Adair M. Buckner

Adair M. Buckner has been a practicing trial attorney since graduating with high honors from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1976. Before joining Buckner & Cross, P.C., she operated her own solo practice and later a small law firm for over 20 years. She then was a member of a larger firm for 10 years. Adair has always remained fully involved as both an attorney and as an active citizen in the community.

Adair was born and raised in Amarillo. She received a B.B.A. in General Business with honors from Texas Tech University in 1973. She continued her education at the Texas Tech School of Law, where she was the Comments Editor of the Texas Tech Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif (top 10% of the class). She received her J.D. in 1976, graduating with high honors.

Her legal experience includes extensive work in the area of employment law. Adair has been board certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1996. She represented Mason & Hanger Corporation in employment litigation from 1984 to 2001. Mason & Hanger Corporation operated the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant for the Department of Energy until 2001. Adair defended Mason & Hanger in a discrimination lawsuit involving 52 individual plaintiffs following a reduction in force, which ultimately settled with the plaintiffs receiving just enough to pay their costs of the suit. She tried a Mason & Hanger case which was a precedent-setting case for the Department of Energy, involving the International Guards Union of America, and the highest security level officials in the Department of Energy. She has tried, or settled prior to trial, every variety of employment-related lawsuit. Her practice now focuses a great deal on advising management about employment matters. Adair is committed to helping the firm's clients avoid litigation by helping them write and implement appropriate policies, properly train supervisors, handle employment disputes before they rise to the litigation level, and respond to administrative complaints and charges. She frequently lectures and trains on employment law topics to human resources and industry groups.

Adair has also dedicated a significant part of her legal career to family law. Since she entered the field in 1979, Adair has resolved thousands of family law cases. Her work has included divorce with contested custody and complex property division; defending divorce and support provisions in bankruptcy actions; child support and visitation enforcement; modifications; terminations; adoptions; name changes; and preparation of pre-nuptial, post-nuptial, and separation agreements.

Adair has handled a wide variety of general civil litigation cases involving employment law, family law, commercial law, oil and gas law, and mediation. She is trained in general and family mediation.

Adair's dedication to the legal community is reflected in her volunteer efforts in bar related organizations. She is a member of the Texas Bar Association's Labor & Employment Section, and Family Law Section, and has served on the ADR Council for the State Bar of Texas. She was a member of the Grievance Committee for the 13th Bar District. She served as President of the Amarillo Bar Association from 1996 to 1997 and currently is a member of the board of the Amarillo Bar Foundation.

Adair's civic endeavors are equally broad. She is a past Secretary of the Amarillo Symphony Board and of the Amarillo Chamber Music Society. She is the past Chair of the Panhandle Workforce Development Board. She is past President of the Panhandle Human Resources Association, a member of Amarillo Executive Women and Amarillo Women's Network, and an alumna of Leadership Texas and Leadership Amarillo.

Adair has two children, Cameron, a PhD student at Indiana University, and Danielle, a senior at Texas Tech. Her husband, Dale, is a certified financial planner.

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Janis Alexander Cross

Janis Alexander Cross has practiced law in Amarillo, Texas since she graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law in May 1979. Janis was in private practice for two years and then went to work for Pioneer Corporation in 1981. She worked for Pioneer until it was sold and she continued the same work for Cabot Corporation, which bought some of Pioneer's assets. In 1987, Janis became the Head of the Legal Department for Mason & Hanger at the United States Department of Energy's Pantex Plant and she remained there for almost a decade. At the Pantex Plant, Janis specialized in litigation, employment, and government contracting issues.

Fleeing from the sixty-hour plus work weeks she averaged while at Pantex, Janis resigned to practice law part-time and to teach at West Texas A&M University. At WTAMU, she taught Business Law, Business Ethics, and Business Communications. She then took a job in Dallas as General Counsel of a privately held corporation, working in Amarillo and flying to Dallas every Wednesday for several years. In that job, she handled corporate matters, with a heavy emphasis on domestic and international contracts and e-commerce. She also was very involved with suing copyright pirates trading copyrighted material on the Internet.

Janis returned to private legal practice in 2005 and she handles a wide range of matters including e-commerce law, litigation, contracts, deeds, wills and estates, criminal law, and family law. Her clients span the spectrum from individuals to major corporations. She is also a popular public speaker and trainer, speaking on a variety of legal issues each month for civil and legal groups and for business clients.