Kelsey J. Hope

Hicks Thomas - Texas

Partner

700 Louisiana Street Ste. 2300
Houston, TX 77002

+17135479119

40 & Under List


Practice area:

Commercial
Healthcare


Kelsey J. Hope is a business litigator with a strong focus in the managed care industry. Ms. Hope represents clients facing complex commercial disputes as plaintiffs and defendants in both state and federal lawsuits and arbitrations. These involve contractual and extra-contractual disputes, overpayment and fraudulent billing issues, medical benefits, including ERISA and state law claims, reimbursement disputes, and other healthcare issues.

Ms. Hope has previously represented group insurers, plan administrators, third-party claim administrators, employers, and pharmacies through all stages of litigation. These include drafting pleadings and discovery requests, briefing jurisdictional and procedural issues, managing complicated discovery dockets, responding to evidentiary challenges, working with experts, interviewing witnesses, and handling bench and jury trials. Ms. Hope has represented clients in Texas, Oklahoma, Delaware, and Florida.

A graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, Ms. Hope received her Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law. She is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, an accomplishment achieved by approximately 6% of Texas attorneys. Ms. Hope maintains a pro bono practice that includes working as a volunteer prosecutor for the City of Houston Municipal Court where she has tried numerous jury trials to verdict and handled all aspects of pretrial motions, voir dire, direct and cross-examination, and closing arguments.

Ms. Hope has been selected to Thomson Reuters’ annual list of Texas Rising Stars each year since 2021. In 2023-2025, she was recognized among Best Lawyers in America’s Ones to Watch in the area of Commercial Litigation. In 2024-2025, Benchmark Litigation named her to its “40 & Under” list.

  • Disputes involving facility-based providers, free-standing emergency centers, hospital-based providers, and facilities.

  • Disputes involving anesthesia services, pharmaceutical services, emergency services, medical billing and coding issues, and bariatric surgeries and related procedures.

  • Disputes involving prompt payment laws, payment and claim processing policies, pharmaceutical reimbursement, balance billing, surprise billing, and out-of-network payment methodologies.

  • Represented pharmacy in lawsuit relating to usual and customary billing; following jury trial, obtained complete verdict in client’s favor.

  • Represented managed care company in litigation involving surprise emergency medical billing; obtained favorable result for client.

  • Commercial disputes

  • Healthcare Litigation and Managed Care Litigation

  • JD - South Texas College of Law, Order of the Barristers - 2014

  • State Bar of Texas - 2014