Meet Jill Kotvis: Jill's Background

In 2003, 2004 and 2005, Jill A. Kotvis was voted by Dallas lawyers as the only transactional environmental lawyer in the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” (D Magazine). Texas lawyers also identified her as a 2004, 2005 and 2006  “Texas Super Lawyer” (Texas Monthly ). Ms. Kotvis, who has an AV rating from her peers in the legal profession and Martindale Hubbell, established her own environmental law firm in 1998, after five years as Chair of the Environmental Practice Group at the Dallas-based law firm Hughes & Luce, L.L.P. She has also been a frequent lecturer at Southern Methodist University Law School, and Cox Business School, and at numerous legal, real estate, environmental, and other professional programs, and is a published author on various environmental law topics.

Ms. Kotvis currently is a member of the Community Issues Council Advisory Committee of The Real Estate Council, and previously served on the City of Dallas Environmental Health Commission. She is a member of the Dallas Assembly, a graduate of the Leadership Dallas, Leadership Arts, and Leadership Texas Programs, a participant in the Dallas Indicators project and a previous Vice-Chair of the City of Dallas Privatization Committee. Also active in international affairs, Ms. Kotvis served many years on the Board of the World Affairs Council of Greater Dallas during which time she was Vice President of Dallas Protocol and Chair of the First Mayor’s Consular Corp Summit held in Dallas. She is currently a member of Renaissance Weekend, a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation and a Research Fellow of The Center for American and International Law, and previously served as an Associate Editor of NAFTA Journal of Law and Business Review in the Americas (of the SMU Law School and ABA, International Section) and as Editor of the NAFTA Environmental Symposium Issues.

Ms. Kotvis served seven years on the City of Dallas, Cultural Affairs Commission. In this capacity, she Chaired the City’s Public Art Committee, and was Co-Chair of the City of Dallas “DALLAS SOARS! Pegasus on Parade” Public Art Project. Actively involved in numerous additional state and local civic and community organizations, Ms. Kotvis has served on the various Boards of the Anita Martinez Ballet Folklorico, The Arthritis Foundation, Arts District Friends, The Bathhouse Cultural Center, The Dallas Children’s Theater, DFW International Community Alliance, Dallas Historical Society, The Dallas Holocaust Memorial Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Natural History, Dallas Nature Center, Dallas Opera, Dallas Police Memorial, Dallas Symphony Association, Friends of Big Bend National Park, the Greater Dallas Community Relations Commission, Leadership Dallas Alumni Advisory Council, Lee Park and Arlington Hall Conservancy, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Orchestra of New Spain, Voices of Change, WE-Women’s Enterprise magazine, Women’s Issues Network, and the YWCA Women’s Resource Center. She has also served as a Mentor to young women in the Menttium 100 and Imagine Dallas Programs.

Ms. Kotvis has held leadership positions in several professional organizations, which include: Co-Chair of the Environmental Committee of the Texas Mexico Bar Association, a member of the Governing Council of the International Section of the State Bar of Texas, Vice Chair of several American Bar Association Committees of the Section on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, and national officer of the international legal fraternity, Phi Delta Phi. She also served on the Board of Directors of The George Washington University Law Alumni Association, and was President of the Dallas Chapter. In 1991, she received the George Washington University Law Alumni Service Achievement Award.

Prior to joining Hughes & Luce, L.L.P., Ms. Kotvis was Senior Attorney and Environmental Counsel for the Fortune 500 company, LTV Aerospace and Defense Company/LTV Corporation in Dallas, Texas, and division/chief counsel to its wholly-owned subsidiary, AM General Corporation. Her work at LTV concentrated primarily in environmental law, and international and domestic commercial contracts and business transactions. During this time she received the LTV Senior Vice Presidents’ Award for efforts “clearly beyond the recognized scope of her position.” In addition to experience in the corporate business world, her diverse professional history includes a second major Dallas law firm, Winstead, Sechrest & Minick, a construction/government contracts boutique law firm in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ms. Kotvis attended and received her Juris Doctor degree at The National Law Center, The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Brockport after having been an early admission student to the University following her junior year in high school. During this time she was selected for a semester of study at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and the participation in Washington, D.C. Semester Program. While in Washington, D.C. she worked in the offices of her Congressman, Jack Kemp (R – NY) and the Council on National Priorities and Resources.