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Crawford, Wishnew & Lang: Where a “Rising Raggio” Award Winner Trains Alongside Trial Veterans
The Dallas Women Lawyers Association names one young attorney each year to receive its “Rising Raggio” award, honoring the legacy of pioneering Texas lawyer Louise Raggio. In 2023, that attorney worked at this Dallas business litigation attorney firm — a signal of the kind of talent pipeline this boutique has built alongside its senior trial partners.
At a Glance: Dallas Business Litigation Attorney Firm Overview
| Firm | Crawford, Wishnew & Lang PLLC |
|---|---|
| Founding Partners | Trey Crawford, Dave Wishnew, Michael Lang |
| Office | Dallas, TX |
| Board Certification | Emily Stout — Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization |
| Focus | Complex commercial litigation, fraud, breach of contract/fiduciary duty, trade secret misappropriation, employment |
| Representation | Both plaintiffs and defendants (mixed representation — see disclosure below) |
| Fee Structure | Not disclosed in detail publicly |
Origin & Background
Crawford, Wishnew & Lang is a Dallas litigation boutique built around founding partners Trey Crawford, Dave Wishnew, and Michael Lang. Wishnew marked 25 years in Dallas legal practice as of 2025, having started his career as an associate at Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP. The firm has grown to 13 attorneys recognized on Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists — a notably high concentration of peer-recognized talent for a boutique of its size, spanning both senior partners and associates like 2023 “Rising Raggio” award recipient Gracen Daniel.
Practice Concentration: What This Dallas Business Litigation Attorney Firm Handles
The firm’s stated practice, per its own site, centers on complex legal disputes involving fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, and misappropriation of trade secrets, along with probate, trust, and estates/fiduciary litigation, partnership and shareholder disputes, labor and employment litigation, real estate and construction litigation, and aviation and aerospace litigation. Attorney Emily Stout, Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, litigates employment and commercial matters in federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals, appellate courts, and before administrative agencies including the EEOC and DOL.
Mixed-representation disclosure: Crawford, Wishnew & Lang represents both plaintiffs and defendants. The firm’s own site states directly that it represents clients “as plaintiffs or defendants” across the wide range of business disputes it handles. Prospective clients should understand this firm may be retained by either side of a commercial dispute depending on the matter and the client.
Notable Work
The firm does not publish a structured, itemized verdicts-and-settlements table with individual case figures on its current site, though it notes a recent Texas Supreme Court grant of a Petition for Review with oral argument to follow — a genuinely rare outcome, since the Texas Supreme Court grants review in only a small fraction of petitions filed. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case, and this gap in a published itemized results table is disclosed directly rather than papered over.
Client Voice
Peer reviews on Martindale describe founding partner Dave Wishnew as “a zealous advocate for his clients and a professional practitioner,” with another reviewer calling him “one of the best up and coming commercial trial lawyers in Dallas” and “definitely an AV attorney.” Another peer review credited a firm attorney as “quality and ethical… at every level.” These are peer reviews from fellow attorneys rather than client testimonials — the firm’s Martindale profile notes explicitly that “this firm’s attorneys do not have client reviews” displayed, a genuine gap in independently verifiable consumer feedback worth naming directly.
Beyond the Courtroom
The firm supported associate Gracen Daniel’s recognition as the Dallas Women Lawyers Association’s 2023 “Rising Raggio” award recipient — an honor recognizing a young lawyer’s professional accomplishments and community leadership, named after pioneering Texas family law attorney Louise Raggio. Daniel also serves on the executive board of the Dallas Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Recognition
Crawford, Wishnew & Lang has been named a Tier 1 firm in Dallas for Commercial Litigation by Best Law Firms (Best Lawyers). Emily Stout is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization — the only “specialist” designation used in this profile, because it is independently state-administered. Six of the firm’s lawyers were recognized in the 2026 edition of Best Lawyers in America, and 13 attorneys have been named to Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. These are peer-review, publication-based, and state-board 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 claims — directly relevant to this firm’s stated practice. Trade secret misappropriation claims are governed by the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, codified at Texas Business & Commerce Code Chapter 134A. This is general background information, not legal advice, and does not account for the specific facts of any dispute.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Thirteen Super Lawyers or Rising Stars-recognized attorneys at a boutique firm, spanning from a 25-year veteran founding partner to a “Rising Raggio” award-winning associate, suggests a firm that has genuinely built a talent pipeline rather than relying solely on its founders’ individual reputations. A Texas Supreme Court petition-for-review grant is also a specific, rare, and independently verifiable marker of appellate sophistication.
The honest gap: this firm’s Martindale profile explicitly states its attorneys do not display client reviews, and the firm doesn’t publish an itemized results table — meaning a prospective client evaluating this firm has to rely on peer recognition (Chambers-adjacent rankings, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers) rather than either consumer reviews or documented case-by-case outcomes. That’s a real gap worth asking about directly in an initial consultation, even for a well-regarded boutique.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (cwl.law), Martindale’s organization profile and peer-review pages (which noted the absence of displayed client reviews), Best Lawyers’ and Best Law Firms’ firm directory listings, Super Lawyers’ firm profile, and LinkedIn firm updates covering recent hires and recognitions.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independently researched legal directory. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Crawford, Wishnew & Lang 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.