Texas Super Lawyers Recognizes Balch Attorneys for Excellence in 2026 Edition
Balch & Bingham is proud to announce that Marnie McCormick, Kerry McGrath, Jo Ann Merica, Patrick Pearsal, and Chris Kirby, attorneys in the Austin office, have been selected by Super Lawyers for inclusion in its 2026 edition of Texas Super Lawyers.
Marnie McCormick and Jo Ann Merica, partners in the Litigation Practice and Kerry McGrath and Patrick Pearsall, Partners in the Energy Practice, have each been selected as "Super Lawyer." Chris Kirby, a partner in the Energy Practice, has been designated a "Rising Star."
Super Lawyers recognizes leading attorneys nationwide each year through a multiphase selection process that relies on peer nominations and evaluations combined with independent research. Candidates are assessed across 12 key indicators of peer recognition and professional accomplishment. Designations are highly selective, including no more than five percent of lawyers in each state.
The Super Lawyers Rising Star award honors emerging lawyers who are 40 years old or younger or who have practiced law for 10 years or less. This distinction is granted exclusively to the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in each state.
Chris advises clients throughout the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region on transactional, public policy, and legislative matters. Chris works on all aspects of transactional matters in the ERCOT market, including significant power plant acquisitions. Chris also represents market participants before the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT in compliance matters, rulemaking proceedings, and contested cases. Before his energy law practice, Chris worked in the Texas Legislature for three legislative sessions. He draws on that experience to counsel clients on a variety of legislative matters, including providing expert testimony at legislative committee hearings and bill drafting.
Marnie has more than 30 years of experience representing regulated entities and individuals before Texas administrative agencies and in state and federal courts, with particular depth in utilities and gaming clients. Her practice focuses on civil appeals and litigated matters involving utilities and other heavily regulated industries, along with the administrative law principles and constitutional issues that arise in regulatory disputes. Marnie works closely with trial and regulatory teams to develop strategy, distill complicated legal issues, and present clear, persuasive arguments to courts and decision-makers. She has particular experience with property rights and jurisdictional disputes involving regulated utilities and is skilled at both challenging and defending agency rulings on appeal.
Kerry has more than 35 years of experience representing electric utilities before the Public Utility Commission of Texas and in related state court proceedings. His practice focuses on regulatory matters involving rate cases, transmission and generation certification, and industry restructuring, along with the mergers, asset sales, and change-of-control transactions that arise for regulated utility clients. Kerry works closely with utility management and regulatory affairs teams to develop strategy, navigate complex proceedings before the Commission, and secure the approvals clients need to move projects and transactions forward. He has particular experience with Certificates of Convenience and Necessity for new transmission and generation facilities and is skilled at both litigating contested rate cases and structuring transactions to withstand regulatory scrutiny.
Jo Ann has more than 40 years of experience in civil litigation, with a practice that spans commercial disputes, real estate litigation, construction defects, and consumer and family law matters. She has litigated in state district and appellate courts throughout Texas, as well as in federal court. Jo Ann represents individuals, small businesses, and large entities, and works to find a path that keeps clients out of the courthouse whenever that outcome serves them best. She has also taught Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law for over 23 years.
Patrick has more than 20 years of experience representing regulated electric and gas utilities in regulatory, trial, and appellate litigation before state and federal agencies and courts, with particular depth in utility ratemaking and Texas, New Mexico, and FERC regulatory matters. His practice focuses on electric utility policy, retail ratemaking issues — including base-rate cases, fuel cost recovery, and interim recovery mechanisms — generation and transmission certification, sale/transfer/merger transactions, and rulemakings before the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, and FERC. Patrick works closely with internal utility experts to develop strategy on novel matters with no established formula or precedent to rely on, distilling complex regulatory issues into persuasive filings for commissions and courts. He also has experience litigating contested ratemaking and certification proceedings and is skilled at both prosecuting agency filings and defending them on appeal before Texas appellate courts and the Fifth Circuit.
