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Hendershot Cowart: A Nearly 40-Year-Old Houston Firm Now Led by the Associate Who Became Its Managing Shareholder

Origin and Background

Raymond Kerr founded the firm in Houston in 1987, aligning his practice with a colleague to build what the firm describes as a growing Texas practice with national reach. Trey Hendershot later joined as an associate and has since risen to managing shareholder, now leading the firm’s business law, litigation, and healthcare legal team, while Katie Cowart was elected shareholder in 2018 with a focus on federal issues. The firm has operated continuously in Houston for nearly 40 years and has since added an Austin office and a Sugar Land location, while describing itself as a boutique Texas firm that pairs big-firm expertise with more than 150 years of combined attorney experience.

Practice Concentration

Hendershot Cowart handles business litigation, business law and transactions, healthcare law and investigation defense, OSHA defense, construction law and arbitration, and probate litigation, representing clients from small and midsize businesses to multinational, publicly traded companies. The firm explicitly represents both plaintiffs and defendants in breach-of-contract, shareholder, and partnership disputes, stating that experience on both sides of a dispute sharpens its litigation strategy. Its Houston office alone carries 10 lawyers across business law, business litigation, health and medical law, and seven other practice areas. See this Houston Business Litigation directory for how this nearly 40-year-old firm compares to other commercial litigation practices serving Harris County.

Notable Work / Track Record

As a firm serving a broad range of business and healthcare clients rather than concentrating on headline-verdict litigation, Hendershot Cowart does not publish a table of case outcomes with dollar figures, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one — disclosed here rather than papered over. The firm’s own materials describe more than 35 years of litigating business relationships gone bad, spanning construction contract disputes, oil-and-gas agreements, mechanics’-lien enforcement and challenges, and shareholder or partnership disputes. Case outcomes in complex commercial litigation depend on the specific facts involved, and past results do not guarantee similar outcomes in any other case.

Client Voice

A client review on the firm’s own business-litigation page states: “Outstanding firm. The team was efficient and provided good legal & business advice. Particular compliments to Trey Hendershot and Bryan Tehrani — I recommend them and will bring other matters to the firm for their assistance.” The firm has separately earned Martindale-Hubbell’s Client Champion recognition, an award based on the quantity and quality of submitted client reviews rather than a self-reported claim. Awesome Attorneys did not identify any negative or adverse public reviews for the firm.

Beyond the Courtroom

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a substantial published record of firm-wide civic, nonprofit, or pro bono activity for Hendershot Cowart — a genuine gap for a nearly 40-year-old firm, disclosed here rather than glossed over. The firm’s public content is concentrated on its business-law and litigation practice rather than community involvement.

Recognition for This Houston Business Litigation Firm

Hendershot Cowart holds Martindale-Hubbell’s Client Champion award and a Notable peer-review rating recognizing strong ethical standards among a large number of peer attorneys. The firm is listed across a wide range of Super Lawyers practice-area categories in Houston, including business litigation, business/corporate, and energy and natural resources. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification individually attributed to Raymond Kerr, Trey Hendershot, or Katie Cowart, so “specialist” language is not applied to this firm, consistent with house policy reserving that term for documented TBLS certification.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Most Texas breach-of-contract claims carry a four-year limitations period, while fraud and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims — relevant to the firm’s shareholder and partnership dispute work — are separately subject to a four-year period under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.004. Mechanics’-lien claims, part of the firm’s construction practice, must generally be perfected and enforced within strict statutory deadlines under Chapter 53 of the Texas Property Code, distinct from the general contract-limitations period. A prevailing party’s right to recover attorney’s fees on many contract claims runs through Chapter 38 of the Civil Practice & Remedies Code. None of this is legal advice; a specific business dispute should be evaluated by a licensed Texas attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Hendershot Cowart’s clearest differentiator is longevity combined with breadth — nearly 40 years representing both sides of Texas business disputes across litigation, healthcare regulatory defense, construction, and probate, with a leadership transition from founder to a homegrown managing shareholder that suggests institutional continuity. The honest trade-off is the same one that applies to any multi-practice regional firm: without a published results table, prospective clients are weighing consistently positive client feedback and peer-review ratings against the absence of specific, independently verifiable case outcomes. For a Texas business or healthcare provider that wants a single firm to handle litigation, regulatory defense, and transactional needs together, Hendershot Cowart’s decades-long track record is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Hendershot Cowart’s own website, including its Our Difference and Business Litigation pages; its Yelp business listings for the Houston, Austin, and Sugar Land offices; its Lawyers.com and Super Lawyers firm profiles; and its LinkedIn company page.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Hendershot Cowart P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.