Pamela Hicks

Pam Hicks focuses her practice on defending commercial airlines, aircraft component part and engine manufacturers, and general aviation aircraft owners. She also represents pilots in administrative proceedings before the Federal Aviation Administration. In addition to her aviation practice, Ms. Hicks represents clients in the oil and gas, public utility, finance, motor vehicle, correctional, and insurance industries. She also represents several clients in eminent domain matters.

• University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas (J.D., cum laude, 1998)
  • Law Review: University of Houston Law Review, Editor, 1996 - 1998
• Trinity University (B.A. in Economics and Business, 1995)

• Texas
• U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

• Represented a producer and transporter of petroleum products in condemnation and ancillary proceedings in its construction of a common carrier natural gas liquids pipeline connecting facilities in Oklahoma with facilities located on the Texas gulf coast
• Represented a pipeline affiliate of one of the main international integrated energy companies in condemnation and ancillary proceedings relating to a project to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Texas gulf coast to interconnections with various intrastate and interstate natural gas pipelines
• Representation of a major electric and natural gas transmission and distribution provider in injunction and easement enforcement actions, and in condemnation proceedings
• Represented a family-owned corporation at trial against claims by former minority shareholder
• Represented a consumer finance company in various hearings, sequestration proceedings, and at trial
• First chair trial defending a commercial airline in a personal injury case in a venue named as one of America's worst for defendants
• Representation of a private prison in trial and administrative proceedings
• Defended a helicopter operator in a case involving the death of three people, arguing that the court should apply the law of Mexico and apply Mexico's cap on wrongful death damages
• Daubert/Robinson challenge of plaintiff's key expert witness in a case in Starr County, Texas
• Represented commercial airlines, in-flight emergency medical service providers, pharmacies, home builders, insurance carriers, air freight carriers, rail freight carriers, and freight forwarders in federal and state court
• Represented companies in claims and litigation in Mexico, Venezuela, and Bolivia
• Briefed multiple cases to the Texas Appellate Courts, United States Courts of Appeals, and Supreme Court of the United States
• National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. U.S. Liquids, Inc., 271 F. Supp. 2d 276 (S.D. Tex. 2003), 88 Fed. Appx. 725 (5th Cir. 2004)
• Hackett v. G.D. Searle & Co., 246 F. Supp. 2d 591 (W.D. Tex. 2002)
• Henson v. Southwest Airlines Co., 180 S.W.3d 841 (Tex. App. - Dallas 2005, pet. denied)

• "Prying Before Flying: Air Carrier Liability for (Not) Questioning Passengers," SMU Air Law Symposium, February 2006
• "Liability of Air Carriers for Failure to Divert During an In-Flight Emergency,"  CCH Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, Fall, 2003
• "Brown v. Pro Football, Inc.: The Supreme Court Benches Players' Right to Negotiate Salary,"  Houston Law Review 35:2, 1998

• Named a "Texas Super Lawyer Rising Star," Texas Monthly Magazine, 2005-2012
• Named a "Who's Who in Texas Aviation Law,"  Who's Who Legal in 2007 and 2008

• State Bar of Texas
• American Bar Association
• Bar Association of the Fifth Circuit
• Houston Bar Association
• Houston Young Lawyers Association

• Speaker, "Incorporating New Developments with The General Aviation Revitalization Act and Federal Preemption Into Your Litigation Strategy," ACI Forum on Defending and Managing Aviation Litigation, 2010
• Speaker, "Navigating Through the Current Chaos and Complexity on Choice of Law, Including Foreign Crashes/Incidents," ACI Forum on Defending and Managing Aviation Litigation, 2009