Legal Services & Lawyers

Aimee was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1949. The oldest of nine children, she was raised in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit Michigan.

Aimee graduated from Marian High School in Birmingham, Michigan in 1967, with honors. She graduated summa cum laude from Southern Methodist University in 1973 with a B.A. in Economics. She spent a year in graduate studies in economics at SMU, and then attended Southern Methodist University Law School, graduating in 1977. While in law school, she was a law clerk for the Texas Attorney General's Office and wrote for the Southwestern Law Journal.

After graduation from law school, Aimee joined the Dallas firm of Besing, Baker and Glast, and became a partner in 1978. In 1981, she began her own firm, Law Offices of Aimee Hess P.C.

Aimee is currently admitted to practice before the Texas Supreme Court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. District Courts in the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts in the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts.

Aimee concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate and equipment financing (representing both lenders and borrowers), real estate conveyancing (representing both sellers and buyers), real estate and equipment leasing (representing both lessors and lessees), real estate defaults (including work outs and foreclosures), oil and gas law (primarily representing land owners and mineral owners in connection with testing agreements, oil and gas leases and pipeline or access easements), construction law (representing contractors, lenders, and consumers), development law (representing developers from project planning through zoning, construction and lease-up) and representation of rural water and sewer companies (rate-setting; preparation of corporate documents such as tariffs, bylaws and conflicts policies; government loan applications and loan management; and developer and nonstandard service contract negotiations and oversight).

Aimee and her husband Carl Ward, a petroleum engineer, enjoy sailing, hiking, kayaking, windsurfing and finding homes for abused and orphaned dogs, and parrots, many of which share their home at any given time.

The philosophy that guides and informs her law practice is to deliver the very highest quality of legal services to clients on a cost effective basis. She is not only dedicated to her clients' success, she is accessible and down to earth, and keeps an eye on her clients' bottom line.

Most of her clients have been with her for nearly thirty years. Representative clients over the years have included Trammell Crow Company (the largest privately held real estate development company in the world), The Equitable Life Assurance Society, (currently AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company), Coldwell Banker Commercial, and many other real estate investment, development and management companies both large and small. Currently, her clients include several banks and savings and loans, real estate management, development and investment companies, rural water and sewer companies and several construction and manufacturing companies, as well as many small businesses and individuals.

The charges for her services are tailored to fit her clients'needs. Many clients prefer to be billed on an hourly basis. In other cases, where a client prefers and where the subject matter of the representation allows, she offers fixed or a la carte fees.

I litigate, arbitrate, and try multimillion dollar disputes for individuals and businesses located in the United States and abroad. I have experience in a wide array of legal and procedural areas including: pharmaceutical, product liability, and environmental torts; multidistrict and class action cases involving antitrust, securities, and consumer fraud violations; individual personal injury and wrongful death claims arising from general negligence, medical malpractice, toxic exposures, defective products (drugs, autos, medical devices); lawsuits on behalf of businesses, partnerships, and franchisees for damages related to fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and statutory claims; and claims for the owners of intellectual property seeking damages for theft of trade secrets, patent infringement, and copyright violations. I represent both plaintiffs and defendants as well as large corporations and individuals. I evaluate potential cases everyday with an eye towards investing my law firm's time and money for clients. I've been asked to join preexisting teams prior to trial, and take over lead counsel just prior to trial. I have also agreed to take cases that other lawyers or law firms believed did not justify the investment of time and expense necessary to achieve the client's objectives. I prefer merit based fee arrangements that tie my ultimate compensation to the results I obtain for my client. I've agreed to take over cases pursuant to merit based fee agreements from law firms hired under traditionally hourly terms. Iâve convince my partners to accept merit based fee agreements ranging from reduced hourly fees with a bonus, to fully contingent compensation requiring my firm to advance the value of our time as well as all expert and case expenses required for the case. My firm is a litigation boutique and we only handle litigation matters for clients. We have offices in five cities: Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City, and have licensed attorneys available to represent clients in those cities and across the United States. I have very extensive experience representing international clients from outside the United States suing for injuries suffered abroad in places like Europe, South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.

I am a business transactions attorney that focuses in two general areas: (1) domestic & international real estate, title investigation, title insurance, and closing services and (2) business planning from cradle to grave, i.e., starting or buying a business; capitalizing your business; optimizing your business with tax, corporate and asset protection planning; strategizing business succession; and selling your business.