For 32 years, AZA Law operated from a single address. Every one of its trials was staffed from One Houston Center on McKinney Street. Three Litigation Department of the Year awards from Texas Lawyer, Chambers USA recognition, and a roster that grew to 64 attorneys, all from one office.
That changed in January 2026, when the firm signed a lease at the Trammell Crow Center in downtown Dallas.
Patent Filings Pulled AZA Toward Dallas
John Zavitsanos, co-founding partner, was direct about what tipped the balance.
“At least for patent cases, there’s more going on in Dallas than there is in Houston,” he told The Texas Lawbook. “It made sense to have a Dallas office because our IP practice is blowing up.”
Filing data supports that read. The Eastern District of Texas, which includes courthouses in Marshall, Tyler, and Plano, reclaimed its position as the country’s busiest federal patent venue in early 2025. RPX Corp. reported the Eastern District led all U.S. districts for patent litigation in the first quarter of that year. A 2025 IAM report found patent filings across all federal district courts rose 19% year over year.
A $78.5 Million Samsung Verdict
AZA’s IP group had just finished a case that made the Dallas connection obvious. Jason McManis, who leads the firm’s intellectual property practice, teamed with incoming managing partner Warren McCarty for a September 2025 patent infringement jury trial in the Eastern District. Jurors awarded their client the full $78,512,999 it requested from Samsung Electronics.
McCarty, who had spent more than a decade at Dallas-based Caldwell Cassady and Curry before launching his own practice earlier in 2025, said the experience shaped his decision to come to AZA Law.
“More than anything, I found it was a place built on professionalism, and trust and loyalty, which can be hard to find these days,” he told The Texas Lawbook.
Starting Over With Resources
AZA planned to open with two partners and two associates. The goal was 10 attorneys within the first year. Kyle Poelker, an existing AZA partner, relocated from Houston to head commercial litigation in Dallas.
Zavitsanos described the feeling: “When we first moved into this building in Houston there were three of us at the time, and we had a very small amount of space in 1993. I was getting some deja vu walking around the space in Dallas.”
AZA Law, where Todd Mensing is a named partner, has tried more than 500 cases since its 1993 founding.
