Shaunté M. Collins is a native Austinite and first joined Germer in 2020. She graduated from Duke University with a degree in Political Science and certificate in Politics, Philosophy & Economics. She then received her Doctor of Jurisprudence, with honors, from St. Mary’s University School of Law. While in law school, Shaunté was awarded the Chief Justice Alma Lopez “Women in Law” Student Leadership Award, was a Deans’ Academic Award recipient, and was inducted into the Phi Delta Phi legal honors society. Shaunté served as a Staff Writer for The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice and was the winner and Best Speaker of the Linda and Dave Schlueter First-Year Moot Court Competition. Additionally, she served as a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Rebeca Martinez at the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals.

Ryan C. Bueche is the rare combination of a lead trial attorney and a lead appellate attorney. Prior to entering private practice, Ryan worked for four different federal judges in the United States Western District of Texas. While in law school, Ryan completed a nine-month federal internship with United States District Judge Walter Smith in Waco. After graduating from law school in 2008, Ryan worked as a Federal Law Clerk for United States District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio, and from 2008 until 2011, Ryan served as a Federal Briefing Attorney to United States District Judge James R. Nowlin in Austin. Upon completing those three federal clerkships in 2011, Ryan joined Germer’s Austin office, and he was elected to be a Principal in 2015. Since joining Germer, Ryan has focused his private practice on trial litigation and appellate litigation, and he specializes in defending companies and individuals in lawsuits involving product liability, intellectual property, personal injury, insurance coverage, complex business disputes, and employment disputes. In his role as a trial attorney, Ryan is licensed to practice in all State and federal trial courts in Texas, and he is also licensed to practice before the United States District Courts in Michigan and Indiana. Ryan has successfully tried multiple cases to verdict as lead trial counsel. In all of those cases, the plaintiff was seeking to recover seven-figure damages from Ryan’s clients, and all of the juries in those cases returned favorable verdicts for his clients. Ryan has also worked on larger litigation teams in “bet-the-company” lawsuits, including a case that resulted in a defense verdict for Ryan’s client in which the plaintiff asked the jury to award the plaintiff more than $1 Billion. Ryan also regularly serves as lead counsel in administrative proceedings, including contested hearings before the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. As an appellate attorney, Ryan has successfully briefed and argued numerous appeals as lead appellate counsel in State and Federal appellate courts. Within several months of entering private practice in 2011, Ryan served as lead appellate counsel before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion in favor of Ryan’s client. Since 2012, Ryan has continued to regularly serve as lead appellate counsel for purposes of briefing and oral argument in numerous State and federal courts of appeals, including appeals to the following courts: • The United States Fourth Court of Appeals • The United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • The United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • The Texas Third Court of Appeals • The Texas Fourth Court of Appeals • The Texas Fifth Court of Appeals • The Texas Eighth Court of Appeals • The Texas Tenth Court of Appeals • The Texas Supreme Court Most recently, at the end of 2023, Ryan was lead appellate counsel in an appeal in which the Texas Supreme Court granted a Petition for Review and issued a ruling in favor of Ryan’s client, which is something that occurs is less than 6% of cases. Ryan’s broad appellate experience includes handling appeals involving product liability, commercial disputes, employment disputes, spoliation disputes, jurisdictional disputes, Anti-SLAPP disputes, and insurance disputes. Ryan also regularly serves as appellate support counsel for trials in State and federal court. For all of that work before trial and appellate courts, Ryan was given the honor of the Texas Super Lawyer Rising Star in 2017, 2018, and 2019, which is an award that is limited to 3% of attorneys under the age of 40.

In 1996, Attorney Novert Morales founded Morales Law Office, Attorneys at Law, PLLC., a private practice dedicated to representing individuals and families in need. Recognized as a skilled trial lawyer and litigator, Attorney Morales concentrates his practice on criminal law, personal injury, family law, and federal criminal law. Fluent in English and Spanish, Attorney Morales is able to help many different clients face their legal issues. With offices in Austin, Midland, and Georgetown, Texas, Attorney Morales and his team offer free consultations. To schedule an appointment with Attorney Morales, visit his website, or call 512-474-2222.

Jeff Todd has a broad range of legal experience and has practiced law in numerous jurisdictions and settings. Upon graduating from law school, he practiced reinsurance law at Chadbourne & Park in Washington, D.C. He subsequently relocated to Atlanta, Georgia and initially served as in-house counsel to Delta Air Lines, focusing primarily on marketing and mergers. In search of acquiring more courtroom experience, he joined a high volume workers' compensation firm in Decatur, Georgia, where he successfully represented hundreds of injured workers throughout Georgia. Jeff ultimately returned to Texas and was most recently associated with Greer, Herz & Adams of Galveston, where from 2003-2007, he practiced with some of the most highly skilled and regarded attorneys in Galveston County. Jeff started his own firm in 2018 to better serve his clients and has assembled a top notch team to achieve the best results for his clients. Given the broad success of his new firm, Jeff has expanded offices in Galveston and Austin to better serve clients throughout the state and country.

Richard Pena is president and CEO of the firm. He was elected by his peers to serve as the President of the State Bar of Texas from 1998-1999. He served as President of the American Bar Foundation and was on the Board of Governors for the American Bar Association. He is also past president of the Travis County Bar Association, former Chair of the Texas Bar Foundation, and former Chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. He was a director to the State Bar of Texas and a State Delegate to the ABA. Richard has received three Presidential Citations from the State Bar of Texas for his meritorious service to the profession and has been selected a member of the prestigious American Inns of Court as well as receiving the Distinguished Lawyer Award presented by the Austin Bar Association in 2007. The Texas Bar Journal recognized him as 1 of 20 "trailblazers" in the February 2014 issue. He also was the recipient of the 2010 Difference Makers Award presented by the ABA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division. Richard is a national leader in the legal field, and is active in the American Bar Association, where he led the Texas Delegation to the ABA. He has also been active in the American Bar Foundation, where he was previously on the Board of Directors. Recently he served as Chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, which is the preeminent attorney group in the country with membership limited to one third of one percent (1/3 of 1%) of the lawyers in America. Richard has been on the Advisory Board of People to People Ambassadors Program and has led Delegations of Texas and U.S. Lawyers to numerous countries including, Turkey, South Africa, China, Tibet, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Israel, and Brazil. He was also Chair of a U.S.-Russian Joint Conference on the Rule of Law in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2006 he received the Eisenhower Achievement Award from the program. Richard's trip to Egypt was featured in an article in the Austin American-Statesman as well as in the Austin Business Journal. He is currently Special Assistant for Legal Program Travel to Academic Travel Abroad.