Schmoyer Reinhard, LLP is pleased to announce Laura C. Emadi and William R. Liles have joined the firm as associate and counsel respectively in their San Antonio office.

Laura Emadi: Ms. Emadi’s practice includes representing management in all aspects of labor and employment law in both federal and state courts. Prior to working in labor and employment law, Ms. Emadi began her legal career in personal injury with a firm in Austin, Texas, before returning to San Antonio in 2018, where she practiced commercial and business litigation.

Ms. Emadi received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in 2011. After graduation she moved to San Antonio, where she spent three years teaching middle school and high school math at a disciplinary school. In 2014, she and her husband moved to Austin where she attended the University of Texas School of Law, which she graduated from in 2017. During law school, Ms. Emadi worked as the senior law clerk for the Travis County Attorney’s Office in its Criminal Appellate division.

William Liles: Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Liles spent four years as an associate with a Houston law firm litigating Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour cases across the country.

Mr. Liles’ practice encompasses all aspects of labor and employment law with a particular emphasis on wage and hour litigation, including both the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour law. An active trial lawyer, he has served as the first chair trial attorney on numerous cases through verdict. He regularly litigates in both federal and state court and in private arbitrations throughout the United States. Because not all cases need or even should be tried to verdict, Mr. Liles has also negotiated and obtained final court approval of multi-million dollar settlements involving thousands of wage and hour class and collective members.

Prior to working in labor and employment law, Mr. Liles had extensive civil litigation experience throughout South Texas, Corpus Christi, and Houston. Mr. Liles represented clients in civil contract disputes, construction defect cases, products liability, and personal injury claims. Just six months out of law school, Mr. Liles was the first chair trial attorney for a plaintiff-side personal injury trial that resulted in the ninth highest motor vehicle verdict in Texas for that year.

Mr. Liles obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Prior to law school, he taught English as a second language in Santiago, Chile for a year. He also participated as a crew member in the Transpacific Yacht Race, racing a sailboat from Long Beach, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Liles obtained his law degree from Baylor University in 2012, where he was admitted to the Order of the Barrister for outstanding oral advocacy. Mr. Liles and his wife now live in Houston where they are raising their two daughters.