ANDREW C. SCHIRRMEISTER III

Career Highlights 
Andrew Schirrmeister has over twenty-three years of experience in civil litigation in the state and federal trial courts in Texas and throughout the United States.  Andrew is experienced at every stage of a lawsuit -- from the earliest case analysis through discovery to trial before a judge or jury.  Andrew’s practice encompasses business and fiduciary litigation, including numerous matters involving all aspects of business and commercial disputes as well as professional malpractice.  Andrew also has unparalleled experience in products liability and toxic tort litigation and serves as national counsel to DuPont in its benzene litigation and in its Kapton7 automotive diaphragm litigation.  Andrew has also developed an extensive international practice representing Mexican and Latin American clients in litigation and business affairs in the United States.  Among Mr. Schirrmeister’s successes are: 

• Acting as national counsel for E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the defense of suits claiming personal injury and property damage from exposure to benzene and benzene-containing products.  Andrew is currently handling cases in Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Illinois, California, Arkansas and Washington.
• Winning the first trace benzene case tried by the automotive paint industry.  Andrew defended DuPont in an acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) wrongful death suit brought by the survivors of an auto body technician.  After a three week trial, the jury returned a no liability verdict.  This trial victory was the subject of a front page article in the December 2, 2002 issue of the National Law Journal.
• Acting as national counsel for E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in its Kapton7 automotive diaphragm litigation.  Andrew is currently handling cases in Texas, Tennessee, California, Oklahoma and Georgia.
• Obtaining a seven figure lost profits jury verdict and replica parts manufacturer against a national distributor for breach of an exclusive distribution and supply contract.
• Obtaining a $2,625,000.00 settlement from Akin Gump in a case involving breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting violations of the Texas Securities Acts.  [Click here for a PDF version of the front page of the Texas Lawyer article on this case.]
• Defending a Fortune 500 U.S. based multi-national company in a suit for breach of an employment agreement and age discrimination suit brought by the former Director of the client’s European operations.
• Defending British and Mexican corporations in a suit arising from a fire in a bonded warehouse in Laredo, Texas.
• Defending a Mexican airline in a lawsuit that arose following a plane crash along the Mexico-Texas border.
• Representing six defendants in a case involving a cluster of birth defects involving allegations that air and water emissions from Mexican maquiladoras caused a cluster of spina bifida and anencephaly among Texas children.
• Representing owners and operators of refineries and chemical plants in occupational exposure cases involving benzene, silica, vinyl chloride, naphtha, propylene, ammonia, formaldehyde and “toxic soup.”
• Defending class action and individual asbestos personal injury and property damage claims alleging asbestosis, cancer, mesothelioma and pulmonary fibrosis.
• Representing a large Houston refinery in a nuisance action based on “noise” brought by plant neighbors.
   

Andrew graduated magna cum lade from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 with a B.A. and M.A. in Comparative Politics.  During college, Mr. Schirrmeister took a one year sabbatical and traveled extensively on his own throughout West Africa, visiting Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso (f/k/a Upper Volta) and the Ivory Coast.  He then spent six months teaching English to high school students at Lycee Alaine Chartier in Bayeux, France.  After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he sat for and passed both the written and oral sections of the Foreign Service Examination.  While waiting for an appointment to the Foreign Service, he worked in Washington, D.C. as a speechwriter for the Republican National Committee.  In the early Spring of 1980, he accepted a position as press secretary for the Symms for Senate campaign.  Andrew moved to Idaho where he was Steve Symms’ press secretary.  Following Steve Symms’ election to the U.S. Senate in 1980, Mr. Schirrmeister was the youngest press secretary to serve in the United States Senate.  Andrew then entered the University of Virginia Law School from which he graduated in 1984. 

Following graduation, Mr. Schirrmeister joined Baker Botts LLP where he was an Associate for seven years and admitted as a full equity partner in 1991.  Mr. Schirrmeister practiced at Baker Botts until June 1, 1994 when he resigned to form his own firm. 

Mr. Schirrmeister and his wife, Olivia, have three children:  Clare (19), Grace (15) and Andy (13).  They worship at St. Anne’s Church.