AUSTIN—Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) today announced the addition of former Texas State Rep. Kenneth Sheets and former Texas Supreme Court General Counsel Lisa Bowlin Hobbs to its outside legal team. Sheets will provide legal advice on a variety of issues impacting Texas’ civil justice system. Hobbs will also provide legal advice, as well as engage in legislative advocacy. They join TLR’s legal team of Senior General Counsel Hugh Rice Kelly, General Counsel Lee Parsley and longtime TLR Outside Counsel and former Texas Third Court of Appeals Justice Alan Waldrop.

“TLR has always drawn on the expertise of a variety of legal minds to ensure we bring fresh ideas and principled solutions to the fight to improve Texas’ legal system,” TLR President Richard J. Trabulsi Jr. said. “Both Kenneth and Lisa have distinguished legal backgrounds and an intimate understanding of the courts and our laws. We are pleased to have their counsel as we work to keep Texas the beacon state for civil justice reform in America.”

Sheets is a partner at Payne and Blanchard LLP, where his practice focuses on defending parties in civil litigation. He has successfully represented individuals and businesses in lawsuits involving construction defects, products liability, premises liability, wrongful death and motor and commercial vehicle accidents. Prior to joining the firm, Sheets served as a judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2007 and 2008, Sheets deployed to Iraq and served as the battalion judge advocate for the Second Reconnaissance Battalion. Sheets was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2010, where he served three terms representing the communities of East Dallas, South Garland and Mesquite.

Hobbs is a board-certified civil appellate lawyer and founding member of Kuhn Hobbs PLLC. She previously served as the Texas Supreme Court’s first ever general counsel. In this capacity, she provided legal advice to Texas’ highest civil court on a broad range of matters and held primary responsibility for the chief justice’s administrative duties. Prior to serving as general counsel, she was the court’s rules attorney. Hobbs is a member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee and Texas Access to Justice Commission Rules and Legislative Committee. Hobbs has taught Texas civil procedure at the University of Texas School of Law and media law at Houston Baptist University.

For more than two decades, TLR has worked to restore balance, common-sense and fairness to Texas’ civil justice system. These principled reforms have helped grow Texas’ economy and made the state a national example for successful tort reform.

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