MSJ

Offices in The Woodlands281.419.6200

Attorneys





Michael D. Martin

Michael Martin

Michael D. Martin is a licensed Texas attorney engaged in the general practice of law and is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate by the Texas Board of Legal Special- ization. He earned his Bachelor of Journalism in 1973 from the University of Texas at Austin, and his J.D. in 1979 from South Texas College of Law. He continued post-graduate studies in Estate Planning at The American University in Bryn Mawhr, PA. He received clinical training in Marriage and Family Systems Therapy, as well as Organizational Dynamics and Consulting, at the Houston-Galveston Institute. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law, and Tax Sections, The Woodlands Bar Associations and the American Bar Association.

Since January of 1991, Michael has provided legal, financial and tax counsel to affluent families with closely held businesses, including tax, trust, estate and financial planning, as well as probate matters. He is licensed to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Tax Court. Michael was counsel of record, along with colleagues Carol Cantrell and Dr. Peter Rubin, in Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 128 S. Ct. 782 (2008), relating to the deductibility of investment advisory fees by trustees of non-grantor trusts. He has published and authored various Continuing Legal Education presentations and is actively engaged in charitable and community activities, including The Woodlands Bar Association's Pro Bono "Wills for Heroes" Project.

Steven C. Earl

Steven C. Earl

Steven C. Earl is a licensed Texas attorney with a wide diversity of practice.  Steven both prepares estate plans for families of all economic levels, and, litigates cases related to estates, trusts and wills.  Steven also handles business formation, contract drafting, business divorces, and, also serious business litigation cases in court and in arbitration.  Steven’s work includes advising on or litigating employment issues facing small businesses. 

The unifying feature among these divergent practice areas is his commitment to excellence.  This commitment reaches back to his studies.  Steven graduated from Texas A&M with a 4.0 in his major (philosophy) and his minor (history).  Also, he graduated with honors from the University of Houston Law Center in 1997.

Steven has created, drafted and supervised the drafting more than a thousand estate plans for Montgomery County and Harris County residents, with a goal of making the process as simple as possible for clients without compromising quality.  While Steven’s work includes drafting wills, forming trusts, and implementing those designs, he likes to focus on the people involved.  He takes great care to understand the client’s desires and concerns- and implement them.  He also takes great pains to draft documents which allow the client to easily locate his or her decisions – unlike many lawyers who draft long winded and confusing documents.

Steven has helped form and support many local companies. He has worked to provide his clients with solid documents for customers, vendors, employees (including non-compete agreements) to sign.  Steven has been lead counsel in mergers and acquisitions of a major Texas real estate brokerage firm, a major fixed base operator (FBO) at Hobby Airport, oil and gas properties, local franchises, and local businesses.  Steven has also helped clients when a partnership dispute erupts, and, worked to resolve the situation to save the business and the client. 

In litigation, Steven believes that a lawyer obtains the best results by being aggressive on the law and facts, but also by avoiding petty strife.  In 2015, Steven helped a widow prevail in a will contest brought by her adult step-children.  By being aggressive and pushing the strengths of the widow’s case, Steven forced the will contestants to voluntarily dismiss their case with prejudice conditioned upon the widow not seeking to have the contestants pay her attorney’s fees.  Also in 2015, Steven obtained a judgment forcing an estate to transfer his client’s home to her, pay the overdue taxes on that home, and pay some debts related to that home.   Steven also obtained a judicial decree terminating a trust created by a big downtown Houston law firm which tried to keep his client from selling some valuable inherited real estate.  In litigation, Steven also forced a trustee to buy his client out of a trust which was being mismanaged.  

Steven’s litigation extends to business as well.  Steven obtained “death penalty sanctions” dismissing the suit brought by a litigant who refused to show up and be deposed by Steven.  Steven exposed a $3,500,000 note as a forgery after a client was sued for not paying the bogus note, and, he obtained a dismissal of the case on multiple grounds.  Steven has helped numerous business owners who found themselves “frozen out” of their own business during a partnership dispute.  Steven was also called upon to protect an innocent man who worked as a high profile chairman of the board of an international investment syndicate.  The man was falsely accused by other insiders.  For more than five years following the collapse of the company, Steven worked to successfully defend the man against millions of dollars in claims – and not one judgment was entered forcing him to pay damages.

Steven is also a staunch advocate for orphans and children in the foster system.  He puts his beliefs into practice, as Steven and his wife have so far adopted four children in addition to raising the two children born to them.  Steven is a member of the Board of Directors of Child Advocates of Montgomery County, an organization which provides advocates for children in the foster care system.

Steven graduated from Leadership Montgomery County in 2015.

 

James H. Stilwell

James Stilwell

James H. Stilwell is a licensed Texas attorney who handles a wide-range of litigation matters within the practice, including probate, trust and fiduciary litigation,  builder and developer litigation, and commercial litigation. James earned his Bachelor of Arts double degree in Economics and Political Science from Baylor University in 1992 and his Juris Doctorate in 1995 from the University of Texas School of Law.

In addition to the vast number of Articles, Publications, Briefings, Seminars and Speeches that James has authored and presented, several of the cases in which he was the lead trial lawyer have been published, including: LaChina V. The Woodlands Operating Company, LP, etal, TX CA 14, 14-12-00066-CV (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] August 8, 2013); Harris County Fresh Water Supply District No. 61 v. FWO Development, Ltd., 012913 TXCA14, 14-12-00496-CV (Tex.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] January 29, 2013)(Writ denied, Texas Supreme Court, 2014); Smalley v. Smalley, 042612 TXCA9, 09-11-00023-CV (Tex.App. — Beaumont, April 26, 2012); Smalley v. Smalley, 022411 TXCA9, 09-11-00023-CV (Tex.App. — Beaumont, February 24, 2011); McDuffee v. Miller, 102810 TXCA9, 09-10-00293-CV (Tex.App. — Beaumont, October 28, 2010); Bryer v. The Woodlands Land Development Co., L.P., 090910 TXCA9, 09-09-00326-CV (Tex.App. — Beaumont, September 9, 2010); In re Estate of Hersey, 223 S.W.3d 457, (Tex.App. — Amarillo, April 25, 2006); Lee v. Hersey, 223 S.W.3d 439, (Tex.App. — Amarillo, March 24, 2006), Paul v. Merril Lynch Trust Co. of Texas, 183 S.W.3d 805 (Tex.App. — Waco, December 14, 2005); and Parks v. Landfill Market Consultants, Inc., 2004 WL 1351545 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] June 17, 2004).

James has served our profession and community as a Vice President and Director of The Woodlands Bar Association, Chairman of The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce, and as the chairman of for Leadership Montgomery County. James received the 2005 Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce Chairman's Award, the 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award and has participated in the Woodlands Bar Association's Pro Bono "Wills for Heroes" Project since its inception. As a clergy spouse, James serves on serveral church and district committees for the United Methodist Chruch, and has been a voting delegate to the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Churches many times.

Robin L. Apostolakis

Robin L. Apostolakis is a licensed Texas attorney whose practice focuses in the areas of estate planning, probate, gaurdianship and business transactions. She has probated a wide range of estates from the very basic independent administrations to the more complex dependent administrations. Robin is experienced in establishing gaurdianships of the person and estate. Robin has drafted asset and stock purchase agreements from the small business owner up to the more complex multimillion dollar transaction.

Robin was born and raised in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Criminology in 1999 from the Ohio State University. From there she worked for the State of Ohio in the enforcement devision of the State Chiropractic Board before returning to school earning her Juris Doctor from the Ohio State University in 2004. Upon earning her Juris Doctor, Robin moved to Texas to obtain her MAsters in Tax LAw from the University of Houston.

Robin believes having an estate plan is giving a gift to family members. She enjoys working with her clients to help them create their plan doesn't believe in 'one size fits all' estate plans as all individuals and families are different. Robin takes the time to get to know her clients and really understand what they want and need in their estate plan.

Robin also enjoys helping small business owners from the creation of the business, through its growth, and all stages in between. She works with a wide range og business clients including small investment property owners and international corporations.

In addition to the practice of law, Robin is involved in the community and charitable endeavors. She is active in her homeowners association and has worked with several non-profit organizations. Robin has helped several non-profit organizations with obtaining their tax exempt status and has served on several boards of directors. Robin has been an active participent in the Leukenia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training program completing a marathon and triathlon with the program. In the furture she hopes to complete a century ride with them and earn her triple crown.

Robin enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and dogs. In addition to being licensed in Texas, Robin is licensed to practice before the U.S. Tax Court. She is a member of the Montgomery County and Woodlands Bar Associations.

Tanya E. Pino

Tanya E. Pino is an experienced litigator who practices mainly in the areas of corporate, business, commercial and probate litigation, and has a reputation for being an aggressive advocate with the highest level of integrity.  Tanya is licensed to practice law in Texas, Delaware and Pennsylvania (currently inactive).  She also is admitted to practice before the United States District Court in the District of Delaware, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. 

 Tanya started her career in Delaware where she had long and successful career as a litigation associate at Prickett, Jones & Elliott, P.A., which is one of Delaware’s oldest and most well-respected law firms.  While in Delaware, a significant part of Tanya’s practice consisted of representing plaintiffs and defendants in class actions, derivate and direct actions in cases involving public corporations and large privately held companies over disputes concerning issues of Delaware corporate law.  Tanya had the privilege of practicing mainly in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which is the nation’s preeminent business court.  Another significant part of Tanya’s practice consisted of representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation cases in state and federal court.  She also represented a number of public and large private petrochemical companies in product/premises liability and toxic tort cases involving serious or catastrophic injuries. 

 In Texas, Tanya represents plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal court in all types of business and commercial disputes.  She also represents individuals in suits involving matters of probate. 

For a number of years, Tanya was an active member of the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court, which is a chapter of the American Inns of Court.  The organization is an association of lawyers and judges from all levels and backgrounds who share a passion for professional excellence and the advancement of integrity, ethics and civility in the practice of law.  Tanya is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Woodlands Bar Association and the Montgomery County Bar Association. 

 Tanya believes that lawyers should devote a portion of their time pro bono to clients who cannot afford legal services.  For many years, Tanya dedicated a significant amount of time performing pro bono work for the Office of the Child Advocate in the State of Delaware passionately representing children in foster care.

 Tanya graduated magna cum laude with a BA in philosophy and political science from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where she received a number of academic awards, was a member of the College Republicans and was a player on the women’s rugby team.  After graduation, she immediately enrolled in law school at Widener University School of Law where she graduated cum laude. 

 After graduating from college, Tanya founded a women’s rugby team in West Chester, PA and continued to play rugby throughout law school and for several years after.  She played for her local club team for many years and also had the privilege of playing with some of the best rugby players in the nation on a U.S. invitational sevens team.  After retiring from rugby, Tanya became involved in equestrian sports; training and competing locally in Chester County, Pennsylvania in hunter jumper and dressage events.  Although she no longer rides horses, she continues to be an equestrian enthusiast.  Most recently, Tanya’s competitive sport of choice is tennis.  She is a member of the United States Tennis Association and competes locally in the greater Houston area. 

Deena Herndon-Remy

After working several years managing the development of customized management, leadership, and sales training programs for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, Mrs. Herndon-Remy returned to school to study law and graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 2014. While a law student, Mrs. Herndon-Remy was Editor-in-Chief of the Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy and was a judicial intern for Justice Martha Hill Jamison at the Fourteenth Court of Appeals and Judge Patricia Kerrigan at the 190th Civil Court in Harris County. Mrs. Herndon-Remy also participated in the University of Houston Law Center’s Transactional Clinic as a student attorney where she assisted small businesses with entity formation, drafting contracts, and negotiations. Mrs. Herndon-Remy is licensed in Texas, and her practice focuses on:

• Estate planning

• Business transactions

• Probate