I am an experienced trial and appellate lawyer with over 50 years experience in our state and federal courts. I'm board certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Certification ( I was in the initial "class" of certified lawyers) and was a member of the Texas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates ("ABOTA"). I've served as the president of the Federal Fifth Circuit Bar Association, have taught trial skills courses, and have spoken on ethics and risk management subjects. I also served as the director of the Institute for Law and Technology of the Center for American and International Law ("CAIL"), and have been active in professional and community activities for many years. As an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association I've served on a wide variety of proceedings including: merger and acquisition disputes, patent licensing matters, consumer claims, non-subscriber workplace injury claims, insurance coverage matters, TCPA and related claims, crop insurance disputes, health industry matters, banking and related disputes and a wide range of general business controversies. As an active trial and appellate lawyer I handled securities and insurance regulatory and financial industry and energy industry and patent and trademark and copyright lawsuits and class action litigation and tried many jury cases to verdict and argued numerous appeals in our state and federal courts. My pro bono activities have included many federal criminal indigent appointments in the trial and appellate courts, immigration asylum proceedings; and involvement in public policy matters as a founding member of Texas Appleseed. I’ve also served as a citizen member of the Dallas County historical commission, and the trails and preserve board, and now serve on the board of the Sixth Floor Museum. I am a member of the ABA's dispute resolution section, and the Texas Bar and ABA litigation sections, among my other professional associations. I served as the General Counsel of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP for around ten years, until it merged into Foley & Lardner LLP, and then served as the firm's Texas wide Professional Responsibility Counsel. Before joining the Gardere firm in 2003 I practiced with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for over 37 years.