Chambers USA’s 2026 edition placed Todd Mensing in Band 1 for Litigation: General Commercial in the Texas: Houston & Surrounds category. That’s the directory’s top tier for lawyers practicing in that market. Mensing, a name partner at Houston trial firm AZA Law, has now appeared in that practice-area category for six consecutive years. This year the run reached the highest band Chambers assigns. It’s estimated that there are nearly 10,000 litigators in the Houston area. Chambers only places 13, including Mensing and his partner, John Zavitsanos, in Band One.

The rankings come from research, not self-nomination. Analysts interview clients and opposing counsel across a market, then place attorneys into numbered bands within a practice area and geography. Band 1 goes to the smallest group in each category. AZA Law’s overall Chambers recognition now spans 13 years, and the firm’s 2026 guide also marked its first appellate ranking, a separate department-level distinction from Mensing’s individual listing.

What Clients Told Chambers

Directory research depends on what clients and opposing lawyers are willing to say once an analyst calls. Mensing’s Chambers profile carries several comments gathered through that process. One: “Todd is the top litigator in Texas for high-stakes commercial business litigation. He is client-focused, a strong communicator and smart about how he conveys information at the right depth I am looking for.”

Another client zeroed in on decision-making under pressure: “Todd’s judgment is consistently sound, which is key in litigation matters where emotions are high and you need a clear head.” A third called him “excellent,” citing “tremendous legal acumen and judgment,” and added that he is “incredibly effective at getting things done and at making the right decisions at the correct time.” These aren’t marketing lines written by his own firm. They come from people who have sat across the table from Mensing, or beside him, in active disputes. Clients have also told Chambers that Mensing is “an incredible trial lawyer,” “whip smart,” “a brilliant strategist,” and “unequalled” among commercial litigators.

A Houston Trial Practice

Mensing’s practice centers on commercial disputes tried in Texas courts, including the state’s newly created Business Court. Board Certification in Civil Trial Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization sits alongside the Chambers ranking on his credentials list. That distinction requires a formal application and a testing process rather than peer research. Stanford University and the University of Texas School of Law preceded his move into Houston’s commercial litigation bar, where he has practiced for roughly 25 years.

Band placements can shift from one Chambers edition to the next, since the research refreshes annually. A Band 1 listing reflects the most recent client and peer feedback available to the directory’s analysts, not a permanent designation. AZA Law’s Houston office remains its primary base. A Dallas office opened earlier in 2026, giving the firm a second Texas market where its trial lawyers now regularly appear in court.

Six years on the same Chambers list is itself worth something, apart from the Band 1 label. Analysts revisit every ranked lawyer annually, so a run that long means client and peer feedback held up across several research cycles, not just one strong year. AZA Law traces back to 1993, when John Zavitsanos and Joe Ahmad founded the firm as a Houston litigation boutique. Mensing built his own practice there over the decades that followed, a history that predates this year’s Band 1 listing by well over a decade.