J. Stephen Ravel

Biography

J. Stephen Ravel is Partner in Charge of the firm's Austin office and a member of the firm’s Litigation, Business Reorganization and Bankruptcy, and Intellectual Property practice groups and brings to Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP almost 30 years of experience in handling the full gamut of business litigation matters at trial and on appeal. Mr. Ravel has worked on significant matters on both sides of the docket, including breach of contract/business torts, regulatory takings, lender liability/breach of trust matters, environmental matters, securities claims, insurance coverage/claims practices, Patent/trademark/trade secret/migrating employee engagements, construction litigation, telecommunication/internet regulation, class actions, and challenges to administrative rules and other regulatory actions. He has been involved in a number of high technology matters.  He often teams with the firm's administrative lawyers when regulatory matters progress to the courthouse.

Mr. Ravel has tried a number of cases relating to the limits of government power. He also has an established financial institutions practice in which he defends claims by borrowers and trust department customers that banks are liable to them pursuant to claims of oral commitment, control, duress, fraud, illegality, mistake, violation of duty of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, usury and other evolving plaintiffs’ theories. He has been involved in a number of bankruptcy reorganizations and state court receiverships. He also represents lenders and large syndicated credits and defends lenders in the fiduciary arena.

Mr. Ravel is a graduate of Tufts University, where he received his bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, in 1977. He received his juris doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1981. He has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer" in Texas Monthly magazine in 2005. Prior to and during his law school years, Mr. Ravel worked in television news at WNAC-TV, Boston and KTBC-TV, Austin. He is an instrument rated pilot, endorsed to fly technically advanced aircraft. Steve and his wife, Suzanne, are raising 13-year old twins, a boy and a girl. In his pro bono practice, Mr. Ravel seeks to obtain healthcare benefits for seriously ill individuals who have been denied coverage.

Education & Honors

• Tufts University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1977
• University of Texas School of Law, J.D., 1981
• Honored as Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly magazine, 2005

Admission & Affiliations

• Texas, 1981
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
• Chair, Banking Law Section, Travis County Bar Association, 1994
• Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
• Master, Robert W. Calvert American Inns of Court

Significant Matters

• Lead trial counsel in obtaining the largest government contracts judgment ever obtained against the State of Texas;case settled for $170 million during the State's appeal
• Lead trial counsel in obtaining expedited, emergency force majeure relief related to a billion dollar construction project
• Successfully defended Bank Trust Department (and obtained reimbursement of a portion of the Bank’s legal fees) where plaintiffs claimed that the trust’s principal assets had been diminished by $11 million during the Bank’s tenure as trustee.
• Lead trial court counsel in obtaining Federal Court approval of an electric plant over environmental objections, successfully defended the approval on appeal to the Fifth Circuit 
• Argued matter in Austin Court of Appeals where Court's opinion drastically reduced amount workers' compensation carriers are required to reimburse hospitals for extensive inpatient services.  The ruling impacted approximately 2,000 cases with approximately $400 million in controversy.
• Obtained a $10 million recovery for major MCI subcontractor/administrative claimant on a expedited (10 weeks start to finish) basis
• Convinced environmental agency to withdraw, after trial and before decision, administrative rules that would have cost industry more than $200 million in compliance costs
• Successfully defended the brand name of a service company against a permanent injunction and damage claim asserted by prior user claiming a likelihood of confusion
• Part of the team that recovered 65 cents on the dollar for a class defrauded in a foreign currency trading program

Publications & Speeches

• “Manifest Injustice That Cannot in Good Conscience be Tolerated,” 18th Annual Advanced Bankruptcy Conference, Austin, Texas, November 18-19, 1999
• “Tejas Litigation: How to Sue the State and Win Under a Privatization Contract,” 10th Annual Advanced Administrative Law Course, Austin, Texas, September 24-24, 1998