Conference Planning Co-Chairman | Houston, Texas
John Zavitsanos has been an attorney since receiving his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1987. His undergraduate degree was from the Loyola University of Chicago where he graduated magna cum laude in 1984. He has been recognized with numerous honors including the Best Lawyers in America award, which has been presented to him for nine consecutive years.
In 2007, Mr. Zavitsanos was selected to serve on a five-member committee by the Ecumenical Patriarch to investigate the possibility of initiating human rights litigation against the government of Turkey before the European Courts of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. As a member of the committee, Mr. Zavitsanos is working with numerous internationally known human rights lawyers, including lawyers from the American Center for Law and Justice, the European Center for Law and Justice, and some prominent human rights lawyers from Turkey. He also is a member of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Church of America, as well as a member of the executive committee of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle.
As an attorney, his cases have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The National Law Review, The American Lawyer, the Texas Lawyer, and many other national publications. He has tried more than 75 cases to a verdict in a multitude of areas of the law including financial services, construction, oil and gas, complex commercial disputes, director and officer liability, non-compete/trade secret disputes, and catastrophic personal injury. He has served as a board member of the Houston Lawyer Referral Service and has worked on a number of pro bono cases over the years, including a prisoner abuse case that involved, at that time, one of the largest settlements with the state of Texas in Texas history for a single plaintiff. He Is also a board member of the Menil Art Museum in Houston. He has written numerous legal papers for publication on various legal topics, such as punitive damages, preparing a witness for deposition and trial, witness credibility, cross examination, and jury selection.
Mr. Zavitsanos and his wife, Joni, have been married for more than 20 years and have four children.
