I grew up in Midland and went to school there. I went to a military junior college and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, law school at SMU and I’ve practiced law in Denton and this area for all those years of my law practice. Grace Weatherly and I have been together trying cases now for over 25 years.

I really prefer being paid based on how well we do rather than how long it takes us to do something. Grace and I have done business litigation and other things that where people are used to paing lawyers based on an hourly rate and we’ve done that but our practice now is almost entirely contingent fee. I much prefer that because the better we can do for a client the better we do for ourselves and that motivates me.

My advice to any young lawyer who wants to become a great trial lawyer is number one; you need to care about your clients. If you care about your clients and you show them that you care that’s going to project into any arena that you’re operating in whether it’s in a courtroom, a deposition, or a settlement. And another thing that you have to have is you have to be willing to dedicate yourself to outwork the other people, to outwork your opponents and spend more time preparing and preparing in a more meaningful way than they do.

And one last thing, when you’re in the courtroom taking the high road rather than the low road. Professionalism with the court, candor with the court, formality in dealing with the judge, and professional courtesy to the other side to the opposing party and attorneys jurors appreciate that. That’s what they’re looking for and it’s easy for a lawyer to be trusted and believed when the lawyer acts with those skills.