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Biography |
Former State District Judge, Carlos Lopez, joined Thompson & Horton in 2016 as a partner and currently serves as head of the firm’s Dallas and Fort Worth offices. He presided over Dallas County Court at Law No. 2 from 1996 to 2000 as well as the 116th Judicial District Court from 2000 to 2003. Judge Lopez consistently received the highest ratings from the attorneys
whose cases he handled.
Mr. Lopez focuses his litigation practice on representing school districts and governmental entities in grievances, administrative hearings, litigation and appeals at all levels of Texas state courts as well as federal courts in the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Lopez has also successfully defended school districts against Title VII, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Texas Whistleblower Act, and Chapter 21 Texas Labor Code claims as well as 42 U.S.C. §1983 civil rights actions, including various First Amendment, equal protection, and procedural and substantive due process claims. Mr. Lopez has also served as counsel for school district boards and provided guidance and counsel regarding personnel issues, investigations, procurement, contracting, policy, local governance, and compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and Texas Public Information Act.
Prior to his partnership at Thompson & Horton, Mr. Lopez was a shareholder at Vincent Lopez Serafino Jenevein in Dallas, Texas where he was the chair of the firm’s school law group. Mr. Lopez also represents individuals and businesses in commercial litigation including defense against misappropriation of trade secret claims, enforcement and defense of non-competition litigation, contractual and fraud based disputes and DTPA matters.
Mr. Lopez is a highly regarded Arbitrator and member of the AAA’s nationwide Large/Complex Case panel. He has served as Arbitrator in over 150 cases involving virtually every type of arbitration matter, but primarily in matters involving construction disputes, breach of contract (including disputes related to corporate acquisitions and health care liability issues), executive compensation agreements, employment disputes (including discrimination claims), workers’ compensation non-subscriber injury cases, premises liability, and misappropriation of trade secrets and violation of non-competition agreements.
Mr. Lopez maintains a robust mediation practice (both by Court Order as well as agreement of the parties) and has successfully mediated several hundred cases involving all of the above types of litigation and disputes.
Mr. Lopez has served as court-appointed special master in District Court litigation involving breach of contract (including disputes related to corporate acquisitions) and construction litigation. |
