About Alison Macor
A former film critic, Alison Macor has been working as a freelance writer and editor for more than 30 years. She’s followed filmmakers to Sundance and shadowed top breast cancer surgeons and trial lawyers. She’s written for Texas Monthly, Vogue Knitting, Thomson Reuters, and Humanities Texas, to name just a few. Alison also holds a Ph.D. in film history and is the author of four non-fiction books, including the forthcoming Hair Down, Claws Out: George Cukor and the Making of The Women (University of Texas Press). She lives in Austin.
Articles written by Alison Macor
'A Niche Within a Niche'
Artists, galleries and more make up Sammetria Goodson’s practiceEarly on a Thursday morning in mid-November, Sammetria Goodson settles in at GoodWork, a solar-powered coworking space not far from the Dallas Farmers Market. It’s a space that, according to Goodson, “is full of creatives and has a great vibe.” This could also describe the 40-year-old attorney’s solo practice. “I work with artists from studio wall to collector wall,” says Goodson, whose client list also includes galleries and independent curators, as well as “multi-hyphenates,” …
Tenaciously Civil
Former Judge Marilea Lewis believes in strength—and also in being niceA few years ago, Marilea Lewis and T. Hunter Lewis, who practice family law together, were speaking on stage at the State Bar of Texas’ annual conference in Dallas. Hunter spoke first, referring to his colleague as Judge Lewis, a nod to her more than two decades on the bench in Dallas district courts. As he continued his speech, Hunter switched to Ms. Lewis, and then to Marilea. By the end of his talk, he had settled on another word: Mom. Marilea Lewis laughs at the memory of sharing the …
'You Fight for Your Side'
Texas attorneys who switched from prosecution to defense talk about what stays the same: getting the job doneFormer Travis County prosecutor Rick Flores was up for a promotion to the district attorney’s office when he decided it was time for a change. Switching sides had been at the back of his mind for a while. “I had a lot of people reaching out to me,” he says—including friends and their roommates who would call when they found themselves in trouble. “I’m not the person you want,” he would joke. “I’m the guy trying to put you in jail.” But Flores began to realize the opportunity …
Vital Force
Dallas litigator Victor Vital makes it his business to parachute into cases and stick the landing with juriesOn the second-to-last day of March, with much of the country scrambling to adapt to shelter-in-place orders issued in response to the spread of COVID-19, it’s business-almost-as-usual for Victor Vital. He is dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and lightly patterned yellow silk tie as though heading off to court. Instead, he’s working from his home in De Soto, as he has for the previous three weeks, and as he will do for the foreseeable future. He sits at a desk in his spacious home office, …
Gone Hot
Anne Bibeau’s budding hemp practice“There’s a lot of risk involved,” Anne Bibeau says, “but it’s also exciting.” The 48-year-old Vandeventer Black partner is talking hemp. Vandeventer Black first established its hemp industry niche in early 2019 as industrial hemp production became legalized nationwide. When some of the firm’s corporate clients began to ask questions about entering the industry, the partners realized the firm was uniquely positioned to answer them. For one, the firm is seasoned in counseling …
Dodge Challenger
A dodgeball fundraiser is just one of the ways David Gail gives backWhen a tornado ripped through Dallas last October, David Gail’s home was one of more than 900 buildings damaged. It was a scary experience for the 39-year-old attorney, his wife, Sara, and their three young sons. But Gail is quick to distinguish between his family’s temporary situation and the plight of the homeless children helped by Vogel Alcove. “We have the means to fix our house,” notes Gail, who was back in his office three days after the storm. A partner in Weil, Gotshal & …
Courtroom Drama
A role in Inherit the Wind set theater kid Danielle Hatchitt on a path that led to the lawAt an age when most kindergartners are learning how to cut and paste, Danielle Hatchitt was learning how to play dead for a live audience. At 5, Hatchitt auditioned for a production of Macbeth at the prestigious Alley Theatre in her hometown of Houston. Her tryout for the role of a murdered child required crawling slowly across the floor. She and the other child actors were instructed to move like snakes in peanut butter. Hatchitt was one of the last to make it across the floor. Afterward, she …
Pony Express
Cara Parmigiani pulls the strings of a traditional general practiceHere’s a tongue twister: Cara Parmigiani’s pet project features pony puppets. Say that four times fast. And these aren’t just any puppets. They, like Parmigiani herself, are graduates of Seton Hall Law School, and they have the small, framed diplomas to prove it. Tristan and Pascal run the firm Pony & Pony (poniesatlaw.com), and, like their creator, they believe in the law. “They think that the law should be fair, and they’re always surprised when it isn’t,” says Parmigiani. …
The Wild One
For 20 years, Melinda Singer was the Evel Knievel of family law attorneysWhether in work or life, family law lawyer Melinda Singer is aware of time, tempo and speed—but mostly speed. Twenty-two years ago, Singer channeled that love of speed into riding motorcycles, a hobby she picked up from her then-husband, who encouraged her to learn to ride. After a few trips across the Eastern Seaboard, then up to Montreal, it was on to the big leagues for Singer: trekking across the Italian Alps, riding at altitudes of more than 10,000 feet through the Dolomites in …
Strike Force
Dawn Estes tears it up, both at her women-owned powerhouse and with the bandDawn Estes likes to say she’s seen the inside of pretty much every prison in Texas. Oklahoma and southern Arkansas, too. It’s true, though not in the way you might think. As a teenager growing up in Big Spring, she was part of a group of high schoolers who sang with a local church group. Estes and about a dozen other teenagers performed gospel songs a cappella for prison trustees and inmates. During one trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas, Estes and a girlfriend ducked out and rented a jet ski. …
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