The growth of state and federal regulatory environments has put an emphasis on handling many types of complex business and policy issues before administrative agencies rather than in the courts or the legislative branch. Administrative Law practice is primarily the practice of representing clients before agencies and in appeals from the decisions. With one of the largest groups of board-certified administrative lawyers in Texas, Bickerstaff Heath's lawyers represent public and private clients before federal, state, and local administrative bodies.
Our experience in administrative proceedings is broad and includes proceedings involving the following:
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
- Texas Department of Insurance
- Public Utility Commission of Texas
- Texas Railroad Commission
- Comptroller of the State of Texas
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Texas General Services Commission
- Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
- Texas Education Agency
- Texas Workforce Commission
- Texas Racing Commission
- Texas High-Speed Rail Authority
- Texas State Board of Medical Examiners
- Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
- And many other agencies that regulate within Texas.
Our clients have included major corporations, governmental units, and individual license holders. We represented the nation's airlines in litigation challenging regulations limiting emissions levels from airline equipment. We assisted a proprietary educational facility in retaining its accreditation. Administrative practice frequently requires sophisticated or complex financial, technical, economic, or ratemaking analysis. Given our expertise with regulatory issues and administrative law, the skills and knowledge we have acquired when helping a client in one industry often can be used in other industry areas. As examples, we have helped clients in the following industries or with the following types of compliance matters:
- Insurance
- State and Local Tax
- Transportation
- Health
- Professional Licensing
- Utility, Telecommunications, and Energy
- Water and Environmental
- Contested Case Hearings
- Administrative Appeals
- Agency Rulemaking
- Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act
- Attorney General Opinions
- Attorneys Who Practice Administrative Law
We represent a wide variety of corporate clients in administrative hearings before the Texas Comptroller's Office contesting state and local tax assessments. We also advise clients regarding state tax questions arising from the business acquisitions and transactions, and assist clients in preparing for, responding to, and negotiating the resolution of state tax audits.
We represent municipalities, counties, river authorities, water districts, groundwater districts, and other public and private entities before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the United States Environmental Protection Agency on matters relating to water rights, water and wastewater ratemaking, certificates of convenience and necessity, water quality regulation, solid and hazardous waste regulation, air quality regulation, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and regulatory compliance and enforcement.
MATTER EXAMPLE: A Texas City enjoined a federal agency from executing a loan to a special utility district. The counter placed loan would have prevented the city from serving the utility area during the 40-year life of the loan.
Our attorneys are available to assist with administrative matters in the following areas:
- Contested Case Hearings
- Administrative Appeals
- Agency Rulemaking
- Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act
- Attorney General Opinions
We represent clients in contested cases before administrative agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. Some hearings run less than a day and involve only a few witnesses, while other cases have taken the better part of a year and involved dozens of parties and witnesses. Development of case strategy and pre-hearing preparation plays a major role in obtaining a successful outcome to the proceeding. The selection of an attorney with both administrative training and actual experience with the administrative agency is important to the team's effectiveness. Our representative matters illustrate the experience of our lawyers in various types of contested case hearings. We served as legal counsel and successfully represented:
MATTER EXAMPLE: We served as lead counsel or co-counsel for a river authority for transmission certification and rate cases before the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
MATTER EXAMPLE: An international insurance company seeking the right to do business in Texas.
MATTER EXAMPLE: A Texas City in obtaining indirect reuse authorization for a major source of surface water supply.
The ultimate destination of an administrative proceeding is often at an Austin courthouse, where declaratory judgment actions may be brought and substantial evidence reviews may be conducted by a District Judge. To develop winning strategies for overturning an agency decision, several Bickerstaff Heath attorneys call upon their previous experience in leadership positions at the Texas Attorney General's Office, where they defended state agency decisions in court.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We overturned a licensing agency revocation of a psychologist's license by showing the decision was not supported by substantial evidence.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We obtained a Texas Supreme Court decision upholding the right of a state agency to refuse to license an applicant because it found he lacked "good moral character." In this case, the firm was hired after the agency had lost the case in the district court and then court of appeals.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We successfully represented the Brazos River Authority, the City of Houston, and the Texas Water Development Board in their joint effort to obtain a water rights permit for the construction and operation of the Allens Creek Reservoir, including appeals by the opponents all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The permit, which included an inter-basin transfer between the Brazos-San Jacinto Coastal Basin and the San Jacinto River Basin, was the first reservoir construction permit to be issued in the past decade by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the construction of a reservoir.
Bickerstaff Heath represents clients in preparing and filing comments to proposed agency rules and in petitioning agencies to adopt rules. We are also prepared to litigate in state and federal court to challenge rules that adversely affect our clients' interests.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We represented a coalition of Texas counties before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when the coalition, along with other entities throughout the country, challenged the EPA's Phase II Storm water Regulations.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We represented a competitive electricity provider in Public Utility Commission rulemaking projects regarding the competitive electricity market.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We assisted a group of Texas counties in commenting on a proposed Public Utility Commission rule regarding right-of-way fees.
We counsel public and private clients regarding the Texas Public Information Act and Open Meetings Act. Bob Heath headed the division of the Texas Attorney General's Office, which was responsible for writing decisions that shaped the development and interpretation of that Act during the first six years of its existence. Over the last three decades, Mr. Heath has continued to work on these issues with our administrative group.
Our attorneys regularly assist clients in preparing letters to the Texas Attorney General concerning public information requests. We also represent clients in trial and appellate court challenges to a governmental entity's decision to either disclose or withhold documents under the Public Information Act and other statutory provisions.
MATTER EXAMPLE: We recently obtained a ruling on behalf of a multi-million dollar private equity fund that its trade secrets were protected from public disclosure even though, in the same decision, the Attorney General ruled that similar information of nine other funds was required to be released.
We help our public clients comply with the statutory provisions affecting the disclosure of documents, including sensitive areas such as the treatment of homeland security information, trade secret information, and personnel information.
MATTER EXAMPLE: In a 2001 Texas Supreme Court case, Bob Heath successfully defended the City of Georgetown's ability to withhold a consulting expert's report that had been prepared to assist the City with anticipated litigation. In re City of Georgetown, 53 S.W.3d 328 (Tex. 2001).
Our attorneys have extensive experience in working with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Technical violations of the Open Meetings Act are one of the most common reasons for invalidating a governmental body action. Whether advising its local government clients to ensure they scrupulously follow the requirements of the statute or assisting private clients who may want to challenge the action of a state agency.
- Secretary of State for the State of Texas
- General Counsel to the Governor of Texas
- Member, Texas State Board of Insurance
- General Counsel, Texas State Board of Insurance
- Criminal District Attorney, Caldwell County, Texas
- Chair, Opinion Committee, Office of the Attorney General of Texas
- Chief, Insurance, Banking, and Securities Division, Office of the Attorney General of Texas
- Chief, Taxation Division, Office of the Attorney General of Texas
- Chief, Environmental Protection Division, Office of the Attorney General of Texas
- Hearings Attorney, Comptroller of Public Accounts of Texas
- Staff Attorney, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (predecessor to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)
- Judicial Law Clerk or Briefing Attorney for the following courts: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; United States District Court (Western, Northern, and Southern Districts of Texas); Texas Court of Appeals, Third District (Austin), and Texas Supreme Court.
 |
|
 |
|
Attorneys who practice Administrative Law
|
|
 |
|
 |
2009 Supreme Court Voting Rights Cases