Haynes and Boone, LLP Partners Diana Liebmann, Laura O’Donnell and Frank Ruttenberg and Counsel Paloma Ahmadi have been named among the Best San Antonio Lawyers in 2020 by San Antonio Scene Magazine.
All four lawyers were nominated by peers in the legal community for the recognition and will be featured in San Antonio Scene Magazine in July.
For the past 15 years, the magazine has surveyed licensed, practicing lawyers of Bexar County to find out who they believe are the city’s best lawyers and attorneys in 80 distinct areas of practice. Lawyers cannot vote for themselves and must include names of lawyers outside their practice. The publication uses several objective factors to give each lawyer nominated a weighted score.
Read more about Haynes and Boone’s honorees below.
Diana Liebmann
Liebmann leads the firm’s Power and Renewables practice, is a partner in the Capital Markets and Securities practice, manages the San Antonio office as its managing partner and is a leader in her community.
Liebmann’s legal advocacy and regulatory experience have helped clients through multiple restructurings of the electric power markets in Texas, to create the rules for the evolving ERCOT market - the most vibrant and competitive market in the country. She understands the risks inherent in certain transactions under constantly changing market rules and dynamics. She has represented clients in analyzing and structuring power supply arrangements for both wholesale and retail sales, including assisting LNG facilities with structuring power transactions.
Liebmann was recently recognized in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA published by Chambers and Partners, as well as the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America directory published by Woodward/White, Inc. for Energy Law, Energy Regulatory Law, and Utilities Law.
Laura O’Donnell
O’Donnell is co-chair of the firm's Litigation Practice Group and heads the firm’s Wage and Hour Litigation group. O’Donnell is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Her practice includes employment litigation throughout Texas, client counseling, executive investigations, executive agreements, nationwide employment-law compliance projects, and employment aspects of M&A and other corporate transactions.
On the litigation front, O’Donnell focuses on the defense of FLSA collective actions, but O’Donnell also regularly defends employers against a multitude of employment-related claims. O’Donnell has handled several appeals of employment decisions to Texas Courts of Appeal, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
O’Donnell was recently recognized in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA published by Chambers and Partners, as well as the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America directory published by Woodward/White, Inc. for Litigation – Labor and Employment.
Frank Ruttenberg
Ruttenberg focuses his practice on commercial and real estate law in San Antonio, Austin and Central Texas. His commercial law focuses on business structures and day-to-day operating needs, negotiating and drafting business contracts and business entities documentation. He also prepares intra-owner agreements for commercial entities of all types and the documentation in connection with the formation of investment capital and assists family law attorneys with business separations as a part of marital dissolutions.
Ruttenberg's real estate practice includes negotiating and preparing documents relating to the financing, lease, sale, purchase and operation of income producing properties; landlord/tenant relations; lease restructuring, and theater and venue development and operations.
As a part of Ruttenberg’s real estate practice, he is also recognized on a statewide basis for his expertise in groundwater transactions, pipelines and surface use agreements for groundwater.
Ruttenberg was recently featured in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America directory published by Woodward/White, Inc. for Real Estate Law and is the chair elect of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.
Paloma Ahmadi
Ahmadi is a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. She enjoys working alongside her clients as a collaborative partner, providing thoughtful and effective advocacy through every stage of labor and employment issues. Ahmadi spent several years of her career in an in-house role and draws on that experience to give practical, business-oriented advice. Her practice now focuses on labor and employment litigation, investigations, and counseling. Ahmadi has represented clients in proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proceedings and in discrimination, harassment, and non-compete litigation. Ahmadi regularly defends companies in FLSA collective actions, and she also represents management-side clients in collective bargaining and union grievances.
Ahmadi was promoted to counsel in January. In November, she received the Kristi Couvillon Pro Bono Award from the Texas Civil Rights Project for “tireless work defending immigrants and asylum seekers at the Texas-Mexico border.”