Brant Stogner grew up in El Campo, Texas - a small town about an hour southwest of Houston. In high school, Brant excelled at both athletics and academics. Brant graduated in the top ten percent of his high school class; in sports, Brant and the Ricebirds won six district championships in football and baseball during his three years starting on varsity. Brant earned all-district honors all three years in both sports while also participating in theater and the National Honor Society. Despite a knee injury and subsequent knee surgery in his senior year of high school, Brant accepted a full scholarship to the University of Houston to play linebacker for the Cougars under former head coach Kim Helton.
In college, Brant's academic success continued. In his freshman year at the University of Houston, Brant earned the 1997 Conference USA Academic Excellence Award, earning the highest grade point average (GPA) of all football players in the conference. After playing two seasons, and having three surgeries in as many years, Brant decided to hang up his football cleats and transfer to Texas A&M University to complete his business degree. In College Station, Brant's scholastic accolades continued to mount. Brant was a member of numerous honor societies and graduated in the top ten percent of his class with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
After graduation from Texas A&M University, Brant moved back to Houston to attend law school at South Texas College of Law Houston. In law school, Brant quickly became a member of the law school's nationally ranked mock trial and moot court program under Dean T. Gerald Treece. Following just his third semester in law school, Brant won the Intramural Summer Academy Mock Trial Competition and received the Best Speaker Award. Ultimately, Brant competed as a varsity advocate in 15 mock trial and moot court competitions across the country. In addition to numerous individual speaker awards, Brant won a state tournament championship, a regional moot court tournament championship, two regional mock trial tournament championships, and, ultimately, a National Championship in mock trial at the ATLA National Trial Competition in his final semester of law school. Brant graduated law school in May of 2006 in the top fifteen percent of his law school class, was admitted into the Order of Barristers, and received the 2006 Dean's Outstanding Student Advocate Award.
Following graduation from law school and after taking the bar exam, Brant accepted an associate position at Houston law firm, Hays, McConn, Rice & Pickering (now named LeClair Ryan) while waiting for bar results. In November of 2006, Brant received his license to practice law from the State Bar of Texas while working at Hays McConn. As a licensed attorney, Brant continued to work with multiple partners on a wide range of cases in civil litigation, representing primarily defendants in personal injury and business disputes. Brant worked as a lawyer during the day and as a law professor at night while he coached South Texas College of Law Houston mock trial teams for his alma mater. After learning the ropes at Hays McConn for nearly two years, Brant accepted an associate position with Abraham Watkins in August of 2008. Brant has been with Abraham Watkins ever since and is now a firm partner with his name in the firm’s name.
At Abraham Watkins, Brant has continued to consistently try cases to verdict. Brant tried twelve cases to verdict in his first three years at the firm. Today, he exclusively represents plaintiffs. Brant's practice focuses on catastrophic personal injury matters, including gas explosions, commercial auto and 18 wheeler cases, refinery and petrochemical explosions, product defect cases, commercial business disputes, and first-party insurance bad faith and claims handling matters. Since joining the firm, Brant has helped hundreds of his clients obtain compensation for their injuries and damages caused by others. Brant is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law. He received this certification within his first five years of legal practice, which is the soonest an attorney can become board certified in Texas. In 2009, Brant received the largest verdict (over $20 million) in Texas for workplace safety and injuries and was listed in Verdict Search's Top Texas Verdicts of 2009. Brant is a board member of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association and is a founding member of the South Texas College of Law Houston Young Alumni Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the South Texas College of Law Houston Alumni Association and served as President in 2019.
Brant was named to the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star list from 2011 to 2013. He was named to H Texas Magazine's "Houston's Top Lawyers 2013" list and has been named to Houstonia Magazine's "Top Lawyers" list since 2013. Despite being only thirty-four years old, Brant was selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list in 2013. He has been named to the Texas Super Lawyers list every year since 2013 and the Top 100: Texas Super Lawyers and Top 100: Houston Super Lawyers lists since 2019. In 2014, Brant was also added to the Top 40 Texas Attorneys Under 40 list by the National Trial Lawyers Association and received the award each year until he turned 40 years old. Brant has also been named to the Nation’s Top One Percent list by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel since 2015. Brant was also nominated for and inducted into the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) as a member in 2015 and was the youngest inductee in the 2015 class. In 2016, South Texas College of Law Houston honored Brant with the inaugural Young Alumni Award. He was the first recipient to receive this award from South Texas College of Law Houston.
Brant met his wife, Jennifer O’Brien Stogner, in law school and she was one of his mock trial partners when they won the ATLA Regional Championship in Dallas, Texas and the National Championship in Miami, Florida. Brant and Jennifer have two boys, Ryker and Beckett Stogner, and one girl, Holland Stogner. Brant and Jennifer’s partnership continues as Jennifer joined the firm in 2018 as Of Counsel.
YEAR JOINED FIRM
2008
CERTIFIED LEGAL SPECIALTIES
The College of the State Bar of Texas, 2012
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2011
PUBLISHED WORKS
Presenting, Recovering, & Challenging Past Medical Expenses, Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association March CLE Luncheon, 2014
Admitting and Providing Medical Expenses Post Haygood v. De Escabedo, Houston Bar Association 2011-2012 Winter Seminars, 2011
Lessons to be Learned from In re Weekley Homes, L.P., The Houston Lawyer (Online Edition), September/October, 2010
Shifting Liability, State Bar of Texas: 33rd Annual Advanced Estate Planning & Probate Course (Litigation Section), 2009
Paid or Incurred, Why Does it Matter, & What to Look for in Medical Records, State Bar of Texas: 2008 Annual Convention (Paralegal Division), 2008
Chapter 3 Contract Issues: Construction Industry Perspective, Construction Defects: Claims & Coverage, Defense Research Institute, 2007
CLASSES/SEMINARS
Honors & Awards Ceremony, Spring Awards, South Texas College of Law Houston (Presenter), 2019
New Student Orientation – Professionalism, Spring Orientation, South Texas College of Law Houston (Served as Alumni Association President and Speaker on the Panel), 2019
When Harvey Comes A-Callin’ (Again) – Practical Tips and Suggestions for Your Office and Clients, State Bar of Texas: Texas Bar College 20th Annual Summer School (Served as Moderator for the Panel), 2018
New Student Orientation, Spring Orientation, South Texas College of Law Houston (Served as Speaker on a Panel), 2017
Presenting, Recovering, & Challenging Past Medical Expenses, Houston Bar Association (MCLE Presentation), 2015
Presenting, Recovering, & Challenging Past Medical Expenses, Houston Metropolitan Paralegal Association March CLE Luncheon (MCLE Presentation), 2014
Admitting and Providing Medical Expenses Post Haygood v. De Escabedo, Houston Bar Association 2011-2012 Winter Seminars (MCLE Presentation), 2011
What Do Lawyers Do?, Law School Admission Council: Law School Forums (Served as Speaker on the Panel), 2010, 2013
Judges Panel: Courtroom Etiquette from the Bench, State Bar of Texas: Texas Minority Attorney Program (Served as Moderator for the Judicial Panel), 2009
Paid or Incurred, Why Does it Matter, & What to Look for in Medical Records, State Bar of Texas: 2008 Annual Convention (Paralegal Division) (MCLE Presentation), 2008
HONORS AND AWARDS
Top 100: Texas Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers, 2019
Top 100: Houston Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers, 2019
Texas Top 40 Under 40, American Academy of Attorneys, 2019
Top 40 Under 40, American Institute of Trial Lawyers, 2019
Texas Top 100 Personal Injury, Association of American Trial Lawyers, 2019
Texas Top 10 Personal Injury Law Attorney, Attorney and Practice Magazine, 2018 - 2020
10 Best High Verdict & Settlement Winners for Texas, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, 2018 - 2019
Leading Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney of the Year - Texas, Acquisition International Magazine, 2018
Top 25 in Texas - Motor Vehicle, The National Trial Lawyers, 2018
National Aviation Trial Lawyers Top 10, The National Trial Lawyers, 2018
Top 10 Personal Injury Attorneys, American Jurist Institute, 2018
10 Best Under 40 Personal Injury Attorneys, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, 2018
Lawyers of Distinction - Texas list, 2018
Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Lawyers in Texas list, The National Trial Lawyers, 2016 - 2017, 2019 - 2020
Texas' Top 10 Under 40 Attorney, National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, 2016 - 2019
10 Best Attorneys for Texas, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, 2016 - 2020
Young Alumni Award (inaugural recipient), South Texas College of Law Houston, 2016
Texas' Top 10 Attorney, National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, 2016
Nation's Top One Percent, National Association of Distinguished Counsel, 2015 - 2020
Texas' Top 40 Under 40, The National Trial Lawyers, 2014 - 2018
Texas Super Lawyers, Super Lawyers, 2013 - 2019
Top Lawyers List, Personal Injury, Houstonia Magazine, 2013 - 2019
Houston's Top Lawyers List, Personal Injury, H Texas Magazine, 2013, 2016, 2018
Clients’ Choice Award, Avvo, 2015
Texas Rising Stars, Super Lawyers, 2011 - 2013
Verdict Search's Top Texas Verdicts of 2009 (#1 Verdict - Workplace Safety), 2009
Avvo Peer/Client Rated 10 of 10 (since 2011)
Invited to join Million Dollar Advocates & Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
Hays, McConn, Rice & Pickering, P.C. (now LeClairRyan), Associate, 2006 - 2008
Ebanks, Smith, & Carlson, L.L.P., Summer Associate/Law Clerk, Summer 2005
1st Court of Appeals, Semester Intern, Spring 2005
