By Chambers USA placed Todd Mensing in Band One for general commercial litigation in Texas in its 2026 guide, the highest tier the directory assigns within a practice area and state. The move lifts Mensing, a name partner at the Houston and Dallas trial boutique Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, into a group that Texas general counsel treat as a short list when a dispute is headed toward a courtroom rather than a settlement conference.
Chambers does not hand out the ranking on reputation alone. Researchers interview clients and competing lawyers, weigh recent matters, and sort attorneys into numbered bands within each category. A Band One designation reflects what referees told the directory about results, judgment, and the experience of working a case alongside the lawyer. For Mensing, those interviews produced unusually direct language.
“Todd’s judgment is consistently sound, which is key in litigation matters where emotions are high and you need a clear head. Even when I don’t want to hear the answer, he still has a way of keeping me grounded. He operates from a logical standpoint and is unbeatable in my mind,” one referee told Chambers.
A second client interviewed by the directory described the same trait in operational terms. “Todd is excellent. He has tremendous legal acumen and judgment. He is incredibly effective at getting things done and at making the right decisions at the correct time. Todd narrows down the right arguments to be most effective,” the referee said.
The trial record behind the ranking
Band One rankings track verdicts more than billings, and Mensing’s recent record runs through several of the larger commercial trials in Texas.
In 2026, Mensing was lead trial counsel and defended Stonewall Gas Gathering against a $205 million breach of contract claim from Antero Resources. Antero claimed Stonewall had caused it those $205 million in damages by breaching the parties gas gathering agreement. At the end of the trial, Antero received only $1 in damages. This was the second trial ever in the new Texas Business Courts. Three months later, Mensing was again lead trial counsel in a commercial lending dispute on behalf of a prominent Houston-based litigation finance company. Defeating multiple legal, factual and equitable defense theories, Mensing secured a $62 million judgment.
In February 2023, a McMullen County jury returned $41.8 million against an Energy Transfer affiliate, ETC Field Services, finding that hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide injected into a disposal well had trespassed on the mineral estates of SilverBow Resources and El Dorado Gas & Oil. Mensing served as lead trial counsel for SilverBow, and the award landed among the National Law Journal’s top 100 verdicts for the year. He has described the turning point as the moment his team forced the defense’s own experts off their modeling. “The first big crack was when we got their experts to admit that their models do not reflect the real world. And it was that stark,” Mensing told The Texas Lawbook.
A second matter shows the same pattern in federal court. After a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in the Southern District of Texas, the Port of Houston Authority won $22.32 million on a breach of contract claim over maintenance obligations at a grain elevator. Mensing tried the case as lead counsel, and the verdict survived the defendant’s motion for a new trial and its request to cut the award.
Credentials that measure trial volume
The Chambers entry sits on top of a credential set built around getting in front of fact-finders. Mensing is board-certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a designation that requires documented jury trials as lead counsel and that fewer than five Texas attorneys earn in a typical year. He has tried more than 60 cases across commercial, intellectual property, and energy disputes, holds admission to all four federal districts in Texas, and was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2014.
That volume is the through line. Civil jury trials have been declining for three decades, and the reps that once came along in the ordinary course of practice no longer show up on their own. A lawyer who wants courtroom experience now has to seek out the work. Mensing’s docket, which includes felony criminal trials handled pro bono alongside his commercial caseload, reflects that pursuit. The board certification and the trial count sit underneath the Chambers ranking as its raw material. The client interviews that produced the Band One result were reacting to that body of courtroom work.
Where Mensing sits inside the firm
Chambers rated AZA for the 13th consecutive year in 2026, recognizing the firm in general commercial litigation, intellectual property, and, for the first time, appellate work. Eight firm lawyers were ranked. Three of them reached Band One: co-founder John Zavitsanos, co-founder Joe Ahmad, and Mensing.
The grouping is informative. Zavitsanos earned Band One as a trial lawyer and for general commercial litigation. Ahmad reached Band One outside the general commercial category. Mensing’s Band One sits squarely in general commercial litigation, the practice area that has anchored most of AZA’s public verdicts. A Chambers referee described the firm’s commercial litigation group as one that “combines masterful lawyering, exhaustive preparation, judge-savvy strategy and first-rate advocacy with exemplary client service.”
What Band One signals to clients choosing counsel
For a general counsel deciding whom to hire on a bet-the-company matter, the directory’s tiers function as a filter. Many capable lawyers appear somewhere in Chambers. Far fewer reach Band One in a competitive category like Texas general commercial litigation, where the field includes large national firms with deep Houston and Dallas benches.
The referee comments point to what separates the top tier. Clients did not praise Mensing for aggression or volume of motions. They described judgment under pressure, the ability to keep a client “grounded” when the stakes distort decision-making, and a habit of narrowing a case to the arguments that decide it. Those are the qualities that show up in a verdict column rather than a billing summary.
The ranking also carries a practical signal about willingness to try cases. AZA built its reputation on taking matters to judgment, keeping at least one trial active in nearly every month since 2016, and the firm has grown as it has done so. A Band One commercial litigator at a firm organized around trials is a different proposition than a highly ranked lawyer at a shop that settles most of its docket. For a client weighing whether an opponent will actually see the inside of a courtroom, that distinction can shape the negotiation itself.
The 2026 elevation does not change Mensing’s record. It reflects it. The verdicts came first, the client interviews followed, and Chambers sorted the result into its top band. For Texas companies mapping the market for trial counsel, the entry is one more data point in a record that already ran through several of the state’s larger commercial courtrooms.
Last Updated on: September 16, 2026