Cynthia L Hampton was born in Austin, Texas, and graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School. She received her BA from the University of Texas at Austin and her JD from St. Mary’s University School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in all courts in Texas and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.After graduating from law school, she served as a briefing attorney to the Honorable Sam Houston Clinton, Senior Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals during the Court’s 1988-89 term. For six more years she worked as a Staff Attorney for the Court, and in 1995, left to work as a law clerk for the Honorable Homer Thornberry of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. After Judge Thornberry’s death in 1996, she entered private practice in Austin with Keith S. Hampton, where she had an exclusively appellate practice. Notable published opinions include Tucker v. State, 990 S.W.2d 261 (Tex.Crim.App. 1999) (defense counsel does not waive opening statement by saying “okay”); Dyar v. State, 125 S.W.3d 460 (Tex.Crim.App. 2003) (a hospital can indeed be a suspicious place); Wiley v. State, 74 S.W.3d 399 (Tex.Crim.App. 2002) (defendant’s right to present a defense). She was Significant Decisions Editor for TCDLA from 1998-2010.During her employment with the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, she authored or co-authored articles for the association's trade magazine, Voice for the Defense, as well as several code books and manuals. She transformed TCDLA publications from a small unit with only two books into a busy profit-making department with upwards of 40 individual items. These include TCDLA’s Code Books, Appellate Manual, and “Cheat Sheets.” She is also editor and/or co-editor for most of the Association’s other publications. Cynthia received TCDLA Presidents Awards in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. As of December 1, 2010, Cynthia returned to private practice with Keith. She focuses on appellate matters.Specialties: I am board certified in criminal law and I concentrate on appeals. My specialty is legal research and writing in the field of criminal law.