Lee H. Staley

Lee H. Staley is a principal with the firm the Houston office. Lee is a native of Wichita Fall, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1996 with a B.A. and then from South Texas College of Law, cum laude, with a Juris Doctor degree. Lee is licensed in the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Texas, along with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lee’s principal area of practice concentrates on the defense of professionals in malpractice claims, including, among others, insurance brokerage firms and agents, broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals. In connection with his defense of professionals in malpractice claims, Lee also represents attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals.

Lee specializes in the representation of insurance professionals, ranging from small independent agencies to nationally recognized brokerages, in defense of malpractice claims in all lines of coverage, ranging from personal lines, including auto, health, home, and life, to commercial lines, including commercial general liability, errors and omissions and directors and officers, among many others. Lee also represents brokers and agents in claims arising from the sale of investment products and employee benefit plans. Lee also represents insurance brokerage firms and agents before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI).

Lee has extensive experience defending broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, and other financial services professionals in connection with a wide-array of customer and industry claims and disputes before numerous state and federal courts throughout Texas and before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FNRA) in arbitrations throughout the country. He has significant experience representing financial services professionals before the regulatory divisions of FINRA, the SEC, and various state securities bureaus.

Lee routinely defends malpractice claims brought against attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals. He has also represented attorneys in complaints before the State Bar Grievance Committee and real estate brokers, agents, and home inspectors before the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).

Lee also devotes a significant portion of his practice to defending architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals and contractors in construction defect and delay claims, in state courts throughout Texas and before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). He has considerable experience defending insurance brokerage firms and agents in malpractice claims throughout Texas.

Lee’s practice also includes a variety of litigation matters, such as director and officer liability, employment liability, ERISA claims, commercial litigation, business disputes, civil rights violations, technology and cyber liability/disputes, transportation, and other personal injury claims, including wrongful death and catastrophic injury, commercial claims, consumer claims, debt collection defense, and insurance coverage disputes, including extra-contractual claims.

In the area of product liability, Lee has represented both foreign and domestic product manufacturers and distributors in state and federal courts, where he has successfully defended them in claims for wrongful death and catastrophic injuries. Products he has defended range from heavy industrial equipment to consumer appliances, electronics and medical devices, among others.

His premises liability defense work focuses on defending building owners and managers in cases involving injuries to tenants, employees, and premises invitees by criminal acts of third parties, many of which involve claims of wrongful death and significant injury.

Lee was previously a Houston partner for a AmLaw 100 firm based in New York, where he handled professional, product, and premises liability claims, and other high exposure personal injury matters, for a national client base. Later, he was a founding partner of the Houston office of another New York-based law firm, where he specialized in securities litigation, in addition to the above practice areas.