Mike Hatchell
Biography
In 1965, when Mike Hatchell completed a clerkship on the Texas Supreme Court for the Senior Associate Justice, he was determined to make a difference in the quality of appellate advocacy. He has pursued that goal exclusively over his 50-year legal career, during which Mike has been lead counsel in over 400 appeals. He has argued 47 appeals or original proceedings in the Supreme Court of Texas, has argued en banc to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals twice, and has appeared in all 14 courts of appeal in Texas. Mike’s practice focuses on appeals in all state and federal courts with emphasis on the Supreme Court of Texas.
Mike has been recognized for 15 years by the Texas Lawyer, ALM Media Productions, "Go-To Guide" as one of the top five appellate lawyers in Texas and by Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2003-2023. He is one of 300 elected members of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Mike serves on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and is a respected lecturer on a variety of appellate issues and developing Texas law.
In 1965, when Mike Hatchell completed a clerkship on the Texas Supreme Court for the Senior Associate Justice, he was determined to make a difference in the quality of appellate advocacy. He has pursued that goal exclusively over his 50-year legal career, during which Mike has been lead counsel in over 400 appeals. He has argued 47 appeals or original proceedings in the Supreme Court of Texas, has argued en banc to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals twice, and has appeared in all 14 courts of appeal in Texas. Mike’s practice focuses on appeals in all state and federal courts with emphasis on the Supreme Court of Texas.
Mike has been recognized for 15 years by the Texas Lawyer, ALM Media Productions, "Go-To Guide" as one of the top five appellate lawyers in Texas and by Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2003-2023. He is one of 300 elected members of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Mike serves on the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and is a respected lecturer on a variety of appellate issues and developing Texas law.
- Represented a multinational oil and gas company as the company received a favorable judgment in the Texas Supreme Court in a dispute over termination of a natural gas lease.
- Represented a medical center in a case under a provision of the Texas Health & Safety Code that prevents retaliation by a hospital against a non-employee for "reporting a violation of law."
- On Dec. 2, 2016, the Texas Supreme Court declined to rehear its opinion in favor of two insurance clients. In June 2016, the court had unanimously ruled that the insurers’ commercial general liability insurance policy did not cover the wrongful death of a leased-in worker on the insured’s drilling rig.
- The Texas Supreme Court issued a decision in favor a subsidiary of a large electric company. The underlying case concerned a significant arbitration award which was later vacated by a trial court when it was found the arbitrator had failed to fully disclose the nature and extent of his relationship with Ponderosa’s counsel.
- Won a Supreme Court of Texas decision for a Texas-based energy company clarifying the landowner's burden of proof under the accommodation doctrine.
- Supreme Court Advisory Committee
- Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, Board of Trustees
- Supreme Court Task Force on Judicial Campaign Contributions
- Supreme Court Task Force on Revision of Charge Rules
- American Academy of Appellate Lawyers
- The State Bar of Texas Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section, Organizer; Chairman- Elect; Chairman; Immediate Past Chairman; 1988-1990
- Bar of the Fifth Federal Circuit, Seminar Planning Committee, 1988 Civil Appellate Law Specialization Commission, 1988 - 2017
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc., for Appellate Law, 2007-2025
- Recognized in Best Lawyers as a "Lawyer of the Year," Woodward/White, Inc., in appellate practice, 2010 and 2018
- Recognized in Chambers USA, Chambers and Partners, for Texas litigation - appellate: 2005-2006, Band 1, 2017-2020, Band 2, 2021, Senior Statespeople, 2022-2023; recognized in appellate law - nationwide 2009-2014
- Recognized in 2018 for having been included in Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, top-attorney lists for 10 years or more
- Listed in Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, for appellate law, 2003-2024; Top 100 in Texas, 2003-2005 and 2007-2009; Top 100 in Dallas/Fort Worth, 2003-2004; Top 50 in Central/West Texas, 2005-2011, Top 50 in Texas, 2012.
- Recognized in Austin’s Top Attorneys “Legacy Award”, Austin Monthly, Open Sky Media, 2021-2022
- Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award, Texas Bar Foundation, 2015
- Recognized as one of the top five appellate lawyers in Texas in the "Top Notch" Lawyer Survey, Texas Lawyer, ALM Media Properties, LLC, 2012
Education
LL.B., The University of Texas School of Law, 1964
B.B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1961
Clerkships
Senior Associate Justice Meade F. Griffin, Texas Supreme Court, 1964-1965
Admissions
Texas
Court Admissions
Texas Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Haynes Boone Appellate Group Ranked Band 1 in Chambers USA 2022 Directory
June 13, 2022