Scott A. Brister

Scott is co-lead of the firm’s Issues and Appeals practice group, and his practice includes all aspects of litigation.

He returned to the firm in 2009 after 20 years of judicial service at all levels of the Texas court system: six years on the Texas Supreme Court, three years as Justice and Chief Justice of the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals respectively, and eleven years as Judge of the 234th District Court. During those years he presided over 670 trials to verdict, and authored more than 600 appellate opinions, including 122 opinions of the Texas Supreme Court. 

Judge Brister recently completed a further year of public service as chair of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, a blue-ribbon panel of lawmakers and educators that presented landmark recommendations to the Texas Legislature for improving education for the state’s five million students.

Scott is board-certified in civil appellate, civil trial and personal injury trial law. He previously served on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee and on the Supreme Court Jury Task Force. He is a co-author of Texas Pretrial Practice and has written law review articles in the Baylor, Oak Brook, South Texas, and St. Mary's law reviews.