Stewart Hoffer

It has been said that helping others is its own reward, and Stewart Hoffer would definitely agree. Over the years, Stewart has found that one of the most rewarding aspects of being an attorney is seeing the positive impact his work has had on the people and companies he represents. Stewart knows that the outcome of a case affects real people. Sure, winning a case feels good, but for Stewart, the greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that his assistance can help his clients to focus on what is most important to them – growing their business or their career.

Stewart’s dedication to helping others is not limited to clients; it has literally saved his neighbors’ lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Just after the hurricane passed through Bellaire (a Houston suburb), Stewart saw the floodwaters pouring into the homes of his neighbors. An avid kayak fisherman, Stewart, and a neighbor jumped into their kayaks and took to the water to provide aid, saving 12 people and several pets. Stewart’s experience was recently chronicled in Vogue Magazine.

Mr. Hoffer has appeared as lead counsel for numerous publicly traded and privately held companies in courts all over the country including:

• Texas
• Florida
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• Maine
• Michigan
• Nebraska
• New York
• California
• Maryland
• Georgia

Before joining Hicks Thomas LLP, Stewart served a two-year federal judicial clerkship for Hon. Hayden W. Head, Jr., the former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Stewart is also Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell peer rating organization, an Associate Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a Texas Super Lawyer, having been included on the peer-reviewed list of top lawyers in a state in every year since the list has been published– a total of seventeen consecutive years.

Stewart’s clients report that he is a formidable, tenacious opponent, either in the courtroom or the negotiating table. It is just one of the many reasons Stewart has been, for many of his clients, their “go-to” resource for more than a decade. They know Stewart will give them timely and wise counsel, in a cost-effective and trustworthy manner, so that they can make important decisions about their business or career. And if the dispute cannot be resolved before trial, and a trial is the only way to resolve a dispute, clients know that Stewart will work tirelessly to protect their best interests.

Updated Oct 2025

• In February 2021, after a five-day arbitration against a Fortune 500 company, Stewart obtained a $1.8 million-dollar recovery in a breach of contract case (100% of what his client sought) and simultaneously convinced the arbitrator to reject counterclaims seeking $2.7 million dollars from his client (100% of what the opponent sought).
  
  
• Stewart successfully challenged the City of Houston’s failure to comply with an Emmy-award-winning journalist’s efforts to expose potential irregularities in the City’s award of a lucrative recycling contract using the Texas Public Information Act. Read more here and here. City of Houston v Dolcefino Communications, et al., 01-17-00979-CV (Tex. App. – Houston [1st Dist.], October 30, 2018). The case has since been resolved, with the City of Houston paying $50,000 of the journalist’s attorney’s fees.
  
  
• Partners Stewart Hoffer and Stephen Loftin obtained a take-nothing judgment after a four-day jury trial in which an employee of a client claimed that the client’s negligence caused the employee to amputate part of his left hand in a conveyor belt drive chain. Hoffer and Loftin proved that the sole proximate cause of the employee’s injury was the employee’s carelessness, and a jury agreed, resulting in a complete defense victory for the client.
  
  
• In August 2014, Stewart was part of the trial and appellate team that won a case at the Texas Supreme Court for a client that changed Texas procedural and substantive law regarding whether a court could, consistent with Texas and U.S. Constitution, require the removal of, and enjoin the republication of, speech adjudicated as defamatory. Kinney v. Barnes, 443 S.W.3d 87 (Tex. 2014).
  
  
• In June 2014, Stewart successfully overturned a trial court’s final judgment order erroneously granting summary judgment against claims brought by Stewart’s client against a former employee and her new employer for breach of a non-competition covenant and breach of fiduciary duty. See Republic Services, Inc. v. Martha Rodriguez and Custom Copying Solutions, L.P., No. 14-12-01054-CV (Tex. App. – Houston [14th Dist.] 2014, mem. opin’n).

• Commercial Arbitration
• Intellectual Property (Trade Secrets, Trademarks, Copyright)
• Business Litigation
• Securities Litigation
• Partnership and Shareholder Disputes
• Labor and Employment Litigation
• Representation of Executives in Employment Matters
• Non-Competition/Non-Soliciation Contracts/Business Competition Law
• General Civil Litigation

• J.D. - University of Texas School of Law - 1994
• B.B.A. - University of Texas at Austin - 1991

• State Bar of Texas