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Meghan Doades joined the firm in 2013.  She was admitted to the Illinois Bar after earning her Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Since moving to Texas,  she is also admitted to the State Bar of Texas. Ms. Doades brought with her experience from the Business Enterprise Law Clinic, providing pro bono business and transactional services to persons with limited financial resources.. With this experience, Ms. Doades has become a trusted source for local businesses in providing the best full-service legal work from start-up to finish. Her dedication to helping businesses grow and ensure success is a longtime passion of Ms. Doades, who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. Her commitment to providing the best legal counsel extends to both for-profit and non-profit organizations.. Since working at Kilgore McCown, Ms. Doades has also gained legal experience with regulatory compliance cases dealing with the Department of Transportation. She has worked on numerous cases involving regulations related to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).. Ms. Doades currently serves as the Vice Justice of the Phi Alpha Delta Dallas Alumni Chapter.

Matthew Tadlock was born in Dallas, but raised in Fort Worth. He studied political science at Baylor University and proceeded to the University of Tulsa College of Law, which was a natural fit. His love of learning and travel lead him to study abroad in Ireland and Austria, where he was taught by the United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy & studied European and International Business Law at the University of Vienna.. Passionate about practicing law in Texas, Matt made is way back home so he could serve the community that had set him up so well to succeed in life. Matthew strives to give back to the community and is passionate about helping business owners and real estate investors reach financial freedom and security to experience the awe inspiring gift of changing the world.. Mr. Tadlock serves as a board member for Shears of Hope, a charity that helps those experiencing cancer. Matthew has, with the help of friends and colleagues, been able to raise funds for Operation Underground Railroad, to save children from sex trafficking, raise over 70,000 meals towards , and he and his wife sponsor a child and her family through Compassion International.. In his spare time Matthew enjoys spending time with his wife and son, hunting, fishing, camping, traveling, reading, and attending Gateway Church.

Business attorney with comprehensive litigation and transactional experience and twenty years of corporate and business law experience having successfully represented Fortune 100 companies and the smallest start-ups. Core capabilities include: business and commercial litigation, domestic and international business transactions, intellectual property and brand protection, contracts and licensing, business formation and corporate governance, real estate, employment, software and emerging technology as well as strategic development for entrepreneurs, start-ups and emerging growth companies

Family oriented and enjoy sports.  Been involved in youth coaching for over 25 years.

R. Scott Peden is an experienced business attorney and educator with over 30 years of corporate and business experience including contract and document drafting, employment agreements, entity formation, copyright and trademark protection, business litigation and negotiations, debt claims, evictions, succession planning, buying and selling a business, real estate and regulatory compliance.  Mr. Peden also has an entertainment law practice and has been a professional musician for over 25 years.  He has been married for fifteen years to a wonderfully talented musician and has two children who are also talented musicians.

Sam’s vast experience in twenty years of practice spans the gamut from important business litigation matters to major business transactions.  Sam began his career as a clerk for a federal judge in Manhattan before joining a major Wall Street firm where he drafted the first settlement agreement in the history of the tobacco industry.  Since that time, he has worked on significant business transactions across the spectrum, including the sale of a multi-billion dollar electronics business and the representation of the purchaser of an NBA franchise.  He has also represented owners and developers of various kinds of commercial real estate projects, including the financing of more than one billion dollars of multifamily housing projects financed with tax-exempt bonds.. Sam represents clients in corporate and business transactions of virtually every variety.  In addition to counseling clients on a day-to-day basis in connection with the ongoing operation of their businesses, Sam is routinely called to upon to handle the most important business transactions of the firm’s clients. His practice includes mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of various asset classes, private equity and financing transactions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, as well as the formation and structuring of companies and partnerships, and the negotiation of business deals and entity agreements.. Sam also represents owners, developers, and investors in sophisticated and complex real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions; development and construction; leasing; lending and finance; partnerships, joint ventures and funds; and land use. He has substantial experience in financing projects with tax-exempt bonds, having represented clients in dozens of such transactions.  He is often called upon by clients for creative and practical advice in connection with restructuring existing deals and financings and resolving difficult loan, partnership, and guaranty issues.. Sam’s extensive experience extends beyond the courtroom to the boardroom.  As a former general counsel and executive vice president to a group of privately-held companies in the insurance, financial services, and benefit enrollment industries, he possesses unique insight into the concerns and priorities his clients face on a daily basis.  Sam takes these concerns into account when developing deal  strategies and advising his clients.. Samuel Mills received his Juris Doctor degree in 1995 from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and served as Notes Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He is the author of “Toward an Equitable After-Acquired Evidence Rule,” 94 Columbia Law Review 1525-57 (1994), which was a 1994 recipient of the Negroni Prize.  Graduating 4th in his class, Sam received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and religion magna cum laude in 1988 from Baylor University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Mills also received his Master of Arts degree in history from Baylor University in 1990, where he served as a Francis G. Guittard Fellow.. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Mills served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Summit Alliance Companies in Dallas, Texas.  Prior to joining the Summit Alliance Companies, Mr. Mills practiced with the international law firms of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Dallas. From 1995 through 1996, Mr. Mills served as a law clerk to the Honorable Denise Cote, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York in 1995-96.  Mr. Mills is admitted to practice in New York and Texas. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1965.. Sam’s clients  have included publicly-traded companies,  individual entrepreneurs, investors, lenders, borrowers, private business owners, and executives in a variety of industries.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Toby has been a Texan since 1986.  After graduating from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Toby attended law school at South Texas College of Law, where his studies concentrated on trial advocacy.. Toby has been helping both individuals and businesses for more than a decade, in Texas and beyond.  Whether representing individuals or businesses, Toby’s litigation background proves invaluable in guiding clients through complex disputes.  Toby assists business clients – beginning with entity formation and developing business-specific operating agreements – in building a solid foundation for extended business growth.  Through strategic planning and risk analysis, Toby works closely with his clients as they grow and prosper.  And, as a company grows and develops, Toby provides continued guidance and risk assessment in a variety of business transactions, investments and disputes.  Given his extensive litigation experience and background, Toby can also successfully guide his clients through the challenges they face when some disputes require the filing of a lawsuit.  No stranger to the courthouse, Toby has successfully litigated many cases in both state and federal courts on behalf of his clients.. In appreciation for his efforts and skill, Toby was selected in 2009 by his peers and clients as one of Houston’s Top “Lawyers for the People” in H Texas Magazine.. In 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, Toby was also recognized by Texas Monthly magazine as a Rising Star in the legal profession.  Less than 2.5% of the attorneys in the state of Texas have been recognized as a Rising Star.. Toby was again recognized in 2013 and 2014 by H Texas Magazine as one of Houston’s Top Lawyers handling matters involving civil litigation.. In 2013, Toby was proud to be inducted as a Life Member in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum as well as the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, organizations which recognize the top trial attorneys throughout the United States who have achieved outstanding results for their clients.  Fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers belong to this prestigious group.. Toby’s practice since being licensed has focused on litigation and business consulting.. At home, Toby is the proud father to three energetic boys, and he is the husband to an amazing and busy wife.  In addition to his practice, Toby also serves as a Sunday School teacher at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, a Member on the River Oaks Elementary Shared Decision Making Committee and as a baseball coach for his sons’ youth baseball teams.. Toby’s other practice-specific websites can be found at:

Holistic, client-focused legal services.. Clients' needs and objectives rarely fit into one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter boxes.  The first step is listening carefully and asking the right questions, to understand what the client's needs and objectives really are.. Often, approaching a task from a new or different perspective, can save time, reduce conflict, and reduce expenses.. Many lawyers promise outside-the-box, novel thinking.  In reality, few deliver.. My track record of service to clients, over the years, demonstrates original and novel thinking, combined with thorough preparation, in case after case.. Indeed, one publication, commenting on a routine motion that I recently filed in federal court, went so far as to describe my approach in one intellectual property case as "very powerful" and so "potent," that "every paragraph is worth quoting.". I view the attorney's role as a problem-solver, not as a problem maker.. My primary objective, whenever reasonably possible, is to promote understanding and communication, and to help develop effective strategies to make difficult problems and situations tractable, and to bring solutions within reach.. Once resource well worth reading, even if you are my opposing counsel, is Robert Axelrod's book The Evolution of Cooperation.  My premise, starting any negotiation or case, is that the other side will usually be more inclined to "cooperate" (i.e., find a fair, win-win solution) rather than to "defect," (i.e., to demand more than their fair share), and to begin the process by seeking to find a cooperative solution.  Cooperators, when they find one another, and get a chance to cooperate, tend to be mutual "winners" in just about every ecosystem.. What happens, instead, when the litigation or negotiation counterparties are unreasonable, selfish, and (in Axelrod's terms) defectors?  Well, those cases are the exception rather than the rule, but such cases can and do happen.. When necessary, it is also important to be prepared and willing to go the distance and to present the strongest case possible, whether in court, in a private negotiation, or in an ADR proceeding.  It does not please me, for instance, to seek sanctions against another lawyer for overstepping the bounds of proper conduct.  But when appropriate and necessary, precisely for the purpose of promoting future cooperation, I have sought and won sanctions against unreasonble litigation opponents.. For instance, in one recent probate case, I secured several thousand dollars in sanctions to reimburse my clients for at least part of what they spent defending against a weak case filed by some Michigan (their emphasis) "Superlawyers."  The highest praise one can get in this profession, is when the result you obtain for your client is so favorable, and the other side learns so much from that result, that they later refer a case to you or even hire you.. Thanks, "Superlawyers;" I hope we can do business together as friends in the future.  Likewise, when representing an entertainment client, in one case I secured a result so favorable for my client (the other side not only paid the entire debt we demanded, plus my entire fee, plus the fee of an arbitrator) that the former opponent later hired me to handle a contested case involving a very large building in downtown Detroit.  Subsequently, when that music client has money to collect, generally the client does not even have to pay me fees; the story of what happened in the prior case tends to be so memorable, that collection issues for that client rarely last more than a few days.. In another case, most of a client's expenses defending against what reasonably was viewed by both a judge and by my client, as a meritless suit, were reimbursed.  The other side in that case was represented by one or more attorneys then working in a law office that subsequently became a local branch of a statewide law firm.. The bottom line is that cooperation and negotiation are all the more successful, and produce more lasting results, when the counterparty in each process fully understands that their best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA), seeRoger Fisher, William L. Ury & Bruce Patton, Getting to YES (Houghton Mifflin, ed., 2nd ed. 1991), is vastly less attractive, objectively speaking, than a fair and reasonable, negotiated, outcome.. This is not to promise that you will necessarily enjoy the same results as the examples referenced above.  Each case and each representation involves its own facts and its own issues.  But when I choose to take on your matter, it is always my intention to give you nothing less than my best service.