Education & Honors
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- Martindale Hubbell – Peer review AV rated for over 15 years.
- 33 Years Experience in Civil Litigation
- Certified Basic, Advanced Family Law, and CPS Mediator
- University of Texas School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1989
- Member, Associate Editor, The Texas Law Review, 1987-1989
- University of Texas at Austin, B.A., summa cum laude, 1986
- Member, Phi Beta Kappa
- Proficient Spanish speaker
Nancy was born and raised in Decatur, Wise County, Texas, where she graduated from Decatur High School as its valedictorian. While in high school, she spent several summers in Mexico with school groups and on mission trips, where she began pursuing her life-long love of Spanish language and Mexican culture. She received her B.A degree from the University of Texas at Austin, with highest honors in 1986, and The University of Texas School of Law, with honors in 1989. While at UT Law School, she was a member and later an associate editor of the Texas Law Review, the school’s pre-eminent legal publication, where she later served as an associate editor.
Nancy has been in civil litigation, including everything from commercial litigation, to all manner of personal injury and professional liability litigation, insurance disputes, property disputes, employment litigation, employer liability, and product liability, and has been a full-time mediator since 2016. Nancy began her practice with the commercial litigation firm of Figari & Davenport (1989-1991), and later practiced with the Dallas firm of Cowles & Thompson (1991-2000), where she became a partner in 1994. In 2000, she left to form the Hermes, Sargent, Bates law firm where she was a partner until she departed to form her own firm in Southlake, Texas, Carnahan Thomas and later Carnahan & Carnahan, P.C.
Nancy joined Gilbert Mediation Group in 2016 and now mediates full-time both with Gilbert Mediation Group and out of her own law office in Southlake. She has mediated hundreds of matters including, personal injury and property damage lawsuits, insurance disputes, contract cases, probate disputes, products liability matters, as well as family law mediations. Nancy has received her basic mediation certification, as well as her Advanced Family Law Mediator certification, and her CPS Mediator certification. She has locations available to mediate in Tarrant, Dallas, and Wise County, and mediates remotely via Zoom.
Nancy speaks Spanish proficiently and often mediates in Spanish. She can assist or facilitate with Spanish translation for attorneys with clients whose first (or only) language is Spanish.
From 1996 to 2015, as part of her trial practice, Nancy acted as national coordinating products liability counsel for The Brinkmann Corporation, managing the company’s litigation nationwide, assisting with the defense and resolution of their suits, as well as with a number of product recalls which were undertaken by the company in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Nancy is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble, its highest rating for ethics and excellence, and has held that rating for over twenty-five years. She has also been named to Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Registry for Preeminent Lawyers publication, and she is a member of the Texas Bar Foundation. Nancy is licensed to practice in all Texas state courts as well as the Federal District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of Texas. She is a member of the Dallas Bar Association, the Northeast Tarrant County Bar Association, and the Texas Association of Mediators.
Nancy has been married to attorney and mediator Mike Carnahan for over 30 years, and they have raised/are raising four sons including two lawyers, an engineer, and a college sophomore at the University of Tennessee. She is a member of Whites Chapel United Methodist Church, and in her spare time, she enjoys amateur carpentry and home improvement projects including laying wooden flooring, tiling, and electrical and plumbing upgrades, as well as website design and learning to write software code.
To set up a remote or in-person mediation, contact Nancy’s assistant Lela Naughton at [email protected] or by phone at 817-552-2800 or Brenda at Gilbert Mediation Group at [email protected] or by phone at 214-303-4505. publication.
