About Andrew Brandt
Andrew Brandt is an editor on Super Lawyers‘ staff. He serves as the editor for the Illinois, Northern California, Upstate New York, Missouri-Kansas, and Texas magazines, and he additionally writes, fact-checks and proofreads for numerous other Super Lawyers issues (and for the website). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in English literature and environmental studies, and his byline has appeared in a variety of places, both online and in print.
Articles written by Andrew Brandt
Keith Mark’s Excellent Adventures
The Mark & Burkhead lawyer’s never-ending hunt for bigger gameKeith Mark has been tied to hunting his entire life. As a young boy in Kansas City, Kansas, he watched his father and grandfathers leave the house to go catfishing and hunt birds, wishing he could go. He tagged along even before he could legally shoot. After he got his license, he hunted quail and pheasant with his dad. At college, he began turkey and deer hunting, and once he began practicing law, he sought out bigger game. “I went on a black bear hunt, and then started elk hunting,” says …
A Conservationist’s Close Up
National Geographic-published photographer John Rollins on how he doesn’t let anything get in the way of the perfect shot—not even a gorilla’s fistI got interested in photography during the first international trip I took—to Peru in 2005. I had a dinky point-and-shoot camera that held 15 images. I saw such amazing things, but got back and didn’t have any real photos to show. So the next trip I bought a nicer camera, and the next trip a nicer camera. Now I usually have two cameras rigged—a Nikon D4S and a Nikon D800. Part of what I’m trying to do with photography—and it’s not just me, but a whole group of photographers …
Bringing Public and Private Together
Leslie V. Batchelor makes economic development partnerships happenIn the early 1990s, Oklahoma was one of the last states to adopt tax increment financing, the public funding method for community improvement projects that encourages redevelopment by freezing its tax rates for a few decades. Right out of the gate, Guymon felt the program’s impact. “It was the Seaboard plant—a pork processing plant,” says Leslie V. Batchelor, a founder at the Center for Economic Development Law. “At the time that Guymon managed to attract the project, the demographic …
Holding for Carl Albert
When J. Angela Ables worked for the ‘Little Giant from Little Dixie’Ada, Oklahoma, is a small town, so when you’re in high school, they’re good to the kids and they put your picture in the paper a lot. Mr. Albert and his staff paid attention to everything that happened in his district, and I was in the paper about three times in one week. His staff picked up on it. One of his staff members was from Ada, and I got a call from her one day. She said, “Can you hold for Carl Albert?” and I about fainted. He said he was going to send this staff member to meet …
The Patriot
Wesley E. Wright tells how he ended up riding a horse and bringing our 1st president to lifeThe first parade I was in was in Round Top, Texas; there were 5,000 [onlookers]. Last year I was at the Woodlands, and 19,000 people attended. This year, I’ll be in the Bellaire parade. The staff at our firm goes along with me walking as I pass through the crowds. They pass out thousands of copies of the Declaration of Independence, because we believe that things like July 4th have lost their relevance to a lot of people. I think people ought to know why we have that holiday. On top of …
What To Know About Open Carry Laws in Texas
Most Texans aged 21 and older can open carry a handgun in most public places without a License to Carry (LTC). However, there are still restrictions. If you have questions about concealed carry laws in Texas, talk to a civil rights attorney for legal advice. Are There Places I Can't Open Carry in Texas? Some locations still restrict guns in Texas, including: Polling places Amusement parks Correctional facilities Racetracks and sporting event facilities You also can't openly carry a handgun …
1BR Apt. Downtown, Fraught with Risk
What to know before listing your apartment with AirbnbThe case for placing an apartment on Airbnb in New York City essentially begins and ends with the state’s Multiple Dwelling Law. Lorraine Nadel, a real estate attorney at Nadel & Ciarlo, sums it up: “Multiple dwellings must be used by permanent residents, and have to be occupied by the same person or family for at least 30 days. So any co-op, condo or rental apartment can’t be rented out for less than 30 days.” Even if the resident avoids the Multiple Dwelling Law by …
Making the Pieces Fit
Three attorneys’ tips for setting up an estate planWhen putting together an estate plan, the details matter. Even personal details. Even very personal details. “This can be really hard for people,” says Jean Hegler, an estate planning and probate attorney at Brosnan & Hegler, LLP in Garden City. “They’re meeting you for the fi rst time, and they have to tell you all the things about their family—who’s the alcoholic and who’s got a secret affair.” Though it may be an uncomfortable conversa- tion, says Hegler, it …
Horse Sense
Julie I. Fershtman brings legal knowledge to the equine industryJulie I. Fershtman began taking riding lessons when she was 8. By the time she was 10, her father had bought her a horse of her own, and she spent her summers and weekends riding that “kind of ugly, but absolutely loveable horse.” “I graduated law school 30 years ago, and never did the law schools anywhere at that point teach equine law,” says Fershtman, an equity shareholder at Foster Swift Collins & Smith in Farmington Hills. “I never even knew that a person could merge a law …
‘Pretty Damn Obvious’
How Doug Donnell and John Anding busted Huntington National BankJohn E. Anding says the hardest part about arguing any case against a bank, even in the post-meltdown era, is overcoming the presumption that “banks are considered to be above-board, honest and forthright—doing the right thing for the right reasons.” In their suit against Huntington National Bank, Anding and Doug A. Donnell alleged that the chain was aware of, and connected to, a Ponzi scheme—but failed to report it in an effort to reclaim a $17 million loan repayment. “We argued that …
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