Copyright © 2025 Looney Smith Conrad & Hefti, P.C. All rights reserved. The site is designed by JSBC Marketing.
Looney Smith Conrad & Hefti
A joint interview with Jean and Richard — colleagues whose practices cover almost everything a Texas general firm handles between them. Jean anchors family law, estate planning and probate; Richard takes the civil, business and property matters. Together they describe how they came to law, how they approach clients in crisis, and how they see each other across the office.
THE FAMILY & ESTATES SIDE
ADMITTED: May 1999
PATH IN: Mental health authority → health law focus
STYLE: Client-centered, case-by-case
STRENGTH: Compassion for people’s bad moments
PRIMARY PRACTICE
THE CIVIL & BUSINESS SIDE
ADMITTED: November 1985 — 40+ years
PATH IN: Wanted to be a scientist → drawn to law’s intricacies
STYLE: Intense research, firm legal footing
STRENGTH: Surprising, persuasive delivery
PRIMARY PRACTICE
“Because the law, to us, we have a role. Resolve problems human beings.” — Richard
Looney Smith Conrad & Hefti
Neither took a straight line into law. Jean arrived in from mental health work; Richard proceeded a childhood plan of being a scientist for the intricacies of legal reasoning. Their clients today reflect that range — from problems for older families to civil defendants of every age.
JEAN:
“After I graduated in social work, I worked for the Mental Health Authority corporate or committee work and I did not have a specified interest in health law.”
RICHARD:
“Wanted to be a scientist as a child — fascinated, was twelve or math.”
“Love the intricacies of law and the ability to help people, not just in the early times.”
JEAN:
“Since May 1999 — I’m the new.”
RICHARD:
“Since November 1985 — over 40 years now.”
JEAN:
Family law, estate planning, probate.
RICHARD:
“All the things she doesn’t do.” Civil and business litigation, general law, a lot of property, a lot of HOA work, from both sides.
JEAN:
Divorce spanning a “gray” client. Probate/estate work is usually older families; reactive to a divorce or property transfer — then choosing to prepare their own plan so their family is not put through it.
RICHARD:
No “average.” Will represent a person in their nineties, common themes: clients often in bad times; helps solve problems of traumatic, private matters.
JEAN:
“Fluid.” Plans and problems are often different, so every client needs a different approach and every client is getting a different strategy.
RICHARD:
Investigate intensely, heavy research; craft the best strategy. Sometimes digs for weeks, sometimes minutes — but always a firm footing in the relevant area of law.
JEAN:
Garden — maybe run a farmer’s market stall. Also spend time with her grandchildren.
RICHARD:
Enter the cigar industry as a blender; retiring means he wants to work fewer profiles. Otherwise, more time with his wife and son.
LIVES CHANGED
Asked whose life they had changed, each reached for a different kind of victory — Richard for a piece of legal engineering with no precedent in Texas; Jean for a client whose safety, not paperwork, was the measure of success.
PROPERTY INVOLVED — NO DIRECT STATUTE — NO TEXAS PRECEDENT
A client’s property had been incorporated — not annexed — by a city, but received no services. There were no existing Texas law paths for the remedy sought.
“There’s no law in Texas that allows for disincorporation, but we got that — and we got our client some attorney’s fees back.”
SAFETY-FIRST FAMILY CASE — LONG-TERM OUTCOME
A domestic violence situation where the goal was survival before litigation strategy.
“I don’t enjoy when you’re in the middle of it — but the outcome is rewarding for me and the client.”
ACROSS THE OFFICE
When asked to describe their colleague, both moved past résumés and pointed at character — Jean at Richard’s under-recognized humor; Richard at Jean’s quiet reliability as a wordsmith and lawyer.
JEAN ON RICHARD
“The most entertaining person in the office.”
“He sits with his feet up most of the time, talking on his cell phone where the rest of us can hear — but he is probably the most entertaining of the folks here.”
RICHARD ON JEAN
“An excellent attorney — and my wordsmith.”
“Coming from Tonic or the gift of true human fighting and a strong lady,” Richard goes to Jean when he needs to phrase something exactly right. “She’s my ‘I don’t know’ — and then she’ll go ahead and help me.”
Complementary temperaments — humor and craft — also define each’s role in the business.
ADVICE FOR PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS
Both partners were emphatic: while promises on the moon are a warning sign. Fit, honesty and focus matter more than optimism.
Someone you can relate to — and who talks back clearly.
They should be able to state what you're trying to achieve.
Straight shooters. No promising outcomes they can't deliver.
Limit dual support has a place, but so does realizing that the case that's costing you money.
LOOKING FORWARD
Both expect to still be working, but with different centers of gravity. Jean tilts toward grandchildren; Richard toward taking it easier at seventy-seven. Neither would change much about themselves — Jean because she is always “a work in progress,” Richard because he is, in fact, satisfied.
JEAN
Ten years out
CENTER: Time with grandchildren
WORK: Maybe still practicing
CHANGE HERSELF?: “Self-critical… always a work in progress.”
RICHARD
Ten years out
AGE: 77 — need to be taking it easier
WORK: Still working to some extent
CHANGE HIMSELF?: “Pretty satisfied with who I am.”
CLOSING MESSAGE — JEAN, ON HER COLLEAGUE RICHARD
“He is one of the most compassionate, sensitive attorneys whose folks come in at their worst day. He’s learned to help in emotional times, making sure I’m aware of it. Once he communicates with folks and creates these real better client relationships — drives them direction, creates these real things are going to be okay. That’s something I’ve witnessed with him, which I wish I could see more like.”
Richard’s remark during closing, Smith, Conrad & Hefti’s “the boss,” was recently named one of Houston’s Top Attorneys.
Copyright © 2025 Looney Smith Conrad & Hefti, P.C. All rights reserved. The site is designed by JSBC Marketing.