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Carter Arnett Stahl + Cho Hernandez: The Firm That Beat a Texas DA in a Netflix Case

This firm has gone up against Disney, Hulu, and Netflix in a franchise fee dispute — and won. It has also personally handed a Texas district attorney a defeat in a case against Netflix. This Dallas business litigation attorney firm just rebranded in July 2026 to add two women litigators as name partners, reflecting a deliberate leadership expansion rather than a founder stepping back.

At a Glance: Dallas Business Litigation Attorney Firm Overview

Origin & Background

Carter Arnett was founded in Dallas by principals E. Leon Carter and J. Robert Arnett II with a stated mission of combining the courtroom depth of a national firm with the agility of a trial boutique. Bob Arnett has more than 35 years of civil litigation experience at trial and appellate levels, in both domestic and international arbitration. In July 2026, the firm renamed itself Carter Arnett Stahl + Cho Hernandez PLLC, elevating litigators Linda Stahl and Stacey Cho Hernandez to name-partner status — a structural recognition of their contributions rather than a founder-driven rebrand alone. The firm reports over 150 jury trials and a team that includes former state court judges and former federal law clerks.

Practice Concentration: What This Dallas Business Litigation Attorney Firm Handles

The firm’s stated practice, per its own site, spans complex commercial disputes, antitrust, employment litigation, intellectual property and patent litigation, construction litigation, securities, trade secret and non-compete disputes, and appellate work. An attorney at the firm is Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, providing specialized capability within the firm’s broader commercial litigation practice.

Mixed-representation disclosure: Carter Arnett represents both plaintiffs and defendants. The firm’s reported case history includes defense-side work (a defense win in a billion-dollar pension fund case, a defense verdict for Dallas County Hospital District/Parkland Health) alongside plaintiff-side work (a $67.5 million verdict in a 5G patent case, a $9.2 million patent infringement verdict for client Katana Silicon Technologies). Prospective clients should understand this firm may be retained by either side of a commercial dispute depending on the matter.

Notable Work

Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Results are as reported by the firm and independent legal trade press.

Client Voice

The firm does not maintain a substantial public consumer review presence on platforms like Yelp or Google, consistent with a boutique whose clients are Fortune 500 companies, public entities, and other businesses rather than individual consumers. This is a genuine gap worth naming directly. The firm’s standing instead rests on documented case outcomes and peer-review recognition: multiple named partners have been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers” lists in recent years.

Beyond the Courtroom

Robert Arnett II was inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society. E. Leon Carter was named the Dallas Bar Association’s 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year and has been named to the Texas Super Lawyers Top 100 list.

Recognition

E. Leon Carter holds a Chambers USA Band 1 ranking — the highest tier — for trial advocacy in Texas and general commercial litigation in Dallas-Fort Worth. The firm itself has been recognized in the Chambers Spotlight Texas Guide in consecutive years, one of a limited number of small-to-midsize Texas firms so recognized. An attorney at the firm holds Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Labor & Employment Law — the only “specialist” designation used in this profile, because it is independently state-administered. Multiple attorneys have been named to Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. These are peer-review, state-board, and publication-based recognitions rather than firm self-description.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Commercial disputes of the size this firm typically handles are frequently eligible for Texas’s Business Court system, created by House Bill 19 and codified at Texas Government Code Chapter 25A, which began accepting cases on September 1, 2024 with the Dallas-area First Division among the first five to open. The court’s civil jurisdiction generally covers disputes involving at least $5 million, including breach of fiduciary duty and corporate governance claims. Patent litigation, a significant part of this firm’s practice, is governed by federal law and litigated exclusively in federal district courts rather than Texas state courts. This is general background information, not legal advice, and does not account for the specific facts of any dispute.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

As a Dallas business litigation attorney firm, its documented $67.5 million patent verdict, a win against three major entertainment companies simultaneously, and a Chambers Band 1-ranked principal together represent a substantiated litigation record spanning both plaintiff and defense-side work across multiple high-stakes industries. The July 2026 elevation of two women litigators to name-partner status also signals an intentional, structural leadership expansion rather than a firm coasting on its founders’ reputations alone.

The honest gap: as with several elite Dallas commercial litigation boutiques in this directory, this firm’s public-facing consumer review presence is thin, and prospective clients evaluating the firm by typical review-platform standards won’t find much there — the record here is built from reported verdicts, Chambers rankings, and peer-review recognition rather than a broad base of client feedback. Because the firm genuinely represents both plaintiffs and defendants across a wide range of practice areas, a prospective client should confirm directly which specific attorney and practice group would handle their matter.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (carterarnett.com), including its sitemap of case results and attorney biography pages, Business Wire press releases announcing the firm’s Chambers rankings and July 2026 name change, Yahoo Finance’s republication of the rebrand announcement, LinkedIn firm updates, and Super Lawyers’ firm profile.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independently researched legal directory. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Carter Arnett Stahl + Cho Hernandez PLLC prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to firms profiled on this site, but sponsorship status has no bearing on editorial content, and inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement of any firm for any particular legal matter. Nothing in this profile constitutes legal advice or a lawyer referral; readers with a legal question should consult a licensed Texas attorney directly.