Overview
Alex Grafton joined Susman Godfrey after clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge Carolyn Dineen King and on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma for Chief Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti.
Alex recently served as counsel to clients, including a major international bank, in matters relating to the impact of the February 2021 winter storms in Texas and Oklahoma. These cases involve both natural gas and power, specifically the ERCOT market, and are pending in New York federal court and various state courts in Texas. Related issues include force majeure, natural gas and energy pricing and various states’ laws. Alex has also served as counsel to dozens of rail-freight shippers in a high-profile antitrust case concerning alleged fuel-surcharge collusion among the nation’s largest rail-freight carriers.
Alex received her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, where she graduated first in her class. During her time in law school, Alex served as Chief Articles Editor for the Houston Law Review, interned for Judge Gray H. Miller of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and worked with Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy on research related to the legal and ethical implications of new biomedical technologies in neuroscience and genomics.
Before law school, Alex was a neuroscientist for Baylor College of Medicine, involved in clinical research on cognitive genomics and novel treatments in psychiatry. She holds a master’s degree in neuroscience from University College London and an undergraduate degree in theology and biology from the University of St. Thomas. Born and raised in Mexico City, 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).
