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Knight & Partners Profile
Knight & Partners has broad-based experience representing local governments and related entities. The firm serves as city attorney or assistant city attorney for more than thirty cities, and represents other cities and counties on a wide range of issues. Other local governments and governmental entities we serve as general counsel include a groundwater conservation district, multiple economic development corporations, an emergency services district and a municipal retirement system. Other public entity representations include volunteer fire departments, water supply corporations, and ethics commissions. Barney Knight has sixteen (16) years experience with the cities of Temple and Austin, and twenty-three (23) years of private practice experience. During Knight's first five (5) years of private practice, he concentrated in construction, real estate, finance and related litigation. Over the last nineteen (19) years his practice has focused on representing local governments. Knight's education includes degrees from Temple College, the University of Texas, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas, and a Masters of Public Administration from Texas State University. His service with Temple and Austin included service as City Attorney, Assistant City Manager and City Manager in Temple, and Deputy City Attorney, City Attorney, Assistant City Manager, and Acting City Manager in Austin. Diana L. Granger has twenty-eight (28) years of experience as an attorney. She worked as a Hearings Examiner for the Texas Water Commission (predecessor to the TCEQ), two (2) years as a (Relief) Austin Municipal Court Judge, ten (10) years with the City of Austin in several capacities: as an associate attorney, a senior attorney, a supervising attorney, the deputy city attorney and the city attorney. Diana then practiced seven (7) years as an attorney with a large, international law firm, where she worked with private-sector clients and focused primarily on municipally-related issues. During that time, she also served as the firm's primary municipal lobbyist in Austin. Most recently, before joining Knight & Partners, she again worked with the City of Austin for two (2) years as the City's Purchasing Officer. While working with Austin as an assistant city attorney, deputy city attorney and city attorney, Diana represented the city in multiple administrative hearings before state and federal agencies, including the Public Utility Commission, TCEQ and EPA. She also served as Austin's primary attorney on the largest capital projects, e.g., the convention center, water and wastewater treatment plants, the acquisition and the administration of a railroad right-of-way, including the assembly of land for those and other major projects. Diana has an undergraduate degree from Texas A & I University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas. Paige Saenz is a partner in the firm and has over seven (7) years experience. In addition to serving as city attorney or assistant city attorney, and the primary service providence to some of our large municipal clients, Paige is active in several directly related areas of municipal law, e.g. representation of a municipal retirement system and administrative law cases. She assists with the representation of clients at the TCEQ and a variety of special issues as required by our clients and has significant experience in zoning, land development and code enforcement. She has an undergraduate degree from Rice University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas. Jeffrey Ulmann obtained a B.A. from the University of Texas in 2000. Prior to entering law school he obtained a Real Estate License, and worked as an Appraisal Assistant for a real estate appraisal firm and in the Human Resources Department for a multinational computer company. Jeff obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from St. Mary's University in 2005 and joined Knight & Partners in 2006. Jeff is the preferred contact for legal services for a number of our client cities. In addition to providing direct assistance to our municipal clients, Jeff provides research, support and assistance to the partners and senior attorneys on a wide variety of issues. As are all the other attorneys in our office, Jeff is an experienced municipal court prosecutor. Knight & Partners has significant experience in code enforcement and municipal court prosecution, and all attorneys have instant access to draw on the experience of all the other attorneys as well as an extensive computer library of ordinances, forms and briefs. Knight & Partners was founded with a desire to concentrate its practice solely in the public sector and manage overhead in a manner to control costs and maintain reasonable rates while, at the same time, providing quality legal services. We believe our business, professional approach and municipal experience save our clients both time and expense. Generally, we can answer a broad range of local government law questions, by telephone, fax or email, when and as those questions are asked. This approach frequently saves clients both the time and expense required for providing the results of our research, and is complimented by our limiting overhead and maintaining a relatively affordable rate structure for local public and government entities. The firm provides full services but readily recommends other counsel as and when needed. We bill on a monthly basis and each bill provides sufficient detail to show the specific task and work for each time increment billed. Our time is billed in increments of one-tenth (1/10) of an hour. We emphasize timely and responsive service, and provide our mobile and personal home telephone numbers to assure availability at all times. References are provided upon request.
Contact InformationTelephone (512) 323-5778 FAX (512) 323-5773
Postal address 223 W. Anderson, Suite A-105, Electronic mail E-mail: attorneys@cityattorneytexas.com
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