Only two lawyers in Southeast Texas are both Board Certified in Criminal Law and Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas; Ryan Gertz is one of them. Focused on defending serious state and federal criminal charges, Ryan routinely tries complex cases and has met with great success.

Toby F. Nash is a native of Beaumont, Texas who began his legal career at Germer in 2005. He graduated magna cum laude from Lamar University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting in 2002. Toby graduated in the top two percent of his Texas Tech Law School class, receiving his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, summa cum laude. While in law school, he served as Comment Editor on the Texas Tech Law Review and was the recipient of the Lamar University/Texas Tech University School of Law Presidential Scholarship. Toby was initiated into the Order of the Coif and the legal honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Delta Phi. In November 2005 he was admitted to the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before Texas state courts and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Toby is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Jefferson County Bar Association, Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association, National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, and Texas Association of Defense Counsel. Toby practices in the areas of Appellate Law, Class Action, Civil Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Family Law, Maritime Law, Personal Injury Defense, Rail Transportation/Railroad, and Transportation and Trucking Litigation.

Valerie is Southeast Texas born and raised and is a proud alumni of All Saints Episcopal School (c/o 2000), West Brook High School (c/o 2004), Rice University (c/o 2008), and Tulane University Law School School (c/o 2014). Before law school, she spent one year teaching English in rural France. She subsequently served two years as a Teach For America Corps Member in Northern California, where she taught seventh grade English as part of Teach For America’s mission to make excellent education equitable for all children and fought for an uncompromising belief in every child. Valerie’s advocacy skills also carry into her volunteer efforts in the Southeast Texas community, where she has served on the Boards of Directors of the Junior League of Beaumont, the Michelle M. Mehaffy Inn of Court, the Jefferson County Young Lawyers Association, and the Foundation for Southeast Texas.

Kelli B. Smith earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law in 1998. While attending law school, she was a Teaching Quizmaster, an associate editor of the Texas Journal of Women and The Law, and excelled in Moot Court competitions. She has been with Germer since 1998 and has extensive experience handling appeals in state and federal courts, including more than 100 reported and unreported opinions. Kelli is admitted to practice before Texas courts, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Kelli is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Jefferson County Bar Association, Jefferson County Bar Journal Editorial Committee, Texas Association of Defense Counsel, Michelle Mehaffy American Inns of Court, the Appellate Section of the State Bar of Texas, and the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit. Kelli’s experience is in appellate practice and general civil litigation, including products liability, insurance defense, professional malpractice defense, and class and complex litigation.

If you are facing a serious criminal charge in the Houston area, you'll need an experienced, quality, aggressive defense attorney. The name that should stand above the others when you seek an attorney is Houston's — Ned Barnett. Ned Barnett is a skilled and leading Houston criminal defense lawyer with nearly 30 years of practical legal experience that includes trying criminal cases as a state and federal prosecutor, as well as more than 20 years as a defense lawyer. Since opening his firm in 1994, Ned has represented countless individuals charged with the most serious criminal offenses from DWI, to sex crimes and violent offenses. Barnett is a native of Houston who followed his father, grandfathers, and great-grandfather into legal practice when he pursued his lifelong dream of becoming a criminal defense attorney. After earning his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1987, he sharpened his trial skills as a prosecutor in Galveston County and with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston before taking on the mantle of criminal defense. As an assistant district attorney in Galveston, Barnett prosecuted countless DWI cases, as well as serious felonies including rape, robbery, and murder. During his time as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office, he focused on large drug prosecutions and gained a valuable perspective on how the government pursues cases involving international narcotics trafficking. Regardless of the offense, whether it’s a misdemeanor DWI or a felony sex crime, Barnett understands how devastating and disruptive a criminal charge can be for the person accused and how necessary a positive result is for your career and life. Barnett fights to obtain the best possible result for each person he defends, with the goal of helping defendants to move on with their lives and leave the stress and uncertainty of a criminal charge behind them. He brings a blend of compassion, discretion, superior ethics, and sharp trial skills to each case, as well as a commitment to providing personal, one-on-one service and communication. For free case evaluation with our reputable law firm, call (713) 222-6767.

Charlie Henke is the founding partner of Henke Law Firm, LLP, the predecessor to Henke, Williams & Boll, LLP. The firm was founded in 1992. His practice focuses on the prosecution and defense of commercial and contract disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, business tort claims, and probate litigation. He has first-chaired jury trials to verdict in state and federal courts and has handled the arbitration of securities disputes, law firm partnership disputes, and construction claims. Charlie is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Of the more than one hundred thousand attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas, less than one percent hold this distinction. Charlie is a member of various sections of the State Bar of Texas including the Litigation, the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law, and the Antitrust and Business Litigation sections. He belongs to the Houston Bar Association, and is active in the Litigation (former Chair) and the Probate, Trusts, and Estates sections of the HBA. Charlie was appointed to serve on the HBA Fee Dispute Committee for over a dozen years where he served as an arbitrator of fee disputes between attorneys and their clients. He is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas and a Life Fellow of both the Texas and Houston Bar Foundations. Charlie has been a member of the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas since 1994. He is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates and currently serves as Treasurer of TEX-ABOTA. Charlie was appointed by several Presidents of the State Bar of Texas to serve three terms on the State Bar Standing Committee on Pattern Jury Charges for Business, Consumer, and Employment cases. As a member of this prestigious committee, over 6 years he helped draft the written instructions and questions given to all juries throughout Texas. Charlie was named a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" in business litigation by H Texas Magazine in 2004, has been recognized as one of "Houston’s Top Lawyers" for business litigation since 2005 by the same publication. He has been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine since 2007. Charlie earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center where he was active in student governance and alumni relations. Charlie received his license to practice law by the State of Texas in 1992. He is licensed to practice law in the United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the Northern District of Indiana and Colorado. An active contributor to his community, Charlie has served on the Board of Directors of several charitable organizations and served as a Director and past President of The Houston Club. Charlie Henke is an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Houston.

Matt McCracken has more than thirty years of trial, appellate and administrative law experience representing medical, legal, insurance and other professionals as well as product manufacturers, energy companies, telecommunications companies and medical institutions. Matt has defended numerous doctors, nurses and insurance professionals at their respective licensing boards. Matt is a well-known figure at the Texas Medical Board where he guides doctors through the professional disciplinary process and licensure issues. Notably, Matt briefed and argued the seminal case of American Transitional Care v. Palacios; 46 S.W.3d 873 (Tex. 2001) at the Texas Supreme Court. This important decision established minimum standards for preliminary expert reports in medical malpractice cases, and set the standard of appellate review in dismissals of medical malpractice cases under Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. Article 4590i §13.01, now Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 74. This case has been cited by appellate courts over 5,000 times and continues to instruct and inform judges and lawyers across the State of Texas.