Attorney Brant J. Stogner is the recipient of the inaugural Houston College of Law Young Alumni Award. A partner with the law firm of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agosto & Friend, Stogner was the first alumni to receive this award from HCL, which was presented at the Annual Meeting and Luncheon on October 14.
New this year, the Award is presented to an alumnus who has graduated from the law school within the past 10 years, and who has made significant service and leadership contributions to both the legal profession and Houston College of Law. The Alumni Association presents three awards per year including the Young Alumni Award, the Public Service Award, and the Distinguished Alumni Award.
While attending Houston College of Law, Stogner competed as a varsity advocate in 15 mock trial and moot court competitions across the country for the top-ranked advocacy program. In addition to many top speaker awards, he won a state moot court tournament championship, a regional moot court tournament championship, two regional mock trial tournament championships, and a National Championship in mock trial at the ATLA National Trial Competition. He graduated in the top 15 percent of his law school class, was admitted into the Order of Barristers, and received the Dean's Outstanding Student Advocate Award in 2006.
Stogner is a founding member of the Houston College of Law Young Alumni Council, serves on the Board of Directors for the Houston College of Law Alumni Association, and is the Vice President of Admissions. He also serves as a volunteer through the advocacy program at HCL, as well as through the Houston Bar Association, the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, and the Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation.
He has been a trial lawyer at Abraham Watkins since 2008 and represents clients in catastrophic personal injury matters, product defect cases, commercial business disputes, and first-party insurance bad faith claims. He has tried many cases to verdict and obtained the largest workplace injury verdict, more than $20 million, in 2009. He became board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization within his first five years of practicing law, the soonest an attorney can become board certified in Texas. He has been recognized on the Texas Super Lawyers list for four consecutive years, and was recognized on the Texas Rising Stars list for three consecutive prior years. He is also a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).