John J. (Mike) McKetta III

Shareholder

Trial Litigation
Appellate Law

Direct Phone: 512.480.5616
Direct Fax: 512.480.5816
E-mail: mmcketta@gdhm.com

Download vCard

Mike has been trying cases before Central Texas judges and juries since 1982. Before that he practiced in Washington, D.C. at the firm of Covington and Burling. In his career, Mike has tried over 70 cases to conclusion.

In 2005, Mike was selected as the Commercial Litigation winner in the Austin Business Journal’s Best of Business Attorneys and Corporate Counsel Awards. The Austin Business Journal wrote:

“McKetta brings a grasp of big-picture issues, an eye for detail and an ability to think on his feet to his work as a trial and appellate attorney.” Mike is hired when a client faces a jury trial or other proceeding concerning a controversy of major importance to that client. In selecting Mike as one of the “Best of the Bar” in 2003, the Austin Business Journal wrote:

"Articulate and observant. Good at oral examinations and oral argument. Knowledgeable, affable, honorable, excellent memory. He has completely mastered the art – and it is an art – of cross examination. He works unceasingly for pro bono causes to which he is committed. He is a consummate professional." In 2005, The Austin Bar Association and The Texas Center for Professionalism and Ethics awarded Mike the Professionalism Award. That award is given annually to the lawyer "who best exemplifies, by conduct and character, truly professional traits, who others in the bar seek to emulate, who all in the bar admire."

Mike is also active as a leader in matters affecting the legal profession and in civic matters related to his hometown Austin.

Representative Experience

Class Actions/Derivative Actions/RICO:

Representation of a mutual insurance company in a class action lawsuit in South Texas, in which the plaintiffs sought to require a several billion dollar distribution from surplus to the mutual policy holders;
Representation of a former Enron director, and president of two international subsidiaries of Enron, in class action lawsuits in Houston;
Representation of directors of a cable television company in a derivative action alleging damages in excess of $100 million;
Recovery of substantial judgment after a several-week trial in Georgia, representing investors in Mexico in a RICO and fraud suit against land promoters;
Internal investigation on behalf of a special litigation committee of a public company concerning shareholder complaints of numerous transactions and events.

Trials reflect a variety of disputes:

Recovery of substantial judgment after a several-week trial in a products liability wrongful-death case against a manufacturer of ephedra products;
The take-nothing defense of a patent-contract case for the manufacturer of a newly introduced medication, which also included successful recovery of a damage award and a permanent injunction against the plaintiffs by way of counterclaims on behalf of the manufacturer;
Representation of a nonprofit healthcare corporation in a lawsuit against the Government, determining that its tax-exempt status had been wrongfully revoked by the Internal Revenue Service following formation of a partnership owning four hospitals;
Defense of a small governmental entity against constitutional allegations by an environmental group that the entity had been improperly formed; and recovery of litigation expenses and sanctions against the plaintiff and its attorney;
Declaratory judgment against the City of Austin determining that the firm’s clients owned a 20-foot strip of property underneath a building recently constructed by the City.

Significant Commercial Disputes:

Representation of a power-plant owner in a lawsuit brought by an electric cooperative that complained of a $200-million transaction;
Representation of the owner of a building in a lawsuit to recover several million dollars due to construction and design problems.

Professional Liability:

Representation of an insurance holding company in a several hundred million dollar suit in New York against a national accounting firm for actuarial malpractice and accounting malpractice;
Representation of a national engineering firm in a lawsuit brought complaining of $7 million in repair costs associated with a 17,000-foot water pipeline;
Representation of a national engineering firm in a lawsuit brought complaining of $20 million in repair costs associated with a 20-mile water pipeline;
Representation of a national accounting firm in suit brought by the receiver of a failed insurance company, defending against a claim in excess of $60 million;
Substantial recovery for receiver of a failed bank, in malpractice suit against the bank’s professionals and the bank’s former directors
Frequent representation of lawyers in professional malpractice suits.

Employment:

Representation of various employers in disputes with employees, including lawsuits concerning non-compete agreements, concerning claims of wrongful discharge or discrimination, concerning post-termination contractual disputes, concerning post-employment trade-secret protection, and other disputes; such as defeating injunction efforts by a former employer who wished to prevent its director of engineering from becoming employed by the industry leader.

Natural Resources:

Representation of a city in a dispute with a water supply company concerning a long-term water contract.

Government:

Representation of various property owners and developers from time to time in litigation against cities relating to the transition impacts when various cities in Central Texas have adopted new and more restrictive water-quality regulation;
Defense of municipal utility district against constitutional challenges as to its formation.

Pro bono:

Representation of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct in a 2-week trial for the removal of a judge from office;
Representation of State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline in suit to disbar a trial attorney.

Clients in recent controversies have included:
Alex Sheshunoff Management Services, Arthur Andersen, Austin American-Statesman (Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P.), Austin Police Association, Bank of America, BMC Software, Inc., CH2M Hill, Inc., Cirrus Logic, Inc., City of Lampasas, City of Pflugerville, Financial Industries Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Frontier Insurance Group, General Land Office of the State of Texas, Gray Engineering, Great American Insurance, HDR Engineering, Inc., Hunt Properties, Inc., Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, Lazy Nine Municipal Utility District, Main Street Homes, Motorola, Inc., National Instruments Corporation, National Council on Compensation Insurance, PNB National Bank, Pulte Homes of Texas, St. David’s Healthcare System, State Farm Mutual Insurance, Tenaska, Inc., Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Texas Wind Power Company, Toll Brothers, Trammell Crow, various local and national law firms.

Professional Qualifications

Admitted: Texas, 1977; District of Columbia, 1978.

Education: Harvard College in 1969; University of Texas School of Law (with high honors) in 1977 (Order of the Coif and a Chancellor).

President of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, P.C. (1998-2008).

Publications and Presentations

Mike is asked to appear at Continuing Legal Education functions and Bar functions from time to time. Recent presentations have included papers on intellectual-property litigation, preparation of attorney-malpractice lawsuits, preparing real-estate professionals as witnesses, Federal-lawsuit discovery, post-foreclosure-deficiency lawsuits, vested-rights and related property-rights litigation, litigating in bankruptcy court, Sarbanes-Oxley issues for lawyers, pleadings topics in large damages cases, joint-defense agreements, and choice of law in bankruptcy courts.

Professional Affiliations

Member: Governing board, known as the Council, of the American Law Institute (ALI); member of the board of directors of ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Education; the American Bar Association; State Bar of Texas; the Austin Bar Association (for which he has chaired several committees, including the Ethics and Professionalism Committee and the Continuing Legal Education Committee); the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit; Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers; American Board of Trial Advocates; and a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of The American Law Institute, was an Adviser for the Restatement of the Law Third, Agency, is and Adviser for the Restatement of the Law Third, Economic Torts and Related Wrongs, and has served on the Members Consultative Groups for the Restatement of the Law Third, The Law Governing Lawyers, the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Apportionment of Liability, and the Complex Litigation Project.
Co-chaired a United States Magistrate Judge Selection Committee, appointed by the United States District Judges in the Western District of Texas.
In 2006, was Course Director of The Texas Trial Academy, which serves as an educational resource to public-interest lawyers and which is co-sponsored by The Texas Access to Justice Commission and The American College of Trial Lawyers.

Awards and Honors

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® published by Woodward/White, Inc., Commercial Litigation, 1987 - 2009; listed as one of eleven "Bet the Company" Litigation lawyers in Texas 2007 - 2009
Listed as a Texas Monthly Super Lawyer in the Business Litigation Corporate Counsel edition, 2008

Community

Executive Chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School (2002-2008)
Board Member, Headliner's Club
Has served on the boards of various civic and community organizations, including the Central Texas Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, the Austin Child Guidance Center, and Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas

GDHM 401 Congress Avenue, Suite 2200, Austin, Texas 78701 Phone 512.480.5600

Home - People & Practices - Clients & Matters - Engaging Conversations - The Firm