About the Alex R. Hernandez Jr. PLLC Law Office

• Family Law
• Criminal Law

John A. Sopuch III is a trial lawyer with a history of winning some of the nation’s biggest verdicts. He joins Alex R. Hernandez Jr. PLLC Of Counsel in the business litigation and probate department.

In 2002, the National Law Journal recognized John’s nearly $43 million verdict (in Miami Cigar v. UST, et al., a business fraud case) as among the top 100 verdicts in the nation that year. In 2004, John did it again, with his $30 million verdict in a breach of contract case, Basic Capital Management Inc. v. Dynex Commercial, Inc.

Hailing from St. Louis, MO, John was born on March 21, 1965. Attending prep school at The St. Louis Priory, he went on to study at the University of Texas where he graduated in 1987. John received his law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1990. During law school, John was a member of the Law Review, a Dean’s Merit Scholar and he was selected to write for The Law Review’s California Supreme Court Survey. Also, John clerked for J.P. Vukasin, Jr., who was at the time, a federal district court judge in the Northern District of California, sitting in San Francisco.

Upon graduating from law school, John joined a boutique litigation firm of Bickel & Brewer, working at the firm’s Chicago offices. John remained at Bickel & Brewer until 1997, becoming, at the time, the youngest person to make partner at the firm.

John left Bickel & Brewer in 1997 and started his own firm – Sopuch Annett Higgins & Gaubert – with offices in Chicago and Dallas. With the growth of their practice/practice areas, in 2002 John and his partners opened an affiliated office, Moore & Sopuch, in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, USVI.

In 1999 and again in 2001, John was appointed by Governor Charles W. Turbull of the USVI to be a Special Assistant Attorney General to aid the government of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue in several substantial pieces of litigation and favorably settled those matters for more than $10 million collectively.

In 2005, John left the firm he had been instrumental in founding and became Of Counsel to the Honolulu firm of Starn O’Toole Marcus & Fisher. During his time in Hawaii, John represented the widow of a man who had died with serious liver failure and was able to secure one of the highest settlements in a wrongful death case in the State of Hawaii.

Recently, John moved back to his hometown of Corpus Christi (grandparents were originally from this area) and joined Alex R. Hernandez Jr. PLLC, where his trial lawyering skills and list of verdicts for his clients add to the depth of talent at ARH LAW. John’s practice areas are focused on business litigation and other forms of commercial dispute resolution.

Phone: (713) 313-1019
Email: martina.cartwright@tmslaw.tsu.edu
Joined the faculty in 2011.

Education:
J.D., Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C., 1993
B.A., History, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, 1990
A.A., History, Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL, 1988

Courses Taught

Civil Trial Practice
Civil Law Clinic
Judicial Externship
Trial Simulation
Professional Responsibility

Biographical Information

• Associate Clinical Professor, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (2017-Present)
• Assistant Clinical Professor, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (2011-2017)
• Clinical Instructor, Managing Attorney, Wills, Probate & Guardianship Clinic, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (2008-2011)
• Managing Attorney/Interim Director, Environmental Law & Justice Clinic, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (2002-2008)
• Staff Attorney/Clinical Instructor, Caribbean Law Clinic, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (2001-2003)
• Staff Attorney/Clinical Instructor, Environmental Law & Justice Clinic, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, TX (1995-2001)

Publications

• Martina E. Cartwright, The Silver Tsunami: Aging Prisoners, Early Release, Guardianship and Prisoner Advocate Initiatives for Long Term Care Beyond the Prison Walls, 1 Touro Journal of Law & Aging 54 (2015)
• Martina E. Cartwright and Thelma Harmon, Fifty Plus Years and Counting: A History of Experiential Learning and Clinical Opportunities at Thurgood Marshall School of Law,  39 Thurgood Marshall Law Review 187 (2014)
• Martina E. Cartwright, Superfund: It’s No Longer Super and It Isn’t Much of a Fund, 18 Tulane Environmental Law Journal 299 (2005)
• Hankins, G. and Cartwright, M., The Pleasantville Fires. Danger in the Air: Toxic air in the Houston/Galveston Corridor, November, 1996.
• Cartwright, M., Pursuing Environmental Justice: Can Brownfields Redevelopment Co-Exist with Environmental Justice?, Program Materials for Key Environmental Issues in U.S. EPA Region V, June 24, 1999.

Affiliations

• Member, Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA)
• Member, REPTL Section, State Bar of Texas
• Member, LGBT Law Section, State Bar of Texas
• Board Member, Gulf Restoration Network (GRN)

• M.A. Legal Studies – Legal Studies
• Texas State University-San Marcos – San Marcos, TX
• B.A. English – English with Teacher Certification
• Texas A&M University, San Antonio – San Antonio, TX
• Licensed Realtor
• Notary Public

Office Assistant to Attorney Alex R. Hernandez Jr.
Educated at St. Mary’s University and the University of Maryland, Joseph Navarro is a US Army Reservist having spent the past 30 years in the US Army.
Mr. Navarro is the former office manager for Watts Guerra Craft where he handled the call center of a busy personal injury firm.
He also handled their busy mass torts docket. He worked for Thomas J. Henry as a paralegal for several years and brings 20 years of legal experience to the firm.
Military Veteran 

Phone (361) 792-3811 – Corpus Christi and San Antonio offices

• White Collar, Felony and Misdemeanors, DWI
• Legal Assistant to Alex R. Hernandez Jr.
• Legal Assistant for over 30 years

Phone (361) 792-3811 – Corpus Christi office

Mrs. Hernandez (Alex R. Hernandez Jr.’s mother) is the bookkeeper for the law firm. She has 40 years of legal and bookkeeping experience. She is semi-retired from the legal part of the firm instead of dealing with finances and bookkeeping.

Port Lavaca (361) 552-3100
402 W. Main St.
Port Lavaca, Texas 77979