Biography

Morgan Haenchen is an associate in the Crisis Management and Energy Litigation Practice Groups in the Houston office of Haynes Boone. Morgan has wide-ranging experience representing clients in a variety of crises, including catastrophic industrial accidents, energy operations, and local and national disasters. She also has significant hands-on experience as a Texas trial lawyer, with state and federal energy and construction disputes, personal injury and wrongful death matters, complex commercial and multi-district litigation, and alternative dispute resolution matters under her belt. A proud and native Houstonian raised by Texan lawyers, Morgan has a unique understanding of Texas state court practice and procedure, and utilizes that background for the benefit of her clients.

Morgan is a co-chair of both the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) Energy Advisory Committee and WEWILL, a member of the Garland Walker Inn of Court, a founding member of Impact100 Houston, a fellow of the AAA 2023 Higginbotham Program, Houston Young Lawyers Foundation, Houston Bar Association, and Texas Bar Foundation, and is an active member of the Bar of Texas Pro Bono College. This year, she was selected to the 2024 American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) National Trial College and named the 2024 recipient of the Outstanding Young Litigator Award by the State Bar of Texas. Morgan continues to be recognized as “One to Watch” by Best Lawyers in America and a Texas Super Lawyers “Rising Star” and “Women's Edition Rising Star” by Thomson Reuters. 

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  • Successful representation of energy clients as first and second chair in various disputes, including alternative dispute resolution, multi-party mediations, emergency injunctive relief, and complex settlement negotiations. 
  • Managed teams through all phases of litigation, ranging from initial investigations, discovery, motion practice, trial, final judgment, and post-judgment collection. 
  • Managed and lead document review teams through extensive e-discovery matters. 
  • Successful argument of substantive and discovery motions before district courts across the state of Texas.
  • Briefed successful substantive motions in state and federal court, including motions for summary judgment, motions to change venue, motions to enforce, and motions to dismiss.
  • Successful appellate briefing to defend against mandamus petitions and emergency stays in Texas appellate courts.
  • Cross-examination of the lead engineer during trial of $300 million construction dispute.
  • Successful briefing and argument of the merits of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Asylum on behalf of a half-dozen pro bono clients.
 
  • ABOTA Trial College Member, 2024
  • Higginbotham Fellow, American Arbitration Association, 2023
  • AAA Energy Advisory Committee, Co-Chair, 2023
  • WEWILL, Co-Chair, 2022-present
  • Garland Walker Inn of Court, 2016-present
  • Impact100, Founding Member
  • Houston Young Lawyers Foundation, Fellows, Class of 2018
  • Houston Bar Association, Fellows, Class of 2023
  • Texas Bar Foundation, Fellows, Class of 2023
  • Houston Young Lawyers Association, Board Member (2021-2022); Committee Chair (2018-2022)
  • Founder and Leader of HYLA’s Allyship Book Club, recipient of 2021 TYLA grant and TYLA 2021 Large City Award of Achievement (Diversity Award)
  • Houston Legal Referral Services, Board Member & Membership Committee Chair, 2018-2021
  • South Texas Advocacy, Varsity Moot Court Coach
  • Council on Legal Education Opportunity, Lecturer
  • Bar of Texas Pro Bono College, Member since 2018
  • Recipient of the Outstanding Young Litigator Award, State Bar of Texas (SBOT), 2024
  • Recognized in "Ones to Watch" of Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc., 2023-2025
  • Included in Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars directory, Thomson Reuters, 2022-2024
  • Listed in Texas Super Lawyers Women's Edition Rising Stars directory, Thomson Reuters, 2023
  • State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, Texas Legal Legends, moderator, June 20, 2024.
  • Association of Continuity Professionals, San Francisco Bay Chapter, Legal Pitfalls in Crisis Management, co-presenter, June 26, 2024.
  • "PFAS Prognostication? Recent SCOTUS Decision Leaves Climate Change Case Analysis Open to Lower Courts," co-author, The Energy Dispatch, Institute for Energy Law - The Center for American and International Law, March 2024.
  • Crisis Management, speaker, 26th Annual Permian Basin Oil and Gas Law Seminar, March 1, 2024.
  • "Hidden Crises – Looking at the Forest Through the Trees," Crisis Management Academy 2024, Dallas - speaker Jan. 25, 2024, Houston - moderator Feb. 29, 2024, Denver - moderator March 21, 2024. 
  • "Crisis Management Beyond Emergency Response: Attorney Ethics, Candid Communications, and Adaptable Guidelines,” co-author, State Bar of Texas 15th Annual Business Disputes, Chapter 19, Sept. 2023.
  • “Advanced Anatomy of an Energy Arbitration Claim: Notice Through Award,” speaker, American Arbitration Association Energy Conference, Sept. 19, 2023.
  • "Arbitration: Compelling, Resisting, Confirming, and Vacating,” Texas Bar College 25th Annual Summer School, author and speaker, July 21, 2023.
  • "Hindsight is 20/20: Fireside chat & Q&A," Crisis Management Academy, speaker, January 12, 2023, Feb. 2, 2023.
  • “Prioritizing Yourself and Your Practice by Prioritizing Your Health,” co-author, American Bar Association, Sept. 23, 2020.
  • “Road to Law School,” presenter, Council on Legal Opportunity, Spring 2019.
  • “Logic for the LSAT,” presenter, Council on Legal Opportunity, Summer 2018.
  • “Mentorship Matters,” presenter, Garland Walker Inn of Court, Spring 2018.
  • “Lean in to Law,” presenter, HYLA’s High School Women’s Program, Spring 2017.
  • “A Warning from the Fifth Circuit of Appeals to Insurance Companies: Delay Tactics Will Not Suffice,” author, South Texas College of Law Corporate Counsel Law Review, May 2016.

Education

J.D., South Texas College of Law Houston, 2017, with honors; Senior Note Editor, Corporate Counsel Law Review; Varsity Moot Court Advocate

B.A., English; Minor, Art History, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012

Clerkships

Intern to the Honorable Jennifer Elrod, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2016

Admissions

Texas

Court Admissions

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas