In 2011, Joel Reese left Winstead PC, a large Dallas-based law firm, to start Reese Marketos LLP with Pete Marketos and Brad Gordon. He and his partners, along with talented associates hired from several large Dallas firms, focused on winning complex commercial cases. Their strategy worked as a string of high-profile victories followed.
Over the last several years, Reese has won many high-profile cases. While at his prior firm, Reese defended several insurers in an eight-year, multi-billion dollar class action that was featured on CBS Nightly News with Dan Rather. After successful wins in the Texas Supreme Court and the New Mexico state district court, plaintiffs dismissed all claims without receiving any payment from the defendants. Reese also defended two defendants in a high-profile lawsuit filed by billionaire T. Boone Pickens that was featured in a lengthy article in BusinessWeek. Reese was able to obtain a dismissal of the lawsuit through summary judgment, which was affirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2015, Reese won a jury verdict in a securities fraud case against a major securities broker after a three-week jury trial that was featured in the Dallas Morning News. In 2020, Reese settled two related high-profile oil and gas lawsuits for $13,850,000, which were approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers | 2025 | Commercial Litigation |
Reese’s cases have changed Texas law. Reese was lead trial counsel responsible for securing the seminal Texas Supreme Court opinion concerning the discovery of electronically stored information (“ESI”) in In Re Weekley Homes, L.P., 295 S.W.3d 309 (Tex. 2009). Reese’s cases have also established standards in Texas for class actions and real property nuisance claims.