Kat Kunz focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation with concentrated experience in the energy arena. Kat has also represented plaintiffs and defendants in antitrust, employment, and securities disputes.
Following law school, Kat was a law clerk to Judge Jack Zouhary, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, 2008-2009; and to Judge Emilio M. Garza, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2009-2010.
Kat began her litigation career with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York and joined Hicks Thomas in 2023 following several years of practice at three prominent Houston litigation-focused law firms.
- Northwestern University School of Law, J.D.
- cum laude, 2008
- Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
- Yale University, B.A.
- cum laude, Ethics, Politics, and Economics, 2003
- Named to Lawdragon 500 Leading Energy Lawyers (2024)
- State Bar of Texas
- State Bar of New York
- United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow
- Houston Bar Association, Member
- Federal Bar Association, Member
- HBA Gender Fairness Committee (2019-2022)
- State Bar of Texas, Women in the Profession Committee (2019-2022)
- Chair (2021-2022)
- Vice Chair (2022-2023)
- Young Professionals Council of the Houston Urban Debate League, Member
- Represented Occidental Chemical Corporation in a suit to recover contributions from more than 100 defendants for the cost to design and implement the Environmental Protection Agency's remediation plan for the Lower Passaic River (District of New Jersey)
- Represented an electric utility and its affiliates in a dispute alleging statutory and regulatory customer rate violations (S.D. Mississippi and Mississippi state court)
- Represented an oil and gas exploration and production company in a breach of contract dispute concerning liability for decommissioning costs of assets in the Gulf of Mexico (Southern District of Texas)
- Represented an independent power producer in disputes with its former parent corporation and affiliates concerning breaches of contract and fiduciary duty (District of Montana and Montana state court)
- Represented a publicly traded master limited partnership in the oil pipeline transportation, marketing, and storage business in a breach of contract dispute (Tulsa County, Oklahoma)
- Represented a Fortune 500 midstream energy services corporation in an employment dispute and concomitant internal investigation (Houston, Texas)
- Represented a former executive of a petroleum exploration and production company in a securities class action dispute alleging failures to disclose material information prior to stock and bond offerings (Southern District of Texas)
- Represented plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit concerning price-fixing among Chinese vitamin C manufacturers (Eastern District of New York)
- "What Do Attorneys Need Now To Succeed," Texas Bar Journal (November 2021)
- "Advocating for Texas Women Lawyers: The Women in the Profession Committee Celebrates 30 Years," Texas Bar Journal (March 2021)
