Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher

Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher

Lizzie Fletcher represents both plaintiffs and defendants in business litigation. She has experience in complex civil litigation, including antitrust, securities, employment, trademark, trade secrets, and commercial contract and tort disputes. She has represented companies and individuals in class actions, shareholder derivative cases, and other civil litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts as well as arbitration proceedings.

Lizzie was included on the 2012 and 2013 Texas Rising Stars lists, which name the best and brightest Texas lawyers under age 40 and those in practice fewer than 10 years. The Rising Stars are selected based on nominations made by attorneys from across the state who were previously honored in the annual Texas Super Lawyers list.

Lizzie has represented officers, directors, and other individuals in internal investigations; the negotiation and litigation of severance, non-competition, non-disclosure, non-recruitment and related employment matters; in investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission; before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Lizzie is a fourth-generation Texas trial lawyer and a native Houstonian. She graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio in 1997, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and from the School of Law at The College of William & Mary in Virginia in 2006, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the William and Mary Law Review.

After graduating from law school, Lizzie joined Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston. She joined Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing in 2009.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

With John Zavitsanos, won a successful defense verdict for a major non-destructive testing company and its employees wrongly accused of breaching employment and non-competition agreements, tortiously interfering with those agreements, and stealing confidential information and trade secrets. After a three-week trial in Harris County District Court, the jury returned a take-nothing verdict against the plaintiff and awarded reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees to AZA’s clients. The court entered a final judgment awarding more than $800,000 in attorneys’ fees, costs, and interest. Early in the case, Lizzie and John successfully argued for the denial of the plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction. After Lizzie responded to the plaintiff’s appeal of the denial of the temporary injunction in the First Court of Appeals, the plaintiff voluntarily abandoned its appeal.
Defended former employees alleged to have breached post-employment non-recruitment covenants with their former employer and prosecuted concurrent business disparagement and tortious interference claims in separate proceedings between the new and former employers, resulting in a favorable settlement.
Obtained a voluntary dismissal with prejudice of a declaratory judgment action in Texas state court in which AZA’s client, a major natural gas transportation company, was accused of failing to perform obligations under a services agreement.
Defended client alleged to have breached fiduciary duties to a partnership and obtained a favorable settlement of claims.
Defended clients alleged to have breached their contractual and fiduciary duties to a partnership involved in real estate development, resulting in a favorable settlement of claims.

Before joining AZA, Lizzie:

Represented a former senior executive of a public software company in a two-week arbitration, obtaining a substantial arbitration award and vindication for the executive where arbitrator found that executive was wrongfully terminated in connection with a stock-options backdating investigation and that company had breached the executive’s employment agreement and its duty of good faith and fair dealing.
Represented defendant airline in multi-district litigation resulting in dismissal of claims brought by plaintiff travel agents who alleged that several airlines had conspired to violate antitrust regulations by reducing travel agent commissions. Co-authored the brief of appellees in support of dismissal, which was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In re Travel Agent Comm’n Antitrust Litigation, 583 F.3d 896 (6th Cir. 2009) (cert. denied).
Represented target company in expedited litigation in Delaware Chancery Court resulting in judgment that the buyer in a $10 billion merger breached its obligations to use its reasonable best efforts to secure its financing and consummate merger. Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc., et al. v. Huntsman Corp., 965 A.2d, 715 (Del. Ch. 2008).
Represented medical device manufacturer in shareholder class action and resulting in dismissal with prejudice of stock option backdating claims. Worked extensively on the briefing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the dismissal. In re Cyberonics Inc. Sec. Litig., 523 F.Supp.2d 547 (S.D. Tex. 2007), aff’d sub nom. Catogas v. Cyberonics, Inc., 292 Fed. Appx. 311, 2008 WL 4158923 (5th Circ. Sept. 8, 2008).
Obtained summary judgment that medical device manufacturer alleged to have breached an indenture contract with its bondholders by failing to deliver certain SEC filings while an internal investigation was pending had not breached indenture. Cyberonics, Inc. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2007 WL 1729977 (S.D. Tex. June 13, 2007).

REORTED CASES:

McAfee v. Weiss, 336 S.W.3d 840 (Tex. App. – Dallas 2011, pet. denied).
In re Travel Agent Com’n Antitrust Litigation, 583 F.3d 896 (6th Cir. 2009) (cert. denied).
Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc., et al. v. Huntsman Corp., 965 A.2d 715 (Del. Ch. 2008).
In re Cyberonics Inc. Sec. Litig., 523 F.Supp.2d 547 (S.D. Tex. 2007), aff’d sub nom. Catogas v. Cyberonics, Inc., 292 Fed. Appx. 311, 2008 WL 4158923 (5th Cir. Sept. 8, 2008).

EDUCATION

College of William & Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law, J.D., 2006. Editor-in-Chief, William and Mary Law Review.
Kenyon College, A.B., magna cum laude, with highest departmental honors in history, 1997. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

HONORS & DISTINCTIONS

Received Texas Appleseed’s 2007 Award for Pro Bono Services
Received William & Mary Law School’s Gambrell Professionalism Award
Received Kenyon College Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award

ADMISSIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

State Bar of Texas
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Houston Bar Association
American Bar Association

PUBLICATIONS

“Flashing Yellow Lights on the Road to E-Discovery,” Submission to West LegalWorks Seminar on Electronic Discovery After the New Federal Rules (September 2007) (co-author).

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