Frederick H. Wen is a Senior Associate at Donato Brown Pool & Moehlmann, PLLC, primarily practicing in the Appellate, Personal Injury Defense, Commercial Trucking Defense, Premises Liability Defense, Insurance Coverage and Litigation Defense, Commercial Litigation, and Construction Defect Defense areas. Fred is an experienced trial litigator with over 17 years of civil litigation experience at both the federal and state court levels in Texas and New York. He is also an accomplished appellate attorney, having successfully argued several oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, and has filed several briefs in both federal and state appellate courts in New York and Texas. Currently, he is pursuing board certification in Civil Appellate Law before the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Before joining Donato Brown, he worked at the Houston Office of an Am Law 100 firm practicing in the Appellate, Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights, Commercial Litigation, Construction, Employment Law, and Insurance Practice Groups.

Before that, he worked at the Houston Office of a boutique insurance defense litigation firm practicing realtor defense, commercial trucking and auto personal injury defense, and construction defect defense.

Fred previously worked for over five years as a Central Staff Attorney at the First Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas. Fred gained substantial Texas civil and criminal appellate law experience there, drafting over 500 opinions, several hundred orders on motions, and several memoranda of law for two appellate justices, as well as assisting in screening appeals for the rest of the First Court.

In addition, Fred practiced for nearly nine years at the New York State Office of the Attorney General in both the Law Enforcement Section of the Litigation Bureau and the Federal Habeas Corpus Section of the Appeals & Opinions Division. While there, Fred successfully represented public agencies, officials, and employees in cases raising federal civil rights, personal injury, or employment discrimination claims under Section 1983, Title VII, and the Americans with Disabilities Act/Rehabilitation Act. At the New York State Attorney General’s Office, he also gained substantial motion practice experience, as well as first and second-chair jury and bench trial and oral argument experience, in Section 1983 civil rights, personal injury, Title VII employment discrimination, ADA/Rehab Act claims, and federal habeas corpus litigation.

Practice Areas:

  • Appellate
  • Personal Injury Defense
  • Commercial Trucking Defense
  • Premises Liability Defense
  • Insurance Coverage and Litigation Defense
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Construction Defect Defense

Admissions:

  • Texas
  • New York
  • New Jersey
  • U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western, and Northern Districts of Texas, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western, and Northern Districts of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Fifth Circuits
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Education:

  • J.D., Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University, 2003 (Hofstra Law Review, Articles Editor; Minority Summer Fellowship in Environmental Law, New York State Bar Association; Hofstra Law Merit Scholarship; Hofstra Public Justice Foundation Summer Fellowship; Law Student Association Achievement Award, New York State Bar Association)
  • B.A., Cognitive Science and Psychology, Rice University, 1998 (National Merit Scholarship Recipient) 

Representative Experience:

  • He won partial summary judgment on multiple claims in a commercial trucking personal injury case in the Southern District of Texas;
  • He successfully moved to dismiss a construction defect appeal in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas;
  • He won dismissal of an appeal in a realtor defense case in the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, Texas;
  • He successfully opposed a motion for new trial following a jury verdict in an auto accident personal injury case in Bexar County, Texas;
  • Filed several appellate briefs before federal and state appellate courts in New York State, and successfully argued five out of six appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit;
  • First and second chaired two federal jury trials involving inmate civil rights claims;
  • First chaired two federal evidentiary hearings, one in an employment case and the other in a habeas corpus case;
  • Successfully moved for summary judgment in a federal putative class action lawsuit involving inmate civil rights claims; and
  • Secured a successful reversal of a federal preliminary injunction entered against New York State’s enforcement of the Bottle Bill amendments which earned the state over $120M annually, at the time.

Clerkships:

  • Judge F.A. Little, Jr. (retired), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division;
  • Judge Leif M. Clark (retired), U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.

Memberships:

  • State Bar of Texas Appellate, Construction Law, and Insurance Law Sections, Member;
  • Texas Bar College, Member;
  • Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, Member;
  • Houston Bar Association Appellate Practice and Construction Law Sections, Member;
  • Defense Research Institute, Member;
  • Asian American Bar Association of Houston, Member;
  • National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Member.

Community Involvement:

  • Annual Day of Community Service at Houston Food Bank, Asian American Bar Association of Houston, 2022;
  • Annual Day of Community Service at Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) Houston, YMCA of Greater Houston, and Target Hunger, a community garden in Houston, Lopez Law Group, PLLC, 2019-2021;
  • Mentorship Program, Asian American Bar Association of Houston, 2017;
  • Minority Mentor, Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc., New York, NY, 2008-2014.

Publications:

  • Recent Amendments and Caselaw Affecting the Construction Industry in Texas, Gordon & Rees Quarterly Update, Construction Practice Group (March 2022)