Anyone hiring an attorney in Texas can verify their license status, discipline history, and specialization credentials at no cost. Several public tools cover different parts of the record: the State Bar of Texas handles licensing and discipline, the Texas Board of Legal Specialization covers board certification, and peer review services like Martindale-Hubbell offer a separate channel for evaluating professional reputation. A walkthrough using Houston trial lawyer Todd Mensing shows what each step looks like with a real attorney’s public record.

Starting with the State Bar of Texas

Texas attorneys licensed to practice appear in a public directory maintained by the State Bar of Texas. Its Find a Lawyer tool at texasbar.com accepts searches by name, bar number, or city, and returns a profile showing license status, admission date, firm affiliation, office address, and any public disciplinary record. Searching costs nothing and requires no account.

Discipline history, when present, appears directly on the profile. When there is no record of public discipline, the profile reflects that as well. A consumer doesn’t need to interpret the absence of action as ambiguous; the system is designed to display clean records with the same transparency it applies to troubled ones.

Searching for Todd Mensing as a lawyer returns his directory entry under his full legal name, Todd William Mensing, affiliated with Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, P.C. at One Houston Center in Houston. His profile reflects active license status with no public disciplinary history on record.

State Bar profiles also confirm admission date. Mensing was admitted to practice in November 1999. Texas attorneys maintain active status through annual bar dues and continuing legal education requirements. What the directory means when it returns “active” status is that dues are current and CLE requirements are met.

One detail the State Bar profile doesn’t capture is whether an attorney has earned specialized credentials beyond general licensure. Mensing focused his Houston practice on commercial litigation, intellectual property, and energy disputes. For those areas, the next verification layer comes from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Board Certification: What TBLS Records Show

The Texas Board of Legal Specialization certifies attorneys in 27 specialty areas, from family law to patent law to civil trial law. Certification requires passing a written exam, demonstrating substantial involvement in the specialty over a set period, providing references from judges and opposing counsel, and completing continuing legal education requirements each year. Attorneys can be verified through the TBLS “Find a Board Certified Lawyer” directory at tbls.org/findlawyer, which lists each attorney’s certification area and current status.

Mensing holds board certification in Civil Trial Law. Board certification in this specialty is awarded to an average of fewer than five attorneys per year statewide; that figure reflects how few practitioners meet the trial volume and examination requirements. Having tried over 60 cases, Mensing documented the courtroom experience the certification demands. A TBLS directory entry won’t indicate when certification was first granted, but the firm’s press materials place it in January 2011.

For a prospective client, the TBLS search confirms something concrete: this attorney has documented trial volume, passed a rigorous written examination, and maintained the credential through ongoing education. That is a different data point than a licensing check; it measures practice depth, not just eligibility.

Peer Ratings and Directory Profiles

After the regulatory databases, verification continues with peer review ratings. These aren’t self-reported; they’re assembled through surveys of judges, opposing counsel, and co-counsel who have observed an attorney’s work firsthand.

Martindale-Hubbell uses a peer review process that produces ratings from CV (distinguished) to AV Preeminent, its highest. Houston trial lawyer Todd Mensing holds an AV Preeminent rating. Martindale describes AV Preeminent as reflecting “the highest level of professional excellence,” with ratings drawn from confidential evaluations submitted by attorneys and judges in the same geographic area and practice specialty.

Chambers USA takes a different approach. Researchers conduct in-depth interviews with clients and peers, then produce written assessments rather than simple letter grades. Mensing’s Chambers profile lists him among ranked attorneys in General Commercial Litigation for the Houston market. Client observations recorded there describe him as “unequalled” among commercial trial lawyers and “an incredible trial lawyer.” That profile is publicly accessible without a subscription for basic profile information.

Additional Directories and the Full Record

Avvo compiles attorney profiles from public court records, bar association data, and self-submitted information, then generates a rating on a scale of 1 to 10 based on years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition. Attorneys with no disciplinary history and documented peer endorsements generally score in the 9–10 range. Todd Mensing’s lawyer profile on Avvo is listed at: https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/77010-tx-todd-mensing-59272.html. A prospective client using Avvo should treat the numerical score as a starting point rather than a final verdict; the underlying credentials it draws on, including bar standing, discipline record, and practice area focus, are each verifiable independently.

Best Lawyers compiles its annual lists through peer nomination. Attorneys are included when enough peers in the same practice area nominate them; the publication then verifies credentials and votes through a survey process. Mensing appears in Best Lawyers listings in commercial litigation. Super Lawyers uses a comparable peer-nomination process combined with third-party research; Mensing’s profile there reflects additional recognition in the Houston market.

Taken together, these tools produce a consistent profile. A State Bar search confirms licensure and no public disciplinary history. A TBLS check confirms board certification in Civil Trial Law, a designation awarded to fewer than five attorneys per year statewide on average. Peer review ratings from Martindale-Hubbell and Chambers, along with directory inclusions in Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, reflect how colleagues and clients have assessed his courtroom work over time.

For someone evaluating Todd Mensing as a lawyer candidate, each tool answers a different question: licensure and discipline history from the State Bar, specialty-level trial experience from TBLS, and professional reputation from peer ratings. No single source provides the full picture; used together, they build one.

What the public record shows for Todd Mensing, lawyer, is that the credentials are documented, verifiable, and consistent with someone who has spent more than two decades trying cases in commercial, intellectual property, and energy disputes. That’s the kind of background the verification tools are designed to surface.