Mr. Looney comes to Cantey Hanger with experience in various practice areas including commercial litigation and business transactions.  He has significant experience guiding business clients through a variety of legal issues.

Tyler graduated with a degree in Music Education from Baylor University in 2013, and later received his J.D. from Texas A&M University School of Law in 2017. While in law school, he received a specialized certificate in estate planning and clerked for the Honorable Judge Ingrid Warren in Dallas County Probate Court No. 2. After graduating from law school, his practice focused on contested and uncontested probate, estate planning, and fiduciary litigation. He joined Cantey Hanger’s business section in 2022. When he’s not working, Tyler enjoys spending time with his wife, Alexis, and their two corgis, Willow and Granger.

Daeja Pemberton received her law degree from Texas A&M University, where she served as the associate managing editor for the Texas A&M Law Review and the secretary for the Black Law Student Association. Daeja also previously worked as an extern for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and a law clerk for the Council on Environmental Quality under the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Upon graduating, Daeja was inducted into the National Order of Scribes. She joined Cantey Hanger’s litigation section in 2022.

Chad Robbins received his law degree from Texas A&M University in Fort Worth, Texas. While there he interned with the Honorable Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. While at Texas A&M he worked in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic assisting his clients in starting their businesses and in the Tax Dispute Resolution Clinic advocating for his clients with the IRS. He joined the Cantey Hanger Litigation section in 2022.

April Robbins has practiced in the area of insurance defense litigation for over 30 years.  She represents clients in personal injury, premises liability, products liability, subrogation, general tort liability, employment, construction defects and commercial litigation.  She has successfully handled numerous lawsuits representing individuals, product manufacturers, pilots, aircraft leasing companies, aviation instructors and commercial businesses.  She has significant trial experience in federal and state district courts throughout Texas.

Ms. Robbins has represented domestic and international insurers, including Underwriters participating in the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.  She handles both first-party and third-party insurance claims as well as coverage issues.

Ms. Robbins is a frequent speaker on the topic of insurance litigation and multi-district litigation for state and national insurance organizations.

Cooper graduated from Texas Christian University in 2017 with a B.A. before obtaining her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2020. At Texas Tech, she received awards for her performance in Texas family law courses, competed in Board of Barrister Negotiation competitions, and attended mediation training in Austin, Texas to better serve her clients.

Prior to working at Cantey Hanger, Cooper interned with various judges in the Tarrant County area and worked as an associate attorney for a family law firm in Fort Worth, Texas. She joined Cantey Hanger’s litigation section in 2022.

Mrs. Williams graduated from Baylor Law School with a J.D. in April 2019 where she served two terms as Executive President of the Student Bar Association and graduated with distinction as a Leadership Development Fellow. Before attending law school, she spent a year working as the Special Assistant to Baylor’s 14th President and Chancellor, Judge Ken Starr. She graduated from Baylor University in 2015 with a B.B.A. in Business Fellows, Marketing, and Business Spanish. Prior to joining Cantey Hanger, Mrs. Williams handled litigation matters for Texas public schools. She joined Cantey Hanger’s litigation section in 2022.

Preston Polk joined Cantey Hanger’s Business Transactions practice group in 2021.  Polk’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, banking, real estate and other business transactions.

Mr. Kash received his law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2017, after which he practiced law in Midland, Texas for a number of years. Mr. Kash joined Cantey Hanger’s civil litigation section in 2021, where he primarily litigates cases involving debt collections, contract disputes, business divorces, and personal injury.

Ms. Newell has experience working day in and day out helping people deal with all areas of family law matters.  Her practice includes areas such as divorce, paternity cases, etc.

Scharli Branch received her law degree from the University of Georgia, where she served as a notes editor for the Journal of Intellectual Property and member of the mock trial team. Prior to joining Cantey & Hanger, she worked as a felony prosecutor at the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office where she brought over 35 misdemeanor and felony cases to jury verdicts. The subject matter of those cases included continuous sexual abuse of a child, manufacturing and delivering of narcotics, and assaults involving family violence. Ms. Branch completed a clerkship at the United States Court of Federal Claims, Office of Special Masters, a Federal Court responsible for adjudicating all claims of adverse reactions to vaccinations through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Her work in the healthcare industry also includes internships at the Department of Health and Human Services and in-house at Gwinnett Medical Center. Ms. Branch’s practice at Cantey & Hanger is focused on defense of Texas physicians, hospitals, and health care providers.

Michael Ackerman’s practice primarily focuses on commercial litigation.  He has broad experience in both state and federal court with litigation involving general business disputes, contract disputes, fiduciary litigation, covenants not to compete, and fraud, as well as personal injury and wrongful death cases.

Michael graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served on the Law Review editorial board and worked with the Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic, in which he represented clients seeking asylum in the United States.  Before joining the firm, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable John H. McBryde of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.  He joined Cantey Hanger’s litigation section in 2020.

Tyler Goldthwaite has more than a decade of experience representing clients in complex business transactions, with a focus on the acquisition, financing, and disposition of commercial real estate properties. Tyler advises a host of clients including business owners, land developers, and financial institutions. Tyler’s real estate practice covers multiple property classes, including office, industrial, retail, undeveloped land, and residential.

Prior to joining Cantey Hanger, Tyler served as an associate in a boutique business and commercial law firm focused on a practice including small business M&A, real estate transactions, construction and litigation. Tyler has also served as in house counsel for a Fort Worth-based energy company, where he specialized in oil & gas land titles and real estate acquisition and disposition.

Kate is a member of the firm’s litigation section where she focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation.  Her broad experience covers litigation and appeals involving general business disputes, contract disputes, fiduciary litigation, covenants not to compete, fraud, and construction disputes in federal and states courts.  Prior to joining Cantey Hanger, Kate was a law clerk to the Honorable John H. McBryde of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

J. Frank Kinsel, Jr. came to Cantey Hanger from a large law firm in Waco, in 1990. He practiced in Dallas for a period before that. As the son of an attorney for Texaco, Inc., Jeff lived in New York, South America and Belgium as a child. When younger, Mr. Kinsel’s first legal experience was as an oil and gas contract attorney for a Texas oil drilling company. In that capacity he lived, worked and traveled extensively in the Middle East negotiating contracts. He later evolved into an insurance litigation lawyer with clients such as medical care providers, bus companies, ambulance companies and manufacturers. Mr. Kinsel handles cases involving first party insurance coverage, employment litigation, medical malpractice, product liability, bad faith and legal malpractice. He has expertise in personal injury litigation including product liability, premises liability, toxic torts and environmental matters.

Susan obtained her J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Letters, with highest honors. Since being licensed in Texas in 1986, her practice has focused exclusively on Immigration and Nationality law including employment-based immigration, family-based immigration, and naturalization. Susan has a wealth of experience representing a wide range of client employers, large and small, including high tech companies, universities, manufacturers, banks, and churches in complex employment based immigration matters.  Cases include labor certifications, outstanding professor and researcher petitions, multinational executive and manager petitions, relative visa petitions, and fiancé petitions.  Nonimmigrant matters include H-1B, L-1, TN, E-3, R-1, and B-1/B-2.

Mary Colchin Johndroe vigorously represents clients in civil litigation, including construction, contract, eminent domain, inverse condemnation, property rights, and government law cases. She has handled cases at all levels of the legal system; before commissions and administrative agencies, in trials and appeals within Texas state and federal courts, including the Texas and U.S. Supreme Courts. Ms. Johndroe joined Cantey Hanger in 1986 and was elected partner in 1992.

Mr. Madsen is a litigator, primarily a defense litigator, although he has extensive experience in many areas of civil litigation. He is a career Cantey Hanger litigator, having come to the Fort Worth firm in 1976 shortly after his graduation from Baylor University School of Law and a stint as a briefing attorney for Court of Appeals of the Twelfth Supreme Judicial District of Texas.

Mr. Manning is a member of the Taxation, Trust and Estates and Small Business Organizations Group. His practice is centered in the formation, organization and reorganization of business entities, the purchase and sale of business entities, real estate investment and development, income tax planning for individuals, corporations and partnerships, and representation in tax disputes. He additionally practices in the areas of health law and probate and estate planning.