<\/p>\n
Tillotson and Patton partner Mollie Mallory.<\/p>\n
Courtesy Tillotson Patton<\/p>\n
From youthful debates to co-counseling high-stakes injury litigation with her brother, Tillotson Patton partner Mollie Mallory was made for the courtroom.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI was the 13-year-old girl who everybody said, \u2018You should be a lawyer,\u2019 probably meaning it as an insult because I argued too much,\u201d Mallory told The Texas Lawbook.<\/p>\n
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Molly Mallor, a partner with Tillotson Patton law firm in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Courtesy Tillotson Patton<\/p>\n
Litigation practice seems to run in the family. Her grandfather and uncle, both litigators, were inspirational figures in her life.<\/p>\n
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After graduating from Baylor University with her bachelor\u2019s degree in English and philosophy in 2018, Mallory earned a law degree from Baylor in 2021.<\/p>\n
Her brother, Boston Mallory, is an attorney in Houston. The siblings are working together as co-counsel for the family of an All Saints Episcopal School student who was allegedly forced to stand and walk by school administrators after suffering three fractured vertebrae from an on-campus assault.<\/p>\n
Mallory hopes they can team up on more cases in the future.<\/p>\n
After graduation, Mallory spent a year at Cooper & Scully before joining Tillotson Patton in Dallas, where she found a mentor in firm co-founder Jeff Tillotson.<\/p>\n
\u201cJeff has just been a champion of me. He is so good at promoting young people and making sure we get good experiences,\u201d Mallory said.<\/p>\n
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She added that the firm\u2019s collaborative approach to trials is a key to its success. \u201cThey\u2019re really good at making it not feel like you have a first or second chair,\u201d Mallory said. \u201cI think those are the most successful trial teams\u00a0\u2014 where the jury sees you\u2019re all a team. And we\u2019re really good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mallory recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to discuss her first trial and her favorite Dallas restaurants. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
What trends are you seeing in your practice area?<\/p>\n
The obvious one is that everybody is wondering how to use artificial intelligence. Other than that, I think the thing that I\u2019m seeing really get hot in litigation is everything surrounding data centers. It feels like real estate in Dallas is becoming inundated with these data center issues, and that\u2019s all starting to come up in litigation\u00a0\u2014 where we put them, how we use them. It\u2019s beyond just the way that AI is being used in litigation; AI is becoming the center of disputes.<\/p>\n
Another thing that we\u2019ve seen a ton of this year is noncompete litigation. It seems like those cases are coming from everywhere. It\u2019s people litigating noncompetes\u00a0\u2014 even in the AI space and the tech world, so many startups have these noncompete agreements with their employees and then want to litigate after the employees leave more than we\u2019ve seen in the past.<\/p>\n
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What was your first trial?<\/p>\n
My first trial was with Jon Patton, and it was a dispute over a promissory note. It was the perfect first trial because it was a really simple case, but it was super interesting. The facts were fascinating. It was against Gene Phillips\u2019 estate, who was a big real estate tycoon. We represented [Phillips\u2019] girlfriend. We just made it a really simple case. We cut through all the noise, and after a two- or three-day trial, the jury went back to deliberate. You\u2019re never more nervous than when a jury\u2019s deliberating, no matter what. And 12 minutes after they went back to deliberate, they came back and returned a verdict for us. Jon and I were so excited, and our client was so excited. It was the perfect feeling. It was a short, perfect first trial on a simple issue, and we won. So can\u2019t be mad about that. That was four years ago.<\/p>\n
What were your takeaways clerking for Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cureton and U.S. District Judge Alan Albright?<\/p>\n
I would recommend to anyone in law school to work for a judge, whether it\u2019s a state court judge in the area where you think you\u2019re going to be or a federal court judge if you can \u2014 never reject that opportunity, because federal judges are just so good at showing you everything that really a young lawyer needs to see. You get to do legitimate drafting, legitimate research. You get to sit in court and actually see great lawyers argue. You get to see some bad lawyers argue. It was the first time that I was like, \u201cThis is what the practice looks like.\u201d Plus, getting to be in a judge\u2019s chambers and see what happens behind the scenes and how they think about things totally shapes the way that you practice. You can see that this judge would not care if I threw a little fit at the beginning of my motion \u2014 they don\u2019t care about that kind of stuff. They want to see what does the law say? How do my facts apply to it? And this is why you should grant my motion. I think that\u2019s just invaluable for young people. I wish I could go do it again. It was just so fun, too. It was a really irreplaceable experience.<\/p>\n
What is it like working with your brother?<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s really fun. I think we both always contemplated that we wanted to practice together at some point. It works out well because he\u2019s in Houston and I\u2019m in Dallas, so I think there\u2019s a good separation there. But when I got the All Saints case, it seemed like a natural fit. He does purely personal injury plaintiff work, so he has the resources and understanding of how that world works. Our firm does some of that, but not a lot. I had been calling him and calling him and talking about the case, and he was like, \u201cLet\u2019s just work on this together.\u201d And of course, Jeff Tillotson was like, \u201cAbsolutely. Let\u2019s partner with him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We had depositions in that case last week, and we were calling and texting on breaks. It\u2019s a really fun dynamic, because I think I found that we work really well together professionally. I hope that we get to work together more in the future, because it\u2019s fun to have that person that you trust so much be your sounding board for ideas. We\u2019re having a really good time doing it. It\u2019s a blast.<\/p>\n
What is a memorable moment or experience in your career?<\/p>\n
I think that the most memorable experience so far was this February after I had been in a mediation all day. I came back to the office, and Jeff says, \u201cCome down to see me when you get back.\u201d I go down there, and he says, \u201cWe took on a client an hour ago. It\u2019s a group of people. They left their company, and their company got an ex parte TRO, and the hearing is tomorrow. They really need our help. The hearing\u2019s tomorrow, and I can\u2019t be there. You\u2019re going to need to go do it by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
So the clients come later that day, and we meet with them for a few hours. We figure out that if these people lose this temporary injunction hearing, they aren\u2019t going to be able to work. They aren\u2019t going to be able to provide for their families. They are the sole breadwinners who really are living paycheck-to-paycheck already. And if this injunction is entered, they can\u2019t go do the only thing that they know how to do to make money. So the pressure was on a little bit.<\/p>\n
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Starting the next morning, we had an all-day injunction hearing with seven witnesses\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s just me and Pearce Illmer, one of our associates. When we finish the plaintiff\u2019s case, the judge just says, \u201cI\u2019m denying the injunction.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was so happy; it was probably the happiest I\u2019ve ever been in a courtroom, because the clients were elated. They had felt so beaten down by the fact that the company was able to get an ex parte TRO\u00a0\u2014 the company was able to do this and make these accusations against them\u00a0\u2014 and then to have the judge right there say, \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be an injunction; you\u2019ve won.\u201d I\u2019m not a big hugger, but they all hugged me after, and I was like, \u201cYou guys are allowed to hug me because I\u2019m also so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was one of those fun, very Tillotson Patton moments where we take something the day before and don\u2019t have very long to prepare, and you go and do everything you can to win. That\u2019s what the clients deserve\u00a0\u2014 that type of advocacy. It was really fun. I think that\u2019s been my favorite and most recent memory. We do lots of fun stuff here.<\/p>\n
Do you have a pre-trial ritual?<\/p>\n
I do. I\u2019m a big believer in it. I wake up at like 4 a.m. when I have trial, no matter what. It bothers some of my co-trial teams because I\u2019m always emailing or texting a lot the morning of trial. I like to get up really early so I have a mini day before trial. And then music\u00a0\u2014 I like \u201cCocky\u201d by Gucci Mane; it\u2019s my favorite confidence song. Chappell Roan right now is a big one. And any party music\u00a0\u2014 a John Summit playlist, something with like a lot of beat to it, really loud in your car.<\/p>\n
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Getting up and having a mini day, face mask, breakfast, multiple coffees\u00a0\u2014 really get in the zone. I\u2019m a big, big believer in that. Giving yourself the time.<\/p>\n
Do you have a post-trial celebration spot?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re big on getting immediately back to work after trial. I don\u2019t typically take any time off. We finish trials in the morning and then come back in the afternoon and are immediately working on more cases. It\u2019s good, in a way, to immediately move forward. That way, win or lose, whatever the outcome may be, I have to focus on my other clients. I feel like breaks come when they come. For example, I\u2019m going on vacation next week. It\u2019s not correlated with anything. I find it\u2019s best that way, so that you\u2019re not running full steam with the intent of being off for a week or a month.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m big on immediately starting to focus on something else. But we definitely like to celebrate. It\u2019s a small firm. We\u2019re all good friends, in addition to being colleagues. And we like to do what I would call a postmortem to talk about it and have a drink, and then we get on to the next thing.<\/p>\n
What are some of your hobbies?<\/p>\n
I love eating and drinking. I feel like that\u2019s everybody in Dallas\u2019 go-to answer because we have so many good restaurants here and fun places to be. But my mom was an art teacher growing up, so when I can, I like to draw and paint. I love messing around in my house. I would never call myself an interior designer, because they would come for me. I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not very good, but I do love making sure that home is a fun, cozy place to be. We have two dogs. I try to see friends who are not in the legal field as much as possible, because it\u2019s a good reality check.<\/p>\n
Do you have a favorite restaurant in Dallas?<\/p>\n
At the moment, I would say it\u2019s E Bar. It\u2019s really good, super casual Tex-Mex. They have a really good margarita. I\u2019m also a total sucker for Honor Bar in Highland Park. I love sitting on the porch there whenever it\u2019s not 109 degrees outside. We love everything in Lower Greenville, too. Dallas has so much good food right now. It just keeps coming and coming.<\/p>\n
Who or what inspires you?<\/p>\n
My dad probably inspires me the most. He was so good growing up at making sure that we were instilled, my brother and I, with really strong ethics but also grounded in understanding that your friends and family really come first. If you keep that all in line, everything will always work out, because you\u2019ll always have your circle at home. And then if you treat your professional life right, you\u2019ll have your circle there, too.<\/p>\n
Dad always worked really hard to support us, and I think that is what has pushed me to keep going and want more from myself, because he\u2019s always been such a champion of me.<\/p>\n
And then I always say that I would love to see my grandpa and my uncle in a trial. They obviously inspired part of whatever this is for both me and my brother. I think my inspiration is rooted in family more than anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tillotson and Patton partner Mollie Mallory. Courtesy Tillotson Patton From youthful debates to co-counseling high-stakes injury litigation with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-446200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}