Caitriana Corkill, Esq. is an experienced legislative counsel and committee director who works with BGR’s State and Local Advocacy practice in Austin, Texas. She brings over a decade of legal and policy experience in the Texas Legislature, where she has directed Senate committees, advised lawmakers, and shaped landmark state legislation on judicial reform, constitutional law, health policy, and education.
Caitriana most recently served as Committee Director for Chairman Bryan Hughes over the Texas Senate Committees on State Affairs and Jurisprudence, where she managed policy agendas, provided legal counsel, and facilitated the drafting and passage of high-profile legislation including the establishment of Texas’ business court, clarifications to the state’s abortion laws, and reforms to the judiciary. Previously, she served as Deputy Committee Director for the Senate Committee on State Affairs. Earlier in her career, she was General Counsel to Senator Charles Perry, providing legal advice across multiple Senate committees and drafting Attorney General opinion requests, in addition to policy and legal roles with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, U.S. Representatives Sam Johnson and K. Michael Conaway, and the office of Texas Senator Donna Campbell.
Caitriana holds a J.D. from Liberty University School of Law, where she concentrated in Constitutional Law, and a B.A. in International Relations and Global Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, with a Certificate in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. She also studied French language and culture at the Paris-Sorbonne University. She has been licensed to practice law in the State of Texas since November 2018.
Location: Austin
Halie Hughes
Halie Hughes, Senior Director on the State and Local Practice, joined BGR in April 2022 in the BGR Austin, Texas Office. Halie helps clients manage and further their relationships with Texas State and local leaders from the Executive branch down to Mayors and City Council officials. Halie also assists with BGR’s quickly growing Attorney General practice, helping multi-state clients navigate and take a proactive approach to the Attorney General world through specific offices and various associations.
Prior to joining BGR in April 2022, Halie served for six years as a Texas Assistant Attorney General, as both Plaintiff and Defense attorney, in the Medicaid Fraud and General Litigation Divisions. While at the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Halie represented the State of Texas, Governor’s Office, Texas Legislature, and Agency officials in litigation spanning the gamut from healthcare fraud, to employment disputes including terminations and licensing revocations, to defending the State in Covid-19 litigation.
Before her time at the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Halie served as plaintiff counsel at a boutique law firm representing homeowners against homeowner associations and spent time with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Safari Club International while in law school.
Halie received a B.A. from Clemson University in 2011 and a J.D. from Florida Coastal in 2015. While at Clemson, Halie was active in College Republicans and volunteered for several Presidential and Congressional campaigns. She also studied in the Eastern Balkans as well as in South America studying war crimes and Spanish. While in law school, Halie was an active member of Moot Court and the Pro Bono Honor Society.
Jerry Strickland
Jerry Strickland is Principal and Texas Director at BGR, where he practices at the federal, state, and local levels. Leading BGR’s Austin office, Jerry helps companies navigate government to effectively position themselves for growth. He has successfully assisted companies in passing legislation at the state and federal levels, navigated rulemakings before agencies, and put his clients in front of frontline decision-makers at all levels of government to succeed.
As part of his work with BGR’s Commerce and State practices, Jerry represents clients in a variety of industries, including oil & gas, semiconductors, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, transportation, health care, mental health, trade, and waterways. Working with the Coalition for a Fair and Open Port and energy companies along the Houston Ship Channel, Jerry and his clients led the federal advocacy effort for the widening and deepening of the Houston Ship Channel to achieve authorization, appropriation and a new start for construction decision from the White House in less than one budget cycle. Jerry also worked recently to help a leading international semiconductor company with its multi-billion expansion. BGR’s Texas office recently led the location selection, incentives negotiations and infrastructure improvement agreements with state, county, city, and school district officials. The $40 billion project is approved for a $200+ million tax incentive and is the largest foreign-direct investment in Texas history. The project also secured more than $3 billion in federal CHIPS Act funds as part of a Congressionally-passed program BGR also assisted clients with passage. Jerry also served as the Executive Director of the FABSS Texas Coalition, a coalition of Texas semiconductor manufacturers, which he represented before electricity and natural gas regulators in Texas. Jerry also serves as the Executive Director of the FABSS Texas Coalition, a coalition of Texas semiconductor manufacturers, which he represents before electricity and natural gas regulators in Texas.
Prior to joining BGR, Jerry served as Governor Greg Abbott’s appointee to lead the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations, where he ran Texas’s federal affairs office and was lead advisor to the Governor on federal issues. While leading the office, Jerry helped secure billions of dollars in disaster relief funding to Texas to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
Jerry also served on the Department of Interior’s Royalty Policy Committee, advising the Secretary on issues related to the determination of fair market value and the collection of revenue from energy and mineral resources on federal lands.
Jerry spent nearly 12 years at the Texas Attorney General’s office as then-Attorney General Abbott’s executive advisor, communications director and spokesperson. In this role, Jerry was part of executive leadership addressing EPA, ACA, child support and school finance litigation at every level of the legal system, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to his career in public service, Jerry’s career had him at the intersection of government and the media, spending a decade as a news reporter, investigative journalist and news anchor at television stations in Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. His work has been featured on CNN, CBS News, ABC News and the Weather Channel.