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• Fred Hagans
• Scott Burdine
• Kendall Montgomery
• Jennifer Rustay
• Carl Kulhanek
• Jared Levinthal
• Paula Janecek Mathers

Our Attorneys

Each of the attorneys of Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay P.C. brings more than ten years of litigation experience to the cases we handle. We approach our clients' cases with an aggressive work ethic and creative strategies that are grounded in a solid knowledge of legal principles. Our objective for each case is to obtain a resolution that fulfills the client's needs.

Our Attorneys | Fred Hagans

Fred has won more than 100 settlements or verdicts of over $1 million during more than 35 years of trial experience. His clients range from individuals to Fortune 100 companies. Fred’s recent work includes successful resolution of a major oil company’s multi-million dollar royalty dispute, a multi-million dollar insurance bad faith claim, matters involving deaths from catastrophic product failures and a patent infringement action involving publicly-traded telecommunications providers. He also successfully defended a major oil company from billion-dollar allegations of patent infringement and handled a class arbitration regarding breach of fiduciary duty.

Fred’s achievements have prompted his peers to vote him to the Law and Politics’ Texas Super Lawyers list as well H Texas Magazine’s Top Lawyers and Lawyers for the People lists, to include him on the American Board of Trial Advocates, to elect him multiple times to the Texas Association of Certified Trial and Appellate Specialists board of directors, and to honor him with numerous other awards. Fred’s work has also been recognized among the judiciary. He speaks at judicial education seminars and serves as vice chair of the State Bar of Texas Judiciary Relations Committee. He was appointed co-chair of the Texas Supreme Court Professionalism Committee that wrote the Texas Lawyer's Creed.

In addition to managing a busy docket, administering a thriving firm and promoting ethics and professionalism in the legal profession, Fred is actively involved in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Gulf Coast Chapter, where he has served as president. He received both his undergraduate degree and JD from the University of Texas.

Our Attorneys | Scott G. Burdine

Scott is a board-certified civil trial lawyer with broad experience in commercial litigation, including intellectual property, breach of contract, oil and gas matters, shareholder disputes, professional malpractice and insurance bad faith. He has also successfully resolved matters involving toxic pollution torts, drug litigation and serious personal injuries.

Scott began his practice in 1985 with Vinson & Elkins, where he worked on business transactions in the energy, real estate and health industries before shifting his practice to trial law at. Hill, Parker, Franklin, Cardwell & Jones. In 2000, Scott joined Hagans, Burdine, Montgomery & Rustay, where he is a shareholder and serves on the board of directors.

Scott has been repeatedly recognized as a "Super Lawyer" by Texas Monthly magazine and a "Top Lawyer" by H-Texas magazine. He is a fellow of both the Houston and Texas Bar Foundations and a member of other professional organizations. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of ethics. Scott earned a BBA with honors as well as his JD from University of Texas in Austin. He is past president of the UT Law Alumni Association and has served on the school’s executive committee since 1992.

Our Attorneys | Kendall Montgomery

Kendall has been handling sophisticated commercial litigation since he began his practice in 1984. Since then, he has worked on numerous commercial disputes with jury awards numbered in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. He has successfully resolved such commercial matters as oil & gas contract disputes, national and international joint venture disputes, insurance bad faith, business torts and banking disputes. Kendall also has extensive experience in professional malpractice, products liability and catastrophic personal injury litigation.

Kendall attended the University of Texas Law School, where he served on The Review of Litigation. He obtained his B.B.A. in Finance and graduated cum laude from the University of Houston. Kendall began his career at Deaton, Briggs & McCain before moving to O’Quinn & Laminack.. He joined Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay in 2000. He serves on the firm’s board of directors.

Our Attorneys | Jennifer Rustay

Jenn handles matters ranging from sophisticated commercial litigation to serious personal injuries. She has successfully resolved numerous trials, arbitrations and appeals involving oil and gas, insurance bad faith, misappropriations of trade secrets, national and international intellectual property issues, construction defects, products liability, professional malpractice, business torts and fiduciary claims, and wrongful death. Jenn has also worked with one of the first class arbitrations in Texas.

Jenn began her career with Bracewell & Patterson LLP after graduating from Baylor Law School and clerking for the Honorable Sam Johnson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She serves on the board of directors at Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay. Her legal work has been recognized in local and statewide legal periodicals.

Along with handling a full docket of cases, Jenn has chaired the Association of Women Attorneys' Judicial Screening Committee and served on the board and served on the boards of the Houston Lawyer Referral Service, the State Bar of Texas Women in the Law Council and the Association of Women Attorneys. Her extensive pro bono work earned her membership in the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas. She is a Fellow of the Texas and Houston Bar Associations. Jenn is frequently invited to speak at continuing education conferences and has written and collaborated on numerous articles that have been published in legal periodicals.

Our Attorneys | Carl D. Kulhanek jr.

Carl has handled hundreds of appellate briefs and case dispositive motions during his 20 years of practice, including cases before the Supreme Court. His counsel is sought not only by lawyers inside the firm, but by outside attorneys as well who retain him as special counsel to evaluate complicated legal points. He is also frequently engaged to analyze and argue charges and to compile findings of fact and conclusions of law.

After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989, Carl joined the trial law firm of Helm, Pletcher, Bowen & Saunders, L.L.P., where he handled appellate matters and worked on legal issues involved in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases. Carl added commercial cases to his docket after joining Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay in 1997.

Our Attorneys | Jared Levinthall

Jared represents clients in the full spectrum of civil litigation, including commercial litigation and business disputes, product liability, professional malpractice, intellectual property disputes, insurance coverage and bad faith, wrongful death and serious personal injury, and other civil trial matters. Jared spent eight years working on a wide range of matters in the litigation section at Vinson & Elkins, LLP. He brought this valuable experience to Hagans Burdine Montgomery & Rustay in 2006.

Jared is a 1997 honors graduate, Order of the Coif, of the University of Texas School of Law. He is an “AV” rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized annually by Texas Lawyer as a "Rising Star."

Our Attorneys | Paula Mathers

Paula works with clients and the firm on matters such as professional malpractice, construction litigation, insurance bad faith, commercial disputes, drug litigation, oil and gas, and personal injury – but with a twist: she incorporates appropriate technologies to create a more powerful and compelling case. Whether she is preparing visuals that crystallize key issues for hearings, helping to develop multi-media presentations for mediations, or supervising the use of document databases in large, complex, document-intensive cases, Paula makes sure that key issues are clearly presented and readily understood.

Paula has published articles individually and collaborated on other publications with members of the firm. Fluent in both English and Czech, she is a 1997 graduate of South Texas College of Law. She is a member of various bar organizations, including the American, Texas and Houston Trial Lawyers Associations. Paula was recently named a "Rising Star" in Texas Lawyer magazine.