Chris Stanley is a shareholder at Sneed, Vine & Perry, P.C., where his practice focuses on non-family civil litigation, representing businesses and individuals in civil disputes.

Chris has been a mediator since the early 1990’s and has mediated hundreds of cases to a successful conclusion. He mediates all kinds of cases, including family, general civil, and construction issues. He has also been appointed by a district court to mediate a case involving pending criminal charges against a corporate entity.

Chris practices out of the firm’s Georgetown, Texas office in Williamson County.

Experience

Chris joined joined Sneed, Vine & Perry, P.C. in 2015 after owning his own law office in Georgetown, Texas, for 21 years.

Since 1997, his practice has emphasized construction litigation and construction industry support. In 2017, he was part of the inaugural class granted a specialization certification in construction law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. As of 2019, only 111 of the 98,671 attorneys in the State of Texas, or .01%, are board certified in construction law.

Chris’s practice involves litigation of disputes at the courthouse or in arbitration, as well as supporting businesses in Texas involved in the construction industry. He has substantial knowledge and experience of the arcane lien laws in Texas, and regularly files liens on behalf of clients, or attacks liens filed by others against his clients.

He represents both general contractors and owners in different construction projects, where he drafts, reviews, and negotiates many types of construction agreements; provides clients advice during the course of a project with an eye towards keeping it out of the courthouse; and works closely with other lawyers of the construction bar to achieve client goals.

Chris has drafted and/or negotiated contracts ranging in value from million-dollar single family residences to two windfarms with construction budgets over half a billion dollars. He has also been involved in the negotiations of commercial construction projects involving various contractual delivery schemes in downtown Austin, including the re-purposing of existing buildings and new construction with budgets ranging from $300,000 to $30 million.

His residential construction litigation and arbitration docket is limited to general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. He represents all interested parties in commercial construction litigation and arbitration, including owners.

His trial and arbitration dockets also include prosecuting bond claims on behalf of the general contractor against both private companies and government entities, as well as assisting general contractors whose major subcontractor abandons the job. In these situations, Chris is able to walk the precarious line between getting the project finished for the public owner and getting the subcontractor’s bondholder to perform under both payment and performance bonds.

Examples of successful representation include: a general contractor that Samsung attempted to terminate during a major expansion of their Austin semiconductor plant; a number of general contractors who had problems with projects involving Texas Parks and Wildlife as the owner; and a major concrete placement firm on a Miller Act claim against a general contractor claiming defects in tarmacs poured by the client on a US Air Force Base in San Antonio.

Chris has also been appointed as a Special Master to handle discovery disputes between parties and make recommendations to the appointing judges in Williamson County District Courts.

He has been peer-review rated as AV Preeminent (highest possible) by Martindale-Hubbell for ethical standards and legal ability.

Community Involvement

Chris is a ​member of the City of Georgetown Planning and Zoning Commission (2021- ), President of the American Inns of Court–Williamson County Chapter (2022-23), director of the Georgetown Caring Place (2022- ) and a member of the Williamson County Bar. He has served as a mentor in Georgetown Partners in Education and as a board member of the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center (President, 2013-2014). He has also been a director of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Commissioner of the Williamson County Emergency Services District 8, and is a past member of the Georgetown Noontime Kiwanis, the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department, Baylor Strikers Rugby Football Club, Texas XXX’s Rugby Football Club, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the Harley Owner’s Group.