Jones, Allen & Fuquay, L.L.P.

Focus and practice areas

The firm works from Dallas and handles civil law for individuals and businesses across North Texas. It dates to 1981. The firm's work covers eight named areas: automotive dealership law, banking and finance, creditors' rights in bankruptcy, business and commercial litigation, business organizations, construction law, probate and estate planning, and real estate.

Those areas cluster around two poles. One is business transactions and organization. The other is litigation when a commercial dispute reaches court. In my opinion, that pairing explains how the firm reads on the page: the same lawyers who set up a company or close a real estate deal can also try the case if the deal turns into a fight.

Real estate runs through several attorney profiles, in both commercial purchases and financing. Banking and finance appears just as often, which fits a firm whose clients include banks.

How the team is built

The firm names ten attorneys across partner, associate and Of Counsel roles. Lindy D. Jones is a founding partner. He handles civil and business litigation, and his work includes trials and appeals.

Kevin J. Allen is a partner whose practice involves business litigation with commercial law alongside it, including banking and finance, transactional work and construction law. Ty J. Jones, also a partner, works in civil and business litigation, business organizations, real estate and business transactions.

Several partners carry a mix of transactional and courtroom work. Lynn W. Schleinat represents clients in business litigation and transactional matters, and her list spans banking and finance, business organization, construction, auto dealership and real estate law. Martin R. Wiarda concentrates on commercial real estate, banking and commercial finance.

Narrower fields and senior roles

Two partners hold narrower ground. Laura L. Worsham practices business bankruptcy and appellate law. Dewey M. Dalton, Jr. focuses on construction law and construction litigation, with commercial litigation and collections in support.

Katherine W. Lynch is the associate. She works in commercial real estate, banking and commercial finance, and she also handles general civil litigation and probate.

Charles S. Fuquay joined the firm in 1981 and is now Of Counsel. He led the estate planning and probate practice until he retired. Nathan Allen, Jr., a founding member, retired in December 2022. He helped build the firm's business focus and its work in business litigation.

Who the firm represents

The client list has included entrepreneurs, banks and businesses, among them new car dealerships, regional and national banking institutions and corporations. Automotive dealership law is listed as a distinct practice area, which matches the dealership clients the firm names.

The banking and finance work points the same way. When several partners name banking, commercial finance and creditors' rights among their fields, the roster lines up with a client base that includes lenders as well as the businesses they lend to. A client base of that kind tends to bring repeat work, since companies and banks return to the same counsel for new deals and for the disputes that follow.

Where the firm works

The firm serves Dallas and the surrounding counties, including Collin, Denton, Kaufman, Rockwall and Tarrant. That footprint keeps the work regional and centered on the Dallas and Fort Worth area.

Several of the firm's lawyers sit on boards and committees of charitable and civic organizations in the community. The site states this as a general practice and does not name particular groups.

What the practice areas involve

Litigation and appeals

The firm's litigation matters follow a general path. Business litigation of the kind it lists moves through pleadings and discovery, then a trial if the parties reach no agreement. Lindy D. Jones and others also handle appeals, which begin after a trial court judgment and turn on the written record and briefing. Appellate work is a separate skill from trial work, and the firm names it directly.

Bankruptcy and creditors' rights work, the area Laura L. Worsham covers, runs through federal bankruptcy court. Creditors file claims, and a bankruptcy judge decides disputes over priority and payment. Construction law, where Dewey M. Dalton, Jr. concentrates, often mixes contract questions with lien and payment claims that can end in court.

Transactions and estates

Business organizations work covers forming entities and setting their governance: the choice of company type and the documents that record ownership. Real estate and banking work, spread across several attorneys, covers purchases, financing and the loan documents behind them. Automotive dealership law brings its own contracts and regulatory rules, which is why the firm treats it as a field of its own.

Probate and estate planning, the area Fuquay led, covers wills, estate documents and the court process that follows a death. That process runs through the probate courts, and it can involve both planning done in advance and administration after the fact.

As a reviewer, I read this as a firm organized around business clients in North Texas, with enough litigators on staff to try the disputes those clients bring. The record shows a 1981 founding, two founding partners on the roster, and work divided between transactional matters and commercial litigation.

The Dallas office

The firm keeps its office at 7557 Rambler Road in Dallas. Callers reach it at 214-343-7400, and the practice runs a website at jonesallen.com. That one Dallas address is the base for the county area the firm describes, and its matters run through a single location.

In my reading, a one-office setup shapes how the work moves. Clients deal with the same building and the same phone number over the years, and the lawyers who set up a deal are the ones a client calls when a question comes back. The website gives the firm a public front, and the single phone line is the way in for a new client or a returning one. That arrangement suits a roster of ten attorneys, small enough that the people who answer the phone are the people doing the work.

Schooling and years in practice

The record lists law schools and graduation years for several of the attorneys, and the range is worth noting. Charles S. Fuquay earned his degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1973. Lindy D. Jones finished at Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1974. Kevin J. Allen also studied at Southern Methodist and finished in 1993.

Laura L. Worsham took her degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1982, and Dewey M. Dalton, Jr. graduated from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in 1999. Those dates run across more than a quarter century, so the firm pairs lawyers who have practiced since the 1970s with others who came in during the 1990s.

As a reviewer, I read that range as a sign of continuity. A founding partner who finished law school in 1974 still handles civil and business litigation, and the graduation years behind the other names point to a bench that has been building for decades. The schools are Texas institutions, which fits a firm whose work stays inside the state.