Attorney Bios

Joe Barlow

 

Joe Dee Barlow is a partner in Barlow Jones, LLP the oldest, and one of the most respected law firms in Bay Area Houston.  He launched the firm in 1967 under the name Jordan, Davis and Barlow and watched the company grow over the years to include other partners and areas of expertise.  Today, the attorneys at Barlow Jones, LLP have 100 plus years of collective experience in general civil practice ranging from family law to real estate and civil litigation for all sorts of business entities.  Additionally, the firm offers appellate services in state and federal courts, as well as estate planning, wills and military law.

Throughout his nearly four-decade career in the legal industry, Barlow has specialized in numerous areas.  He has more than 25 years experience in banking, helping to prepare loan documentation materials, structuring business loans for banks and serving as a third-party consultant for lender liability and litigation matters.  Through his corporate/partnership expertise, Barlow helps clients set up their business structure, whether corporation, limited partnership, joint venture or more. 

 

He has spent more than 30 years preparing documentation for residential and commercial real estate transactions.  Other real estate specialties include setting up homeowner’s associations, preparing deed restrictions, as well as securing financing for owner/borrowers from both in-state and out-of-state lenders.  Finally, Barlow has played a key role in real estate development, assisting developers in site selections for office buildings, shopping centers, business parks, residential subdivisions, and office warehouses.  In fact, his work in real estate prompted him to purchase ownership in 10 real estate properties in the Bay Area Houston area, including general office buildings, professional buildings, office warehouses and raw land.

 

Among the many clients that have benefited from retaining Barlow as counsel include Phillips/Conoco-66 Federal Credit Union (Oklahoma), Sterling Bank, Amegy Bank, LandAmerica Commonwealth Title Company and Harborwalk. Development, Patriot Bank, and Baywind Village Convalescent Center (nursing home).

 

Barlow is a strong believer in giving back to his community.  One of his most noted achievements in the Bay Area Houston region was helping to spearhead the creation of an independent civic organization dedicated to addressing development issues facing the growing community.  In 1987, he teamed up with other talented individuals in the community to create the Clear Lake Area Economic Development Foundation (now known as the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership).  This nonprofit organization promotes the growth of the Bay Area Houston region through the retention, expansion and recruitment of jobs in target industries, including aerospace engineering, bioscience/biotechnology, chemicals/plastics, information technology and communications.  Barlow has previously served as chairman of the board.

 

Some of his philanthropic endeavors include serving as president of the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as chairman of the board of trustees for Clear Lake Regional Hospital and Vice Chairman of
Clear Creek Education Foundation. Currently, is a member of the Houston Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, and Texas Association of Bank Counsel, and is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, 2006.  From 1958 to 1966, he also served on the Texas National Guard.

 

A seventh generation Texan with Ottawa Indian ancestry, Barlow earned a bachelor of science in speech communications from Texas Tech University in 1963.  He later attended the University of Houston College of Law and graduated with his juris doctorate degree in 1966.  That same year, he was admitted to the Texas Bar and the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas. 

 

Joe has been married for 42 years and has two grown daughters.  He and his wife reside in Friendswood, Texas.

 

Joe Dee Barlow enjoys Martindale Hubbell's highest AV rating. He is a member of the College of The State Bar of Texas since 2006.

[ Click here to download complete resume (pdf) ]

 

 

Robert A. Jones

 

Another graduate of the University of Houston, Robert A. Jones served as the Editor of the university’s Law Review until he received his law degree in 1980.  His legal expertise extends beyond family law to include Environmental Litigation, Product Liability, Commercial Litigation, and Personal Injury law.  Mr. Jones is licensed to practice law throughout Texas, and is qualified to present cases to several U.S. Courts of Appeals as well as the Supreme Court. 

 

Robert A. Jones is a member of the Houston Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the Association of Trial Lawyers, and the American Bar Association.  In addition to his professional associations, Mr. Jones also gives back to the community by serving as a Director of the Christian Child Help Foundation, and as a member of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.

[ Click here to download complete resume (pdf) ]

 

Craig W. Saunders

Craig W. Saunders was born in Kittery Point Maine, on November 12, 1969. Craig attended college at Texas A&M University, graduating in 1992 with a B.A. in Speech Communication & Journalism. Following college, Craig worked for a Dallas-Fort Worth area barbeque restaurant. Craig attended law school at St. Mary’s University school of law, where he was published in the St. Mary’s Law Journal and served as an Articles Editor in his final year. He graduated in 2000 and was licensed that same year.

 

Craig began his legal career at Hill Gilstrap in Arlington, Texas. He moved to Houston in 2002 and worked for Bateman Pugh until 2005. In 2005, Craig started a solo practice and joined the firm in 2007. His current practice includes transactional work, litigation and appeals. During his career, Craig has first-chaired several trials and has successfully won multiple cases on summary judgment.

 

Craig is active in the State Bar. He is a member of the Construction, Appellate, Litigation and Real Estate/Probate/Trust sections and a member of the Real Estate Legislative Affairs Committee, which summarizes and reports on pertinent state legislation affecting real estate and financing laws. He is also a member of the Texas State Bar College.

 

Outside of the firm, Craig is active in the Bay Area Economic Partnership, serving on the Annual Banquet Committee. He is also active in his church. Craig is married to Denise Saunders. They enjoy traveling together, especially to the Texas Hill country and the California Central Coast.

 

Billy R. Smith

 

Billy R. Smith is married with five children, five grandchildren, two dogs, two cats and a parrot, a resident of Friendswood, a native Texan, a graduate of Texas A & M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and the University of Houston Bates College of Law with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree.

 

Mr. Smith has practiced law in Clear Lake City since 1970, concentrating his practice in the areas of real estate transactions (acquisitions, sales, financing, leasing, etc.), wills, trusts, advance directives, legal concerns of the elderly, probate, guardianships and formation and representation of business entities such as corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and proprietorships.

 

Mr. Smith is an adjunct professor of legal studies at the University of Houston — Clear Lake campus. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, a charter member of the Texas Aggie Bar Association, a member of the Texas Academy of Probate and Estate Counsel, a Lay Eucharistic Minister at the Church of the Ascension Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas, a past President of Space Center Rotary Club, past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Space Center Rotary Club Endowment Foundation (10 yrs.) and a former director of The Bridge Women's Shelter. Mr. Smith is Board Certified in Estate Planning & Probate Law and in Commercial & Residential Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is licensed to practice in all areas of the law in the State of Texas by the Texas Supreme Court and all Texas State Courts.

 

As a member of the State Bar College, Mr. Smith is one of only about 6% of the total membership of the Texas Bar, who has qualified. College members are among the best professionals in the State. The best informed of the Bar include not only some of the best attorneys in the State Bar and many judges serving district and appellate courts, but also numerous individuals who have received their specialization certificates from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

 

On the recommendation of his peers, Mr. Smith has been awarded the highest rating of "AV" by Martindale -Hubble legal directories for ability and reputation. In addition to his own solo practice, Mr. Smith is Of Counsel to the law firm of Barlow Jones, LLP in Houston (Clear Lake).

 

Richard H. Edelman

 

2008 - present Of Counsel, Barlow Jones, L.L.P., Houston, Texas Commercial litigation, appeals, and mediation.

1995 - 2008 Justice and Senior (retired) Justice Fourteenth Court of Appeals, Houston, Texas. Authored over 700 opinions on the merits in civil and criminal cases; participated as a panel member in over 1400 other cases (authoring over 100 concurring and dissenting opinions in those cases) and in hundreds of other per curiam opinions, dismissal orders, and original (mandamus and habeas corpus) proceedings.

 

1990 - 94 Partner, Harris & Quinn, Houston, Texas Associate, Harris & Westmoreland, Houston, Texas Commercial litigation, appeals, mediation, and arbitration.

 

1988 - 89 Consultant, Litigation Management, Inc., Houston, Texas Production of databases for indexing and retrieval of discovery information.

 

1981 - 87 Associate, Andrews & Kurth, Houston, Texas Income tax planning; income tax, probate, contract, product liability, and natural gas pipeline litigation.

 

1976 - 78 Tax Accountant, Arthur Andersen & Co., Houston Texas CPA certificate earned in 1978. EDUCATION University of Texas at Austin J.D. with honors, 1981 B.B.A. (Accounting) with honors, 1976

 

Marilyn J. Reeves

After graduating from South Texas College of Law in July of 2007, and receiving her license to practice law in early 2008, Marilyn began as a solo practitioner in June, 2008. She is developing her legal endeavors with an emphasis on Elder Law and is certified by the State bar to be appointed as an attorney ad litem in guardianship proceedings. Marilyn is a member of the American Bar Association, the Houston Bar Association and the Galveston County Bar Association.

 

Tamara Anderson

 

Tamara Leigh Manning Anderson is a founding partner in the law firm of Anderson & Anderson, a real estate and intellectual property firm. She has a passion for property law and focuses her personal practice on commercial real estate and associated corporate and partnership transactional work. Her principal clients are owners, developers and investors, whom she has represented on projects in over twenty Texas counties. Tamara has extensive experience with complex purchase/sale and lease agreement drafting; contract negotiation; conveyance documents and land title issues; partnership and joint venture agreements; §1031 exchanges; commercial loan packages; construction, finance, and development matters. She has experience with a diverse range of real estate projects including single and multi-tenant office and medical buildings, retail centers, multi-use commercial and residential subdivisions, build-to-suit development, construction disputes, and national tenant leases.

 

Tamara owned and managed one of the few profitable "fee attorney" operations in the Clear Lake Bay Area, personally closing over five hundred commercial and residential transactions d/b/a American Title Company of Houston. She was a speaker and author for the University of Houston Law Foundation continuing legal education program for over ten years, speaking and writing on real estate topics including title defects and title insurance, due diligence and review, and document drafting.

 

Tamara represents owners in purchase and sale negotiations with all size developers and operators, such as Wal-Mart, Friendswood Development, Gables, Carbon Development, US Homes, Vista Host (a Marriott & Hilton Developer), Dell Computers, Quorum Equities, Catholic Diocese of Houston, and Palisades Developers. She represents owners in lease negotiations with national and global tenants which have included Memorial Hermann, Columbia/HCA, Tractor Supply, CDI Engineering, Starbucks, FedEx Kinkos, Walgreens, PPG Industries, Carrier, American Railcar, Sherwin-Williams, Verizon, United Rentals, Bison Building Materials, Brinker franchisees, Fuddruckers, Golden Corral, Noodles, and national and regional banks.

 

Tamara is active in her church and community, and is married to Bill Anderson, an aerospace engineer and patent attorney. They have two beautiful daughters: an honor student in grade school and a civil and architectural engineering major in college.

 

J. W. "Bill" Lowes, III

J. W. "Bill" Lowes, III is a native Houstonian, graduated from Texas A&M, University of Houston Law School. He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1971 and has been in private practice since 1972. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association, College of the State Bar of Texas, and Houston Bar Association. He has practiced in the Clear Lake area since 1975 and has an extensive background in real estate and family law.

 

Mr. Lowes practice is now concentrated primarily in asset protection, estate planning, probate, business organizations and bankruptcy law.