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Get to know Felicia

For over 27 years, Felicia’s advice, experience, and skill as a negotiator and lawyer have helped parties resolve disputes. As an advocate, Felicia has been a trusted advisor in some of her clients’ toughest personal and professional times and is recognized by her peers for inclusion among The Best Lawyers® in America in commercial litigation (2021-2025) and listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America®. As a neutral, Felicia is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN), a TMCA Credentialed Distinguished Mediator, Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) Committee (2023-2025), Chair (2024-2025) for the Houston Bar Association ADR Council (2024-2027)-, a Member of the State Bar of Texas ADR Council (2024-2027), a Member of the American Bar Association ADR Council, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). 

She has experience helping parties – both plaintiffs and defendants – resolve disputes inside and outside of the courtroom. She has worked with individuals and entrepreneurs, as well as privately-held and publicly-traded companies with local, national, and/or international teams and operations.

Spanning a range of industries and involving a broad spectrum of legal and business problems, Felicia’s has experience resolving conflicts involving contractual rights, indemnity, negligence, personal injury and wrongful death, partnership formation and duties, trade secrets, employment agreements, non-compete and non-solicitation, fraud, business disparagement, defamation, fiduciary duties, corporate governance, federal and state employment laws, lease agreements, landlord-tenant disputes, healthcare, home-health & nursing home operations, medical malpractice, product liability, seismic exploration rights and other real property interests, offshore plugging & abandonment, consumer credit, OSHA & EEOC investigations, UCC, homeowners & community associations, construction trust fund, first-party insurance, collections, and warranty claims.

Felicia understands the pressures, demands and risks lawyers and their clients deal with in conflict management and resolution. She understands the dynamics of negotiations between parties wanting to deescalate, avoid, or resolve conflict while also preserving and protecting litigation positions, should negotiations prove unsuccessful.

This kind of understanding and experience proves relevant during mediations as lawyers and their clients consider, evaluate, and confidentially negotiate risk management and dispute resolution options.

This kind of understanding and experience also proves relevant as an arbitrator. Felicia is keenly aware of the importance of neutrality in arbitration and goes out of her way to ensure all parties and their counsel trust that her neutrality, objectivity, and judgment are never compromised.

As a neutral, Felicia accepts private (ad hoc) engagements and court appointments, in addition to serving as a neutral on public and private panels such as:

 

American Arbitration Association National Rosters of Arbitrators & Mediators 

American Health Law Association National Roster of Arbitrators & Mediators

Caroline Center for Dispute Resolution (Houston) Mediation & Arbitration Panel

Texas Comptroller Arbitrator Registry – Appraisal Review Board Appeals

Texas Department of Insurance Roster of Mediators

Texas Justice Center Roster of Arbitrators & Mediators

United State District Court, Southern District of Texas – Alternative Dispute Resolution Provider

Early Dispute Resolution Institute

Harris County Dispute Resolution Center 

Brazoria County Special Commissioner

Felicia is a frequent speaker on private dispute resolution methods and best practices, and is active in the ADR Sections of the Houston Bar Association (HBA), State Bar of Texas, and the American Bar Association (ABA). She is currently serving as Co-Chair for the ABA’s EDR Committee and Vice Chair for the ABA Mediation Committee, Chair of the Houston Bar Association ADR Council for the 2024-2025 Bar year, and is serving a three-year term (2024-2027) on the State Bar of Texas ADR Council and on the American Bar Association ADR Council. Felicia also serves on the Board of the Texas Mediator Credentialing Association as the Association of Attorney-Mediators representative. In April 2024, Felicia was listed among the Featured Members for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators North American Branch.

In 2023, during her time as a Fellow for the ABA EDR Committee, Felicia wrote a report in support of ABA Resolution 500 urging greater voluntary and informed use of EDR in dispute resolution. In February 2024, Felicia was privileged to speak in support of ABA Resolution 500 at the ABA Mid-Year Meeting of the House of Delegates (“HOD”) in Louisville, Kentucky. During this meeting, ABA Resolution 500 was submitted to the HOD by the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, along with support and co-sponsorship from the ABA Section of State and Local Government and ABA Senior Lawyers Division. Prior to submission, the Resolution also received the support of the ABA Business Law Section, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, ABA Young Lawyers Division, and the ABA Section of Government and Public Sector Lawyers. On February 5, 2024, the ABA House of Delegates unanimously, and without opposition, adopted ABA Resolution 500. 

In 2022, Felicia Chaired the ABA’s Section of Dispute Resolution Mediation Week 2022 Program – Winning from the Beginning through Early Dispute Resolution, which received the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s Program of the Year Award,  and she received the HBA Foundation 2021 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center. 

More About Felicia

National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN)

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Fellow (FCIArb)

American Arbitration Association National Roster of Arbitrators, Commercial, Energy & Consumer 

American Arbitration Association National Roster of Mediators

American Health Law Association, National Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators

Caroline Center for Dispute Resolution (Houston), Mediation & Arbitration Panels

Texas Mediator Credentialing Association, Credentialed Advanced Mediator

Texas Justice Center, Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators

United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Alternative Dispute Resolution Provider

Harris County Dispute Resolution Center, Board Member & Volunteer Mediator & Arbitrator

      Houston Bar Foundation 2021 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Dispute Resolution Center, Recipient

Texas Comptroller Registry of Arbitrators, Property Tax Appraisal Review Arbitrator

Texas Department of Insurance Roster of Mediators, Texas Windstorm Insurance Association property claims

The Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, Member

Early Dispute Resolution Institute, Mediator

American Bar Association

      Dispute Resolution Section, At-Large Council Member (2024-2027) 

           -Arbitration Committee, Member

           -Early Dispute Resolution Committee, Co-Chair (2023-2025), Fellow (2023), Member (since 2021)

           -Ethics Committee, Member

           -Mediation Committee, Vice-Chair (2023-2025)

               2024 Advanced Mediation & Advocacy Skills Institute, Planning Committee Member

                Mediation Week 2022 Program, Chair

           -Women In Dispute Resolution Committee, Member

                Programs Subcommittee, Member 2022-2023

      Litigation Section, Member

State Bar of Texas

      Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, At-Large Council Member (2024-2027)

         -Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution CLE (22nd Annual Course), Planning Committee Member (2023-2024)

Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow

Texas Bar College, Member

Houston Bar Association

          Bench-Bar Conference Committee, Member (2023-2024)

          Dispute Resolution Section, Member (2021-present)

          ADR Council, Chair (2024-2025), Chair-Elect (2023-2024), Member At-Large (2022-2023)

          Fee Dispute Committee, Co-Chair (2024-2025, 2023-2024), Member (2022-present)

      Professionalism Committee, Co-Chair (2022-2023); Member (2021-2024)

           Mentorship Subcommittee, Co-Chair (2021-2022)

           Texas Day of Civility in Law Program Moderator and Subcommittee Member (2021-2023) 

      Speakers Bureau Committee, Member (2021-2024)

           How to Hire an Attorney (Webinar and CLE presentation), March 8, 2022

Brazoria County Bar Association

      Dispute Resolution Practice Area

Houston Association of Women Attorneys, Member

University of Houston Law Center, ADR Coach (2022-2023) & Guest Mediator for Mediation Training

     Intramural Negotiations

     ABA Arbitration Competition

South Texas College of Law, ADR Guest Lecturer on Early Dispute Resolution (2023-204)

State Bar of Texas, Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution CLE 2024

American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution 2023 Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills Institute, Facilitator, AI Advancements in Mediation & Law

American Arbitration Association, The State of Energy in Alternative Dispute Resolution 2023, Panelist, Anatomy of an Energy Arbitration Claim: Notice through Award

American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference 2023

HBA ADR Annual CLE 2023

Managing the Arbitration Process for Efficiency and Economy, American Arbitration Association 

Process Essentials for AAA Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association

Panelist Safety & Security, American Arbitration Association

Awarding Attorney Fees, Costs, and Post-Award Interests in Arbitration, American Arbitration Association

Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution 2022, State Bar of Texas

Pro Se – Managing Cases with Self-Represented Parties, American Arbitration Association

How Decision-Making Science Can Make You a Better Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association

Veteran Insights on Private Dispute Resolution Strategies (Moderator), Houston Bar Association

Employment Dispute Resolution Revolution, Houston Chapter, Labor and Employment Relations Association 

Texas Arbitration Review, Houston Bar Association

3 Rs of Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution Post-Covid (Presenter), Brazoria County Bar Association

Preparation, Presentation, and Persistence in Mediation, Houston Bar Association

Avoiding Ten Common Missteps Arbitrators Make, American Arbitration Association

Award Writing: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards, American Arbitration Association

Attorney-Client Fee Disputes and Arbitration Clauses, Houston Bar Association

Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices for New AAA Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association 

Health Care Arbitration Training, American Health Law Association

Family & SAPCR Mediation Training, Mediation Dynamics

Evaluative Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Houston Bar Association

Elder and Adult Care Mediation, Manousso Mediation Training & Arbitration LLC

Mediation During the Pandemic, American Bar Association 

The Future of Alternative Dispute Resolution-EDR, EDR Institute 

The Ethics and Art of Settlement at Mediation, American Bar Association

Advanced Negotiations in Mediation, American Bar Association

Arbitration Training, Manousso Mediation Training & Arbitration

The Neuroscience of Decision-Making for Mediators, Houston Bar Association

Advocacy in Mediation and Arbitration, Houston Bar Association

Licensed to practice before all state courts in Texas

Admitted to practice before the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Federal courts in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas

Admitted pro hac vice in courts of other states (including Louisiana, Oklahoma, Indiana)

South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas, 1997

   Doctorate of Jurisprudence, summa cum laude

   Class Rank: No. 1

      Selected by peers as “Outstanding Female Graduate”

      Articles Editor, South Texas Law Review

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 1992

   Bachelor of Arts, Journalism (emphasis in Public Relations), cum laude

      Section Editor, Aggieland (TAMU’s Yearbook)

Barry Conge Harris LLP, Founding Partner & Head of Litigation 

Burleson LLP, Litigation Partner

Buck Keenan LLP, Litigation Partner

Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, LLP (nka Eversheds Sutherland, LLP), Litigation Partner

Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Senior Associate

Kyle & Kyle, LLP, Founding & Managing Partner

Beck, Redden & Secrest, LLP (nka Beck Redden LLP), Senior Associate

Briefing Attorney, Chief Justice John Hill Cayce, Jr. (Ret.), Second Court of Appeals, Fort Worth, Texas

Intern, Justice Adele Hedges (Ret.), First Court of Appeals, Houston, Texas

City of Pearland

   Mayor Pro-Tem (2009-2010)

   Councilmember, Position 4 (2006-2009, 2009-2012)

Pearland Economic Development Corporation, Director (2003-2006)

Center for Houston’s Future Leadership Forum, Graduate, Fall 2009

K9s4Cops, Second Annual “2-9s for K9s” Charity Golf Tournament, Co-Chair (2014)