Todd Mensing was named to The Best Lawyers in America for 2027 in two practice areas: commercial litigation and construction litigation. The Aug. 20, 2026 list recognized 22 AZA Law attorneys in total. Best Lawyers describes its selection process as honoring “the top 5% or less of attorneys in private practice in the U.S.”
Two practice areas, not one, make up the recognition. That reflects the range of commercial disputes Mensing’s trial practice has touched over the years, from contract and business litigation to construction-related claims. Peer review, not self-nomination, drives the process. The outlet surveys attorneys about colleagues in their own markets and practice areas before compiling each year’s list.
A List Built on Peer Review
Best Lawyers has published annually for decades. Its methodology relies on lawyers evaluating other lawyers within the same geographic and practice-area categories, not on client feedback or case outcomes alone. That peer-driven structure is part of why the list works differently from Chambers USA, where Mensing also holds a Band 1 ranking in general commercial litigation for Houston, or Lawdragon, which picks its honorees through independent editorial research instead of a peer survey.
Two Practice Areas, One Trial Lawyer
Construction litigation and general commercial litigation overlap more than the two category names let on. Construction disputes routinely involve contract interpretation, delay claims, and payment disputes, the same terrain running through much of Mensing’s broader commercial docket. A dual listing like this one signals a practice spanning both, rather than treating construction work as a specialty walled off from his primary trial practice, a range that shows up across the cases he’s tried in Houston courts over roughly 25 years.
Mensing had already picked up a Chambers USA Band 1 ranking (Chambers designated only 13 attorneys as Band One out of an estimated 10,000 litigators in the Houston area), a first-time Lawdragon Leading Lawyers listing, and a spot on Lawdragon’s Global Leaders in Energy list earlier in the year, well before the Aug. 20 announcement landed. The Best Lawyers honor adds a peer-reviewed credential to a body of recognition built through several different evaluation methods, all inside a single year.
None of those lists are redundant with each other. Each publication surveys a different pool of respondents and applies its own criteria for inclusion. Best Lawyers relies on attorneys assessing colleagues they’ve worked with or against. Chambers relies on structured client and peer interviews run by its own research staff. Lawdragon relies on independent editorial reporting. A name showing up across all three in one year is a stronger signal than any single list, because it means three organizations, using three different methods, reached a similar conclusion on their own, not by echoing the same source. That kind of convergence is easier for a client to weigh than any one award taken by itself.
Best Lawyers’ AZA Law list drew from a firm with two Texas offices by the time the 2027 edition published, Houston and the newer Dallas location opened in early 2026. A firm expanding its footprint while adding peer-reviewed recognitions in the same year is a combination that shows up more in trial-heavy firms than in practices built mainly around transactional work.
