Personal Biography
Educational Background
My educational career began in the Arlington Public School System.
Upon graduating with honors from Arlington High School at Arlington
Texas, I was selected as a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist.
Immediately after graduating high school, I enrolled at the University
of Texas at Arlington, where my major was Economics and my minor was
in Spanish.
While attending college I participated in United States Army R.O.T.C.
and the Insurgent Team. As a junior, I obtained the highest score of
my class during a 6 week period of R.O.T.C. summer camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was selected as a Distinguished Military Student.
During my college career, I was a member of the Pi Sigma Epsilon professional fraternity and a member of the honor society in economics. I was also selected to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.
In 1972 I graduated with honors, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in
Economics. I was designated a Distinguished Military Graduate and
received my officer commission in the United States Army as a
second lieutenant. I served in the United States Army Reserve
until 1983, obtaining the rank of Captain.
I attended Southern Methodist University Law School and received my
Juris Doctor Degree in 1976. Directly after graduation from law
school, I immediately took the first available Texas bar examination
and scored in the top 25% of those participating. I was licensed to
practice before the Supreme Court of Texas in November 1976.
I engaged in the private practice of law at Arlington, Texas from
1976 to 1979, and at Fort Worth, Texas from 1979 to the present.
In 1982 I was admitted to practice by the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Texas and in 1983 I was admitted
to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit located in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is the appeals
court for all federal courts in Texas and surrounding states. In
1996 I was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme
Court.
During the more than 20 years of my practice I have had the pleasure
and opportunity to practice in the state courts of over 25 Texas counties, including the counties located around the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex
area, other major metropolitan counties such as Harris (Houston), Bexar
(San Antonio), and Travis (Austin), and counties as far away as Val
Verde County in the Rio Grande Valley, Hutchinson County in the
panhandle and San Augustine County in deep East Texas.
I am currently a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Tarrant
County Bar Association, the Parker County Bar Association, the
Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association, and the Tarrant County
Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association.
My interests outside of law include: antiques, woodworking,
wildflowers, gardening, birdwatching, hunting and fishing. My
favorite television channels are The Discovery Channel and The
Learning Channel.
Professional Law Practice
My law practice includes the following dates and locations:
1976-1979 Private Practice of law at Arlington, Texas
1979-Present Private Practice of Law located at 600 North Main Street,
Fort Worth, Texas
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