General Information
Overview
James Edward Maloney has more than three decades of experience in commercial trial work representing a diverse group of clients ranging from the legendary oilman and investor T. Boone Pickens to the dating website Match.com. His specialty is not an industry sector or practice area. His specialty is trying cases before juries and judges, arbitrators and mediators.
Mr. Maloney has successfully represented clients in courtrooms across the nation, including in Texas, California, Delaware, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York. He has argued cases before the 3rd, 5th and 9th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. It would be hard to find a type of civil matter he has not encountered. Often, Mr. Maloney's cases have been highly sensitive, involving larger-than-life personalities.
In the legal community, Mr. Maloney is most widely recognized for his securities and shareholder litigation work including both the prosecution and defense of hostile offers, and the defense of individual, derivative and class-action claims against business institutions and directors. His representation of companies involved in hostile takeovers began in the 1980s with Mesa Petroleum Co. – including T. Boone Pickens’ landmark court battle with Unocal Corp. – and led to some of the more significant court decisions in corporate legal history. He has frequently appeared before the Delaware Court of Chancery where he has defended company transactions under assault by shareholders. His cases have frequently involved the special or conflict committees of boards of directors of corporations or MLPs. Similarly, Mr. Maloney has routinely defended clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But Mr. Maloney's experience goes far beyond securities and boardroom work. He has tried and managed cases in virtually every business sector and practice area including:
- Securities
- Mergers & acquisitions
- Contracts
- Trademarks
- Trade secrets
- Taxation
- Non-compete agreements
- Trusts and estates
- Antitrust
- Health care
- ERISA
- Products liability and personal injury
- Wrongful termination
Mr. Maloney is listed in the Chambers USA guide to lawyers for his securities litigation work in Texas, and has been lauded by his peers in that publication for his legal strategy. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2001, which in 2013 honored him with the Lawyer of the Year award for Houston. He has been recognized as a Local Litigation Star in Texas by Benchmark Litigation from 2013 to 2015, and is on the Legal 500’s list of recommended lawyers for securities litigation. Mr. Maloney has made the list of Texas Super Lawyers every year since its inception in 2003. In 2016, he was featured in the “Trial Pros” series of Law360. He has an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Rankings
James Edward Maloney, PLLC is metro ranked in 3 practice areas. Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process.
Read how Best Law Firms ranks firmsMetro Rankings
Rankings
Regional Rankings
Practice Areas
- Commercial Litigation
- Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions
- Litigation - Securities
Individuals Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®
Awards
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated in Martindale-Hubbell.
- Benchmark Litigation: Local Litigation Star in Texas, 2013-2022.
- The Legal 500: Profiled as one of the leading Securities Shareholder Litigation lawyers in the United States, 2015.
- Texas Super Lawyers: Securities Litigation, 2003-2024.
- The Best Lawyers in America, Lawyer of the Year in Litigation – Securities for Houston, 2013.
- Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the following specialty areas: Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Mergers & Acquisitions; and Litigation – Securities, 2003-2025.
- Chambers & Partners USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers: Profiled as one of the leading Litigation: Securities lawyers in Texas, 2007-2017.
- Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation