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.

William is a seasoned trial attorney with over 30 years of experience litigating claims involving personal injury, medical malpractice, professional negligence, products liability, motor vehicle collisions, deceptive trade practices, premises liability, property/casualty losses and insurance coverage. William has a strong background defending physicians and hospitals, as well as companies involved with pharmaceuticals and medical devices. He has been involved with various mass tort dockets. In connection therewith, he has specific expertise managing large caseloads and providing liability/damage assessments, budgeting projections and resolution strategies. He has substantial experience with jurisdictional challenges, venue disputes, preemption, large document productions, privilege and confidentiality issues, corporate witness and expert depositions, expert challenges, discovery/summary judgment motions and trial. William has tried cases in Texas and New Mexico, and been involved with various national trial teams and formulation of national litigation strategies.

Amber Mostyn leads a team of of battle-hardened, smart, tenacious lawyers who fight for people’s rights. Mostyn Law is a truly unique law firm, sharply focused on obtaining justice for victims of corporate greed and wrongdoing. Every single person at Mostyn Law, from the attorneys to the support staff, is committed to working harder and being smarter than our opponents. Before becoming the people’s rights advocate she is today, Amber Anderson Mostyn was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas where she attended and graduated from Trinity Valley School. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee with degrees in Anthropology and Spanish. After taking a year off to work in Washington D.C. and travel to El Salvador, Amber attended the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. There she excelled in trial advocacy, received multiple awards and honors, including induction into the nationally recognized Order of the Barristers and graduated in 1997. Her talents have taken her around the world, and her legal victories in hurricane, injury, and medical device cases have placed Amber in high demand as Liaison Counsel. In the last five years, Amber and Mostyn Law have held a leadership role in 19 multi-district litigation and consolidated courts. She has helped thousands of people across the United States and in Puerto Rico recover from natural disasters and sought justice for thousands more who have been injured by defective products. In the past, Amber has also served on the adjunct faculty of several Texas law schools. Amber’s burning desire to help those not able to defend themselves is reflected in her work and philanthropy. She and her late husband founded the Glenda Jean Mostyn and Joe E. Moreno Educational Foundation whose primary mission is to move mountains for special needs children and their families. In addition, Amber supports numerous charitable causes, including the Hughen Center, Galveston Historical Foundation, No More Voices, National Multiple Sclerosis Society MS 150, Special Olympics Texas, The River and the Houston Children’s Charity. In additional to her philanthropic work, Amber dedicates vast resources and time to political candidates and progressive causes to make sure that every Texan has a voice in Austin and Washington, DC. Amber has held leadership positions in numerous organizations, including the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Texas Democratic Party, Battleground Texas and most recently as the Chair of Annie’s List, an organization dedicated to changing the face of power in Texas politics by recruiting, training and supporting women candidates.

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.

Serena D. Harmon is a trial attorney with experience litigating in both state and federal courts. In 1992, Serena earned her law school degree from South Texas College of Law. Prior to attending law school, Serena worked several years working in city government and earned a Master in Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Since law school, Serena has practiced several years as in-house counsel for an insurance company and as a personal injury insurance defense trial attorney. During the course of her career, her practice has focused on family law, small business owners and personal injury litigation. She has extensive experience in representing a variety of clients as a civil and as an insurance defense attorney, Serena is experienced in handling a variety of cases, including personal injury defense, insurance defense, premises liability involving slip and falls, negligent security cases, commercial litigation, and UM/UIM and trucking litigation.

Prior to joining Germer in 2019, Barbara Jordan spent over twelve years serving as a prosecutor on behalf of Texas regulatory agencies, including the Texas Medical Board, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and State Board of Dental Examiners. Barbara has participated in hundreds of agency proceedings, such as informal settlement conferences, temporary suspension hearings, and oral argument before agency Boards. Barbara also has extensive trial experience before the State Office of Administrative Hearings, including cases alleging significant standard of care or professional conduct breaches. Barbara practices primarily in the areas of Administrative Law, Civil Litigation, Health Law, and Professional Malpractice Defense.