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Biography
J. Stephen Ravel is a partner in the firm’s Litigation and Business Reorganization and Bankruptcy practice groups and brings to Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP more then 25 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, securities claims, insurance coverage/claims practices, trademark/trade secret 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.
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 11-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 counsel in obtaining Federal Court approval of an electric plant over environmental objections
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
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 |
