the University of Toronto Press. He has written numerous law review articles. Gordon’s articles concerning RICO issues are regularly cited as persuasive authority by courts, commentators and practitioners, including in pattern jury instructions, leading law reviews (e.g., Columbia, Harvard, NYU and Yale), and briefs in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (e.g., Anza, Bank of China and Bridge).
Gordon is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D., legal theory, 2009), Columbia Law School (LL.M., 1992), Washburn University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1991), where he was editor of the Washburn Law Journal, and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the University of Kansas (Ph.D., English, 1990), where he was a recipient of the Dorothy Haglund Prize for an Outstanding Dissertation, the University of Kansas (M.A., 1986) and the University of Kansas, (B.A., 1984).
Jamie R. Welton represents clients in high-profile, complex commercial claims in state and federal courts across the country. He has secured some of the nation’s largest commercial jury verdicts, with multiple Top 10 commercial verdicts listed in The National Law Journal and several defense wins in cases where the damages sought exceeded $100 million. As a trial lawyer, Welton handles complex disputes for financial institutions, asset managers, healthcare providers, advertising and media companies, high-net-worth individuals, bankruptcy trustees, receivers and a variety of commercial businesses. He also conducts internal investigations, responds to and defends government investigations and litigation, qui tam actions, class actions and derivative suits, and represents clients in administrative proceedings, bankruptcy litigation, appellate matters and arbitration. In addition to Texas, Welton has handled matters in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Canada.
Welton is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1999) and the University of Illinois (B.A., 1996), where he was an Edmund James Scholar.
Lucas “Luke” Wohlford is an experienced trial attorney who has spent his career representing individuals, family-owned businesses, and publicly and privately held companies in a wide range of commercial disputes. He focuses his practice in the areas of corporate and fiduciary litigation, complex contract litigation, product liability, antitrust and class action litigation. In addition to his trial practice, Wohlford frequently handles post-trial proceedings and appeals in state and federal courts. As a former law clerk for a federal appellate judge, he brings unique perspective and experience to his appellate work. Outside the courtroom, Wohlford advises corporate clients on a variety of matters, including contract negotiation, risk avoidance and mitigation, and regulatory compliance and investigations. He understands the significant costs and burdens of litigation, and works with his clients in developing strategies to avoid litigation whenever possible.
Wohlford is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law (J.D., 2009), where he was note and comment editor of the Kansas Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He is also a graduate of the University of Kansas (B.A., 2005), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries.
