Brant Stogner grew up in El Campo, Texas – a small town about an hour southwest of Houston. In high school, Brant excelled at both athletics and academics. Brant graduated in the top ten percent of his high school class; in sports, Brant and the Ricebirds won six district championships in football and baseball during his three years starting on varsity. Brant earned all-district honors all three years in both sports while also participating in theater and the National Honor Society. Despite a knee injury and subsequent knee surgery in his senior year of high school, Brant accepted a full scholarship to the University of Houston to play linebacker for the Cougars under former head coach Kim Helton. In college, Brant’s academic success continued. In his freshman year at the University of Houston, Brant earned the 1997 Conference USA Academic Excellence Award, earning the highest grade point average (GPA) of all football players in the conference. After playing two seasons, and having three surgeries in as many years, Brant decided to hang up his football cleats and transfer to Texas A&M University to complete his business degree. In College Station, Brant’s scholastic accolades continued to mount. Brant was a member of numerous honor societies and graduated in the top ten percent of his class with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. After graduation from Texas A&M University, Brant moved back to Houston to attend law school at South Texas College of Law Houston. In law school, Brant quickly became a member of the law school’s nationally ranked mock trial and moot court program under Dean T. Gerald Treece. Following just his third semester in law school, Brant won the Intramural Summer Academy Mock Trial Competition and received the Best Speaker Award. Ultimately, Brant competed as a varsity advocate in 15 mock trial and moot court competitions across the country. In addition to numerous individual speaker awards, Brant won a state tournament championship, a regional moot court tournament championship, two regional mock trial tournament championships, and, ultimately, a National Championship in mock trial at the ATLA National Trial Competition in his final semester of law school. Brant graduated law school in May of 2006 in the top fifteen percent of his law school class, was admitted into the Order of Barristers, and received the 2006 Dean’s Outstanding Student Advocate Award. Following graduation from law school and after taking the bar exam, Brant accepted an associate position at Houston law firm, Hays, McConn, Rice & Pickering (now named LeClair Ryan) while waiting for bar results. In November of 2006, Brant received his license to practice law from the State Bar of Texas while working at Hays McConn. As a licensed attorney, Brant continued to work with multiple partners on a wide range of cases in civil litigation, representing primarily defendants in personal injury and business disputes. Brant worked as a lawyer during the day and as a law professor at night while he coached South Texas College of Law Houston mock trial teams for his alma mater. After learning the ropes at Hays McConn for nearly two years, Brant accepted an associate position with Abraham Watkins in August of 2008. Brant has been with Abraham Watkins ever since and is now a firm partner with his name in the firm’s name. At Abraham Watkins, Brant has continued to consistently try cases to verdict. Brant tried twelve cases to verdict in his first three years at the firm. Today, he exclusively represents plaintiffs. Brant’s practice focuses on catastrophic personal injury matters, including gas explosions, commercial auto and 18 wheeler cases, refinery and petrochemical explosions, product defect cases, commercial business disputes. Since joining the firm, Brant has helped hundreds of his clients obtain compensation for their injuries and damages caused by others. Brant is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law. He received this certification within his first five years of legal practice, which is the soonest an attorney can become board certified in Texas. In 2009, Brant received the largest verdict (over $20 million) in Texas for workplace safety and injuries and was listed in Verdict Search’s Top Texas Verdicts of 2009. Brant is a board member of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association and is a founding member of the South Texas College of Law Houston Young Alumni Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the South Texas College of Law Houston Alumni Association and served as President in 2019. Brant was named to the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star list from 2011 to 2013. He was named to H Texas Magazine’s “Houston’s Top Lawyers 2013” list and has been named to Houstonia Magazine’s “Top Lawyers” list since 2013. Despite being only thirty-four years old, Brant was selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list in 2013. He has been named to the Texas Super Lawyers list every year since 2013 and the Top 100: Texas Super Lawyers and Top 100: Houston Super Lawyers lists since 2019. In 2014, Brant was also added to the Top 40 Texas Attorneys Under 40 list by the National Trial Lawyers Association and received the award each year until he turned 40 years old. Brant has also been named to the Nation’s Top One Percent list by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel since 2015. Brant was also nominated for and inducted into the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) as a member in 2015 and was the youngest inductee in the 2015 class. In 2016, South Texas College of Law Houston honored Brant with the inaugural Young Alumni Award. He was the first recipient to receive this award from South Texas College of Law Houston. Brant met his wife, Jennifer O’Brien Stogner, in law school and she was one of his mock trial partners when they won the ATLA Regional Championship in Dallas, Texas and the National Championship in Miami, Florida. Brant and Jennifer have two boys, Ryker and Beckett Stogner, and one girl, Holland Stogner. Brant and Jennifer’s partnership continues as Jennifer joined the firm in 2018 as Of Counsel.

Arthur Schechter (1939-2026) was one of the nation’s most respected trial lawyers and maritime advocates, dedicating more than six decades to representing injured individuals, seamen, and their families throughout the United States and around the world. Beginning his legal career in 1964, he helped thousands of clients successfully resolve their cases and rebuild their lives through his tireless advocacy, compassion, and commitment to justice. Over the course of his distinguished career, Arthur represented clients from local seamen’s unions, the National Maritime Union, the Indian Seaman’s Union, the Pakistani Seaman’s Union, and individual mariners across the globe. His reputation for extraordinary client service and courtroom success earned him the admiration of colleagues, clients, and the broader legal community alike. As the founding partner of Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, Mr. Schechter helped build one of the nation’s premier maritime and personal injury law firms. He served the firm for decades as Senior Counsel and lead litigator in complex personal injury and maritime matters. In addition to his legal practice, he served as United States Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas from 1998 to 2001, Chairman of Houston METRO, and a partner in a major national litigation firm. Mr. Schechter received numerous honors throughout his career for his legal accomplishments, civic leadership, and public service. Among his many recognitions, he received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the United States Coast Guard, earned Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Rating, and was repeatedly recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly magazine. H Texas magazine also named him among Houston’s “Top Lawyers for the People.” Beyond the courtroom, Mr. Schechter devoted substantial time and energy to charitable, educational, and civic organizations throughout Houston and beyond. He served in leadership roles with Congregation Beth Israel, the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the American Jewish Committee, SEARCH Homeless Services, the Houston Holocaust Museum, Career and Recovery Resources, and numerous other philanthropic and community organizations. His public service and humanitarian efforts earned recognition from organizations including the NAACP, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Customs Service, Baylor College of Medicine, and many others. Mr. Schechter was admitted to practice in Texas in 1964 and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1964 and his B.A. from The University of Texas in 1962, where he participated in the Honors Program and served on both the Dean’s Council and President’s Council. His practice focused extensively on personal injury and maritime law, including Jones Act claims, offshore and maritime accidents, trucking and motor vehicle accidents, railroad accidents, wrongful death claims, products liability, medical malpractice, premises liability, and complex commercial and insurance litigation. Arthur Schechter’s legacy of advocacy, leadership, and public service continues to influence the firm, the legal profession, and the countless individuals and families whose lives he touched. Mr. Schechter received numerous awards for his work, including the highest civilian award given by the United States Coast Guard. He was also been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine, an honor only given to 5% of Texas attorneys. H Texas magazine also recognized him as one of the Top Lawyers for the People.

Gennaro Of Counsel to the San Antonio office with nearly two decades of experience as an attorney and investigator. After several years away from San Antonio, he feels privileged to have the opportunity to work with and help in anyway the city’s growing and diverse immigrant community. Gennaro earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and received a full academic scholarship from Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor Michigan, where he earned his Juris Doctorate degree. He is a member of the Florida and Texas state bars and has practiced at both the state and federal level. In many of his cases, he has had the honor of fighting for the labor rights of immigrants on an individual and collective basis. In his spare time, when he can, Gennaro enjoys traveling to visit family and friends

For over 20 years, Jonathan Sol Harris has exclusively handled all types of personal injury cases, with an emphasis on auto accidents and 18-wheeler truck accidents. Jonathan began his legal career working on the dark side as the lawyer hired by insurance companies to defend cases. By working for insurance companies, Jonathan gained invaluable knowledge on how insurance companies defend and value personal injury cases. For the last 17 years, Jonathan has exclusively represented the injured person in personal injury cases. Jonathan is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law. To be board certified, a Texas lawyer must pass a six-hour exam, provide references from peers, provide references from judges and have tried at least 10 personal injury cases as lead counsel. Within his first five years of practicing law, Jonathan became board certified in Personal Injury Trial, an honor achieved by less than 2% of attorneys in the State of Texas. Before becoming a lawyer, Jonathan had a long history of being a hard worker. As a teen, he mowed yards, washed windows, bagged groceries, delivered newspapers, flipped burgers at Wendy’s and even worked as a as a magician at children’s birthday parties. During college, he was a hotel bellman and began working as a legal secretary. Jonathan went to college at the University of Texas at Austin where he got a business degree. Jonathan went to law school at South Texas College of Law in Houston. Jonathan believes that hard work gets the best results, and is never going to lose a case because another lawyer worked harder than he did. Jonathan’s became a lawyer to help people. He is passionate about being able to provide legal representation against powerful insurance companies and huge corporations to good people who may not be able to pay up front for the best lawyer. According to Jonathan, “Being able to hire your lawyer and wait to pay him from your recovery really levels the playing field for the average person living from check to check.” Jonathan gets to know his clients. He many times will visit a client’s home to learn how a catastrophic accident has changed their lives. Many of Jonathan’s clients have become life-long friends. Jonathan encourages people looking for the right lawyer to read the lawyer’s reviews and even ask for a reference from former clients. Jonathan says, “who knows better how you will do in court than a client that has been there and experienced you doing the job.” Jonathan is a firm believer in employing cutting edge techniques to gain a strategic advantage. One example of this is the focus groups Jonathan does monthly. The focus groups are presented cases and deliberate just like a real jury. “Why would any lawyer want to learn how average people view a case for the first time at the court house” says Jonathan. In his spare time, Jonathan enjoys any type of fishing, but his passion is saltwater fly fishing. Jonathan also enjoys spending time with his two sons watching and supporting the Astros, Texans and Rockets.

AJ Rosenfeld has been an attorney for Schechter, Shaffer & Harris LLP since 2009. He has helped hundreds of individuals and families involved in personal injury accidents recover millions of dollars in compensation. AJ understands that suffering an injury can be a stressful and frightening situation. He keeps a calm presence with his clients and encourages them to focus on their recovery as he handles the nuances of their claim and/ or lawsuit. AJ pays keen attention to the details of every case he handles. He is a fierce advocate and problem solver who stands behind his clients. AJ is a member of the State Bar of Texas, State Bar of Minnesota, the Houston Trial Lawyers Association and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. AJ has very little spare time, but he loves spending it with his wife and three sons and coaching Little League.

In 1992, Matt Shaffer joined Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., the continuation of a firm that has focused on representing injured men and women since 1964. As a managing partner of the firm, Mr. Shaffer has represented thousands of clients across the United States. Most recently, he successfully settled the largest single victim Jones Act case on record for a client with a brain injury. He has played a significant role in litigation related to several major maritime disasters, including the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Mr. Shaffer takes pride in bringing an experienced and thorough approach to every case. He is dedicated to providing a high level of support for his clients, who are often surprised to get return phone calls and emails from him well after business hours are done. More than 25 years ago, Mr. Shaffer began his career in law by representing large corporate clients. In 1992, he came to SMSH and began using his experience to help working men and women recover damages for on-the-job injuries. Mr. Shaffer is among the small percentage of Texas attorneys who are certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial law. He has previously served as chairman of The Texas State Bar’s Grievance Committee for District 4C. He’s also licensed to practice law in Colorado. Every year since 2006, Mr. Shaffer has been named a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly Magazine, an honor bestowed on only 5% of the state’s attorneys. He’s also been recognized by H Texas magazine as one of Houston’s Top Lawyers for the People and was selected for inclusion in the 22nd Edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2016) in the practice area of Admiralty and Maritime Law.

Laura De La Cruz first joined Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, LLP in 2010 as a paralegal for managing partner, Matthew D. Shaffer. She continued to work at the firm through law school until she became licensed to practice law in 2015. Laura believes the law is meant to serve those who have been wronged. She has devoted most of her practice to advocating for maritime workers and other individuals injured in serious accidents throughout the country. She understands how a serious injury can transform an individual’s life and fights hard to obtain the best outcome for her clients in every case. She is licensed to practice law in Texas and Louisiana and regularly practices in both federal and state court. Laura was born in Puerto Rico and spent much of her childhood moving across different parts of the United States. She now considers Texas her home. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center and has spent her entire legal career representing claimants. In her spare time, Laura enjoys spending time with her two young daughters and traveling to new places.

We are excited to welcome Jonathan Bever to our legal team. Jonathan brings with him a strong foundation in federal workers’ compensation law, a tireless work ethic, and a genuine passion for helping injured workers and their families navigate complex claims processes. Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Houston-Downtown in 2018. He went on to attend the University of Houston Law Center, where he graduated cum laude in 2021 with a Doctor of Jurisprudence. During law school, he developed a strong interest in workers’ compensation law and began shaping his legal career around it. Immediately after law school, Jonathan began representing injured workers under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and the Defense Base Act. Over the years, he has expanded his practice to include claims under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities Act. His commitment to advocating for those injured while serving their country or working in high-risk environments has earned him a reputation for being both compassionate and results-driven. Jonathan is known for his approachable demeanor, attention to detail, and deep understanding of federal compensation systems. Whether he’s advocating for overseas contractors injured in conflict zones or harbor workers injured on the job, he works diligently to ensure each client receives the care, benefits, and justice they deserve. Outside of his legal practice, Jonathan is a devoted husband and proud father to three energetic young boys, ages 4, 2, and 1. He enjoys coaching Little League and finds great joy in watching his sons learn and grow through sports. In his free time, Jonathan also enjoys cooking for his family, golfing with friends, and fishing whenever he gets the chance. Jonathan’s blend of professional experience and personal values makes him a tremendous asset to our firm and a strong advocate for the clients we serve. We are thrilled to have him on board.

Austin Marin is a Houston native who takes pride in serving the community that shaped him. Raised in a working-class family, he understands the value of hard work, resilience, and treating people with respect. He earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law, where he was recognized on the Dean’s List, and graduated cum laude from the University of Houston as a member of the Honors College. He approaches every case with dedication and a client-first mindset, ensuring those he represents feel heard and supported throughout the legal process. When he’s not practicing law, Austin enjoys staying active, traveling, and spending quality time with family and friends.

Ty was born and raised in the heart of the Pineywoods in Longview, Texas. Making his way to Houston to attend law school and ultimately founded Gibson Hill PC in 2013. While attending South Texas College of Law, Ty personally managed a personal injury docket at a local law firm. This was Ty’s initial exposure to personal injury law, personal injury clients, and the skills necessary to cultivate a good attorney-client relationship, and ultimately a passion for assisting those who have been injured. Ty handles each client’s case as if it is a mission, knowing that each and every case will have their own set of obstacles that need to be addressed. This style of practice requires an open channel of communication with the client. This is essential in ensuring clients secure the outcome they deserve. This type of advocacy on behalf of individuals has turned countless denied claims into a victory on behalf of the injured party. In addition to assisting those injured by the negligence of others, Ty has had the opportunity to represent businesses and hospitals all over the State of Texas on business matters of all types. It is the relationships that are forged by assisting those in need through a troubled time that gravitates Ty to all clients in all legal matters. This is what has turned a business into a passion for Ty.