Overview
Alex Foulkes Grafton is a trusted litigator with results to match. Valedictorian of her law school class, she joined Susman Godfrey after back‑to‑back federal clerkships with Judge Carolyn Dineen King on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Chief Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
In the fallout from Winter Storm Uri, Alex represents a major international bank in ERCOT and natural‑gas disputes across New York and Kansas federal courts and Oklahoma and Texas state courts, often turning on force‑majeure. She has helped secure dismissals of suits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for alleged natural‑gas overcharges brought by the Kansas Attorney General and private plaintiff classes. Alex also serves as counsel to dozens of rail‑freight shippers in antitrust litigation over alleged fuel‑surcharge collusion. At both the district court and appellate levels, she represents Media Matters for America in litigation involving the Federal Trade Commission and X Corp. Clients count on her to master the record, drive case‑critical discovery, and deliver advocacy that moves decision‑makers.
Alex brings a scientist’s precision to technology and life‑sciences disputes. Before practicing law, she trained and worked as a neuroscientist, conducting research in neurotechnology, cognitive genomics, and psychiatric therapeutics and publishing in peer‑reviewed venues. Her legal and scientific scholarship addresses the front‑line issues in brain‑computer interfaces, neural implants, and neural‑data systems: informed consent for implantable devices, privacy and ownership of neural data, liability and safety standards, discrimination risks, and the regulatory path to clinical deployment. Her deep familiarity with emerging neurotechnology results is faster issue‑spotting, tighter strategy, and credible courtroom narratives.
Public service also shapes Alex’s judgment. She has partnered with the Texas Civil Rights Project on certiorari briefing to the U.S. Supreme Court on Ex parte Young and has litigated constitutional and civil‑rights claims, including under the Ku Klux Klan Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). She earned her J.D. from the University of Houston and holds an M.S. in Neuroscience from University College London. Alex is fluent in Spanish
Clerkships
- Honorable Timothy D. DeGiusti, United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- Honorable Carolyn Dineen King, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Education
Education
- The University of Houston Law Center (J.D., summa cum laude, Order of Coif, Valedictorian, 2019)
- University College London (Master of Science, Neuroscience, with merit, 2011)
- The University of Saint Thomas (Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts (Theology/Biology), magna cum laude, 2010)
Admissions
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- Texas
Publications
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- A. Foulkes, Presentation at OKC Federal Bar Association Event: Editing Humanity & Liberty’s Limits (Jan. 29, 2020).
- A. Foulkes, Presentation at the Association of American Law Schools, Annual Meeting: Clinical Genetics Laboratories & Medical Malpractice (Jan. 5, 2020).
- A. Foulkes, Presentation at Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property 2019: Patents for the People (Feb. 9, 2019).
- A. Foulkes, Panelist at the North Carolina Law Review Symposium: CRISPR in Psychiatry (Oct. 5, 2018).
- A. Foulkes, Presentation at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence 75th Annual Meeting: Ketamine for Treatment-Resistant Depression: Subjective Effects and Impact on Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (June 15, 2013).
- A. Foulkes, Presentation at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America 33rd Annual Meeting: Impact of Childhood Trauma on Response to Intravenous Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression (Apr. 4, 2013).
LAW REVIEW PUBLICATIONS
- A. Foulkes, Genetic Villains, S.C. L. Rev, forthcoming
- J. Roberts & A. Foulkes, Genetic Duties, 62 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 143 (2020).
- A. Foulkes, Liberty’s Limits & Editing Humanity, 98 N.C. L. Rev 1549 (2019).
- A. Foulkes, J. Roberts et al., Clinical Genetics Laboratories & Medical Malpractice, 29 Annals Health L. & Life Sci. 153 (2020).
- A. Foulkes et al., Legal and Ethical Implications of CRISPR Applications in Psychiatry, 97 N.C. L. Rev. 1359 (2019).
- A. Foulkes, Comment, The Evolutionary Tradition in Law and Metaphor’s Double-Edged Sword, 56 Hous. L. Rev. 103 (2018).
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
- M. Sidhu, P. Thompson, B. Wandschneider, A. Foulkes et al., The Impact of Brain‐Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met Polymorphism on Cognition and Functional Brain Networks in Patients with Intractable Partial Epilepsy, 25 C.N.S. Neurosci. & Ther. 223 (2019).
- C. Brannan, A. Foulkes & G. Lazaro-Muñoz, Preventing Undue Discrimination Based on Psychiatric Risk Biomarkers, 180 Am. J. Med. Genet. 159 (2019).
- J. Murrough, K. Burdick, C. Levitch, A. Perez, J. Brallier, L. Chang, A. Foulkes et al., Neurocognitive Effects of Ketamine and Association with Antidepressant Response in Individuals with Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 40 Neuropsychopharm. 1084 (2015).
- A. Foulkes et al., Clinical Moderators of Antidepressant Response to Ketamine: A Bayesian Analysis, 75 Biol. Psych. 126S (2015).
- C. Haile, J. Murrough, D. Iosifescu, L. Chang, R. Al Jurdi, A. Foulkes et al., Plasma Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Response to Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression, 17 Int. J. Neuropsychopharm. 331 (2014).
- R. Price, D. Iosifescu, J. Murrough, L. Chang, R. Al Jurdi, S. Iqbal, L. Soleimani, D. Charney, A. Foulkes et al., Effects of Ketamine on Explicit and Implicit Suicidal Cognition: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Treatment‐Resistant Depression, 31 Depression & Anxiety 335 (2014).
- J. Murrough, D. Iosifescu, L. Chang, R. Al Jurdi, C. Green, A. Perez, S. Iqbal, S. Pillemer, A. Foulkes et al., Antidepressant Efficacy of Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Two-Site Randomized Controlled Trial, 170 Am. J. Psych. 1134 (2013).
- J. Stretton, A. Foulkes et al., Does the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism Influence Cognitive Function in Patients with mTLE?, 53 Epilepsia 39 (2012).
Languages
Languages
- Spanish
