Randall R. Kucera has practiced with Akin Gump since 1985 and has been a partner since January 1990. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Kucera served as an assistant district attorney in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Kucera’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and has included a wide variety of contract, antitrust, lender liability, ERISA, environmental, business tort, intellectual property and insurance matters. He currently serves as the litigation partner in charge of the firm’s commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) litigation practice, which handles complex commercial real estate litigation involving institutional lenders, financial service companies, conduit lenders and master and special servicers.
During his 26-year career, Mr. Kucera has tried to verdict more than 50 cases before Texas juries. His recent trial victories include a $19 million jury verdict in Minnesota state court on behalf of a plaintiff for breach of a supply requirements contract; a $5 million jury verdict in Texas state court on behalf of a lender against a borrower for impairment of secured collateral; a defense verdict in federal district court for the Eastern District of Texas on behalf of a corporate officer on a $100 million claim for alleged violations of fiduciary duties and federal ERISA laws in connection with a corporate merger; and a take-nothing judgment in federal district court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of a major sports organization in defense of a multimillion dollar claim for fraud and breach of contract.
Mr. Kucera has also represented numerous clients in complex commercial arbitration matters before the American Arbitration Association and other alternative dispute resolution forums. Recent representations include victories for an aircraft manufacturer in disputes with its distributors, for a corporate stockholder in disputes over governance and voting rights matters, and for a pharmaceutical client in disputes over a merger agreement. Mr. Kucera has been involved in numerous trial court and appellate court actions regarding the scope of arbitrability clauses and the enforceability of arbitration awards.
Mr. Kucera has also been a speaker at various continuing education seminars in Texas on the subjects of litigation and civil procedure. He has published articles on the subject of litigating claims in mortgage and asset-backed securities matters, including recent publications in the American Bar Association Real Estate Litigation newsletter and the Mortgage and Asset-Backed Securities Litigation Handbook.
Mr. Kucera received his B.A. summa cum laude in 1979 from Vanderbilt University, where he was a Harold Sterling Vanderbilt distinguished scholar and received the Alexander Heard Award as the top graduate in his major field. He received his J.D. in 1983 from Yale Law School, where he received the Thurman Arnold Award as the outstanding oral advocate in the Yale Moot Court competition. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Dallas Bar Association and the Texas Association of Defense Counsel. He is admitted to practice before the U. S. district courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western districts of Texas and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 5th and 7th circuits.