Lee Staley Photo

Lee H. Staley

Partner
  • Profile
  • Credentials
  • Practice Areas
  • Representative Experience

Lee’s principal area of practice concentrates on the defense of professionals in malpractice claims, including, among others, insurance brokerage firms and agents, broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals. In connection with his defense of professionals in malpractice claims, Lee also represents attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals.

Lee specializes in the representation of insurance professionals, ranging from small independent agencies to nationally recognized brokerages, in defense of malpractice claims in all lines of coverage, ranging from personal lines, including auto, health, home, and life, to commercial lines, including commercial general liability, errors and omissions and directors and officers, among many others. Lee also represents brokers and agents in claims arising from the sale of investment products and employee benefit plans. Lee also represents insurance brokerage firms and agents before the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI).

Lee has extensive experience defending broker-dealers, registered representatives, investment advisors, certified financial planners, and other financial services professionals in connection with a wide-array of customer and industry claims and disputes before numerous state and federal courts throughout Texas and before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FNRA) in arbitrations throughout the country. He has significant experience representing financial services professionals before the regulatory divisions of FINRA, the SEC, and various state securities bureaus.

Lee routinely defends malpractice claims brought against attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and agents, appraisers, home inspectors, title agents, and health care professionals. He has also represented attorneys in complaints before the State Bar Grievance Committee and real estate brokers, agents, and home inspectors before the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).

Lee also devotes a significant portion of his practice to defending architects, engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals and contractors in construction defect and delay claims, in state courts throughout Texas and before the American Arbitration Association (AAA). He has considerable experience defending insurance brokerage firms and agents in malpractice claims throughout Texas.

Lee’s practice also includes a variety of litigation matters, such as director and officer liability, employment liability, ERISA claims, commercial litigation, business disputes, civil rights violations, technology and cyber liability/disputes, transportation, and other personal injury claims, including wrongful death and catastrophic injury, commercial claims, consumer claims, debt collection defense, and insurance coverage disputes, including extra-contractual claims.

In the area of product liability, Lee has represented both foreign and domestic product manufacturers and distributors in state and federal courts, where he has successfully defended them in claims for wrongful death and catastrophic injuries. Products he has defended range from heavy industrial equipment to consumer appliances, electronics and medical devices, among others.

His premises liability defense work focuses on defending building owners and managers in cases involving injuries to tenants, employees, and premises invitees by criminal acts of third parties, many of which involve claims of wrongful death and significant injury.

Lee was previously a Houston partner for a AmLaw 100 firm based in New York, where he handled professional, product, and premises liability claims, and other high exposure personal injury matters, for a national client base. Later, he was a founding partner of the Houston office of another New York-based law firm, where he specialized in securities litigation, in addition to the above practice areas. Lee joined Serpe Andrews as a partner in 2020, and he represents security, insurance, real estate, and construction design professionals and attorneys, as well as foreign and domestic product manufacturers in product liability claims, employers in employment practice liability claims, and owners and management companies in premises liability claims.

Married to his wife, Ann, since 2004, they are proud parents to three children. He is currently a member of St. Luke’s Methodist Church and former Board Member of the Houston Racquet Club. In his free time, he enjoys coaching his sons in SBMSA football and basketball, playing USTA tennis, hunting in South Texas, and skiing and hiking in Wyoming and Colorado.

Educational Background

  • South Texas College of Law, J.D. cum laude, 2000
    • Editorial Board Member, South Texas Law Review
  • University of Texas at Austin, B.A., 1996

Admissions

  • State Bar of Texas, 2000
  • United States District Courts for the Northern District of Texas
  • United States District Courts for the Southern District of Texas
  • United States District Courts for the Western District of Texas
  • United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Publications and Presentations

  • Authored and presented continuing education seminars for attorneys and adjusters regarding the defense of insurance broker malpractice claims
  • Authored and presented continuing education seminars for attorneys and adjusters regarding the defense of healthcare liability claims
  • Authored and presented continuing education seminars for attorneys and adjusters regarding the defense of transportation and catastrophic injury claims

Memberships

  • Houston Bar Association
  • American Bar Association Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit (BAFFC)
  • Houston Bar Association
  • Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
  • Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
  • Lawyers of Distinction in Securities Litigation, 2017-2019
  • The Defense Research Institute (DRI)
  • Obtained summary judgement in favor of a broker-dealer and registered representative in state district court action based on alleged misrepresentations involving alternate investments
  • Obtained dismissals of broker-dealers and registered representatives in FINRA arbitration under FINRA Rule 12206
  • Obtained summary judgement in favor of prominent medical equipment manufacturer in Texas Deceptive Trade Practices (DTPA) and breach of warranty action in the U.S. District Court for he Southern District of Texas, McAllen Division
  • Obtained dismissal in favor of the exclusive United States distributor for the global leader in bicycle parts manufacturing in a significant exposure, product liability action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division
  • Obtained summary judgement in favor of an industry leading medical equipment manufacturer in a potential seven-figure negligence action in Cameron, Texas
  • Obtained summary judgement in favor of a large corporate services company in premises liability case U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division
  • Obtained a dismissal of in favor of an emergency medical care air transport company in a wrongful death, medical malpractice action in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division
  • Obtained a summary judgement in favor of an industry leading electrical device manufacturer in a wrongful death, product liability action in the State District Court of Galveston County, Texas
  • Obtained defense judgement following a bench trial in favor of a manufacturer of a home stereo system in a product liability action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division; where plaintiffs alleged that a defect in the stereo system caused a fire, resulting in substantial property damages
  • Obtained defense verdict in a truck collision case in the State District Court of Bexar County, Texas, where plaintiff was claiming significant damages
  • Obtained dismissals of attorney grievances before the State Bar Grievance Committee
  • Obtained summary judgements in insurance broker malpractice claims in multiple district courts in Texas
  • Obtained dismissals of complaints against insurance agents/brokers before the Texas Department of Insurance
  • Obtained summary judgements of professional home inspector malpractice claims in multiple state district courts in Texas
  • Obtained summary judgements in attorney claims in multiple state district courts in Texas
  • Obtained dismissals of complaints against professional hone inspectors before the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC)
  • Represented the exclusive United States distributor of global leader in concrete truck manufacturing in high exposure, product liability action involving wrongful death in the state district court in Texas
  • Regularly defends architects & engineers and contractors in commercial and residential construction litigation in AAA arbitrations and in state district courts throughout Texas
  • Regularly defends real estate agents/brokers and professional residential and commercial inspectors in professional liability claims in state and federal district courts throughout Texas
  • Regularly defends building owners and managers in cases involving injuries to tenants, employees, and premises invitees by criminal acts of third parties, many of which matters involve claims of wrongful death and significant injury
  • Regularly defends broker-dealers and registered representatives in FINRA arbitrations in Texas and nationwide