Felicia Harris Hoss

For more than 20 years, clients have leaned on Felicia for her judgment, experience, and skill as a negotiator and advocate in complex civil and commercial disputes. Through the years, Felicia has been a trusted advisor in some of her clients’ toughest personal and professional times.

She has experience resolving disagreements both inside and outside of the courtroom for both plaintiffs and defendants – individuals and entrepreneurs, as well as privately-held and publicly-traded companies with local, national, and/or international teams and operations.

Over the years, Felicia has helped parties navigate complex legal and business problems in a wide range of industries involving a broad spectrum of claims  including contractual rights, partnership formation and duties, trade secrets, employment agreements, fraud, business disparagement and defamation, fiduciary duties, corporate governance, federal and state employment laws, lease agreements, negligence, personal injury and wrongful death claims, seismic exploration rights and other real property interests, and warranty claims.

Given the depth and breadth of Felicia’s experience, she appreciates the pressures, uncertainties, and demands lawyers and their clients deal with in conflict management and resolution. She understands the dynamics of negotiations between parties wanting to deescalate, avoid, or resolve conflict while also preserving and protecting litigation positions, should settlement negotiations fail.

This kind of understanding and experience proves relevant during mediated discussions with lawyers and their clients while they are considering, evaluating, and confidentially negotiating risk management and dispute resolution options.  

This kind of understanding and experience also proves relevant as an arbitrator. Felicia is keenly aware of the importance of neutrality in arbitration and ensures all parties and their counsel trust that her neutrality, objectivity, and judgment are uncompromised.

As a neutral, Felicia accepts private engagements and court appointments, in addition to serving as a neutral through public and private panels.

In her spare time, through the years, Felicia remained active in the community too.  She has served as a member of the Steering Committee for Emerging Women Leaders through the Greater Houston Partnership, as an Advisory Board Member to Woodway Financial Advisors, Director for the Pearland Economic Development Corporation, Director for the Pearland Adult Reading Center, and is a graduate of the Center for Houston’s Future Leadership Forum. Additionally, Felicia served two elected terms as a Councilmember for the City of Pearland, and in 2009-2010, was Mayor Pro Tem.

Felicia’s more than 20 years of experience and training as a complex civil and commercial litigator, dispute resolutionary, entrepreneur, and public official includes:

Antitrust

Business dissolution

Business disparagement

Business torts

Civil theft

Common law claims

Consumer disputes

Contract disputes   

     Formation

     Lease agreements

     Purchase Agreements

     Services agreements

     Joint Venture agreements

     Partnership agreements

Corporate Governance

Defamation

     Libel & Slander

                 Eldercare

Employment

     Contracts

     Discrimination/Harassment

          Title VII

          TCHRA

          ADEA

          ADA

     Internal Investigations

     Noncompete agreements

     Nonsolicitation agreements

     Privacy

     Workers Compensation

Elections & Campaigns

Explosions

                Fiduciary Duties

Fraud/Misrepresentation

Governmental Immunity

Indemnification

Insurance Coverage

Negligence

Nursing Homes & Facilities

     Change of Ownership

     Standards of Care

Partnership duties

Personal Injury

Premises Liability

Products Liability

Property Damage

Property Taxes (Ad valorem)

                Property rights

     Community Assns

     Condemnation

     Eminent Domain

     Surface/Mineral Rights

     Trespass – Physical

     Trespass – Seismic

Public Policy

Sovereign Immunity

Torts

Tortious Interference

Trade Secrets

UCC Claims

Workers Compensation

Wrongful Death

Felicia has worked with companies, individuals, and experts in numerous industries and commercial sectors including:

Banking & Financial Services

Cleaning Services

Construction

Consulting Services

Disaster Cleanup

Elections & Campaigns

Energy (Oil & Gas)

Energy Services

                Engineering Services

Equine Breeding & Training

Industrial Plant Maintenance & Safety Services

Leasing (Commercial Real Estate, Oil & Gas)

Legal Services

Local Government

Managed Information & Cloud-Based Services

Manufacturing

Non-Profits

                Nursing Homes & Facilities

Pipelines

Pharmaceutical

Private Equity

Ranching

Restaurant

Seismic Negotiations & Exploration

Waste & Recycling Services

DR PANELS & PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS       Texas Comptroller Registry of Arbitrators, Property Tax Appraisal Review Arbitrator

Early Dispute Resolution Institute, Mediator

Harris County Dispute Resolution Center, Volunteer Mediator

Better Business Bureau (Houston Region), Volunteer Mediator

American Bar Association

      Dispute Resolution Section, Member

           -Arbitration Committee, Member

           -Early Dispute Resolution Committee, Member

           -Ethics Committee, Member

           -Mediation Committee, Member

State Bar of Texas

      Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Member

Houston Bar Association

      Dispute Resolution Section, Member

      Professionalism Committee, Member

      Speakers Bureau Committee, Member

Brazoria County Bar Association

      Dispute Resolution Practice Area

Texas Association of Mediators, Member

Association of Conflict Resolution, Member

Certified Mediator (2014-Present)

Trained Arbitrator (2021-Present)

ADMISSIONS     Licensed to practice before all state courts in Texas

Admitted to practice before the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Federal courts in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas

Admitted pro hac vice in courts of other states (including Louisiana, Oklahoma, Indiana)

 EDUCATION       South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas, 1997

   Doctorate of Jurisprudence, summa cum laude

   Class Rank: No. 1

      Selected by peers as “Outstanding Female Graduate”

      Articles Editor, SOUTH TEXAS LAW REVIEW

 Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 1992

   Bachelor of Arts, Journalism (emphasis in Public Relations), cum laude

   Section Editor, AGGIELAND (TAMU’s Yearbook)

 PREVIOUS LAW FIRMS   Barry Conge Harris LLP, Founding Partner & Head of Litigation

Burleson LLP, Litigation Partner

Buck Keenan LLP, Litigation Partner

Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, LLP (kna Eversheds Sutherland, LLP), Litigation Partner

Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Senior Associate

Kyle & Kyle, LLP, Founding & Managing Partner

Beck, Redden & Secrest, LLP (kna Beck Redden LLP), Senior Associate

JUDICIAL CLERKSHIP & INERNSHIP            Briefing Attorney, Chief Justice John Hill Cayce, Jr. (Ret.), Second Court of Appeals, Fort Worth, Texas

Intern, Justice Adele Hedges (Ret.), First Court of Appeals, Houston, Texas

 COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP           Congressional Candidate

      TX District 22 (Sept.-Dec. 2019)

      TX District 14 (2011-2012)

City of Pearland, Texas

      Mayor Pro-Tem (2009-2010)

      Councilmember, Position 4 (2006-2009; 2009-2012)

Pearland Economic Development Corporation, Director (2003-2006)

Greater Houston Partnership

      Emerging Women Leaders, Member (2010-2011)

           -  Steering Committee Member (2011)

      Federal Relations Committee, Member (2011)

Woodway Financial Advisors

      Advisory Board Member (2011)

Center for Houston’s Future Leadership Forum, Graduate, Fall 2009

K9s4Cops, Second Annual “2-9s for K9s” Charity Golf Tournament, Co-Chair (2014)