About Carlos Harrison
Carlos Harrison is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, two-time Emmy nominee, and author of 16 books ranging from biographies to legal issues (e.g., The Ghosts of Hero Street, Trained to Kill, and The Memorandum). A graduate of the University of South Florida, his articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, People, and other publications. Several of his articles for Super Lawyers have won awards from the Society for Professional Journalists.
Articles written by Carlos Harrison
Driving Force
Chris Patno goes flat-out for every injured clientThe woodblock print on the wall behind Christian Patno’s desk is a raw and poignant reminder of one of his most painful—and personal—cases. “It’s one of my most prized possessions,” Patno says of the artwork, “by one of my closest friends from law school.” After the 2013 death of that friend, Mark Ruf, Patno represented his family in a wrongful death case. Afterward, Ruf’s sister had the print delivered to Patno’s office as a gift. It shows two boxers in stark relief: one …
Bob Hilliard’s Advantage
Fearlessness has served him well, on the tennis court and in lawTo hear Bob Hilliard tell it, he was thinking more about clay courts than courtrooms when he took the LSAT. “Law school was just a chance to play tennis for three more years,” he says. “That’s the way I looked at it.” There´s probably a wink in there somewhere, but there’s truth too. Hilliard is plenty connected to the law. His dad was a lawyer; two of his kids are, too—working at his Corpus Christi personal injury firm, Hilliard Law. But back then, tennis came first, he says, …
The Fourteeners
Bill Mateja has climbed more than 50 of Colorado’s highest peaksBill Mateja began with the “Beast of the Front Range,” a peak so pitiless, more than 70 have died trying to climb it. “Maybe because I didn’t know any better,” says the Sheppard Mullin partner. Since then, he’s added 50 more of Colorado’s 58 fourteeners—peaks cresting above 14,000 feet in elevation. Not odd, perhaps, for an attorney in Dallas, a place as flat as a frying pan, to seek out such adventures. What’s odd is that he’s afraid of heights. …
Doing the Right Thing
Aviation litigator Aaron Podhurst, nearing 90, is at the top of his gameWith more than 60 years of practice under his belt, Aaron Podhurst exudes the fluid ease of a basketball star—along with a keen and affable manner that has made him one of the world’s leading plaintiff’s aviation lawyers. And if affability isn’t enough? “He’s got that great Old Testament voice,” says complex business litigator Harley Tropin, who’s been on both sides of matters with him over some 30 years. “The judges pay attention to Aaron.” It was basketball that sent …
What Makes Super Lawyers Listees Super?
Profiler-in-residence Carlos Harrison on the people he’s metOne attorney had a python dangling from her kitchen chandelier. Another once impersonated Elvis on a Vegas stage—and could prep a Domino’s pizza in 44 seconds flat. Yet another tried to bring Anna Nicole Smith’s body home to Texas. Those are just a few of the attorneys I’ve met over the last decade-and-a-half writing for Super Lawyers magazines. I’ve come across stories of persistence, of resistance, and of dedication to the greater good. Sometimes all in the same …
Curbelo’s Kids
For immigration lawyer Carolina Curbelo, every case is a relationshipIf Carolina Curbelo had been better at math, she might not be a lawyer. And if her parents hadn’t immigrated to the U.S., there might have been no one to help the young Nigerian boy who learned to play chess in a New York City homeless shelter and was at risk of being harmed by the terrorist group Boko Haram. Instead, he’s on track to become one of the youngest grandmasters ever. And if another kid hadn’t convinced her she should become an immigration attorney—though at one point …
Front-Runner
In the world of horse racing, W. Craig Robertson III does more than observeIt takes more than horse sense to practice equine law. W. Craig Robertson III’s cases involve everything from the land under the horses’ hooves to the jockeys on their backs—and the owners, vets and trainersin between. It’s high-stakes, high-tech, and very, very tradition-bound. The racehorses at the center of it all are elite athletes, exquisitely bred and painstakingly prepared. Their training alone can run into the millionsof dollars. Yet deals are …
Protecting Your Child from International Parental Child Abduction
It’s a terrifying but real possibility: A parent in a broken relationship kidnaps the couple’s child and flees to a foreign country. It could be months or even years before the child is returned. So much depends upon where they flee. “Whatever court order they get in Texas is not going to be recognized in, for example, China,” says Houston family law attorney Laura Dale. “Now, that doesn’t mean that Texas can’t issue an order, and that parent might be violating federal laws with …
‘Our Powers for Good’
How Kyle Farrar and Mark Bankston won a $49 million jury award against InfoWars for Sandy Hook parentsHouston attorneys Kyle Farrar and Mark Bankston knew taking on Alex Jones and InfoWars would put them on the front line of a national culture war. At the time, Bankston recalls, the incendiary right-wing internet and radio personality “was at the height of his powers,” with an audience in the millions worldwide. “The idea of holding InfoWars accountable for telling a lie at that point was sort of a revolutionary idea.” So they anticipated the threats, accusations and conspiracy theories …
The People Part
Elaine Bucher is as knowledgeable as they come on estate law, but it’s the human side that sets her apartIn Elaine Bucher’s spare, orderly office, two equidistant chairs—angled symmetrically—face a desk that’s practically pristine. Four photos of her family are spaced evenly on a shelf behind the desk, and a recently acquired painting of a dancer—a gift—bears the words: “And one day she discovered that she was fierce and strong and full of fire … and her passion burned brighter than her fears.” Together, the pictures, the painting and the punctilious office reflect the vital …
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