Here's My Story: Bio of a Lawyer Writer

I'm a professional writer with 20+ yrs experience as an AV-rated lawyer (complex business litigation, high-dollar personal injury). I've tried cases in federal and state court, and I've taken appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as well as the Texas Supreme Court.

Most of my legal career has dealt with high stakes cases, files with complex legal issues and massive factual details. Right out of UT Law, Luke Soules was my mentor and I've very grateful to have been apprenticed to such a brilliant, excellent trial lawyer.

Today, I write about legal issues, particularly legally related SEO (search engine optimized) web content, and I also provide Social Media Consultation that relates to the legal profession. I do ghostwriting for lawyers and law firms on occasion.


I've written a book on legal issues for freelance writers (copyright infringement, etc.) which I'm proud to say had Bob Bly as its editor. I also write a nationally syndicated, and award-winning, blog on voluntarily simplicity issues entitled Everyday Simplicity, and I walk the walk of this lifestyle change.

My writing has been published in Reuters, Chicago Sun Times, CNN.COM, Computer Shopper, Dayton Daily News, Green Scene, and other national publications.

I am a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, an invited member of the prestigious Texas Bar Foundation and a member of American Mensa. And I still practice law, though I limit it to judicial appointments in the Bexar County Children's Court as a dual role attorney/guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in CPS cases.

How and why did I evolve from a business litigator shopping at Sak's to writer shopping at Sam's?

I'd like to tell you that it was a smooth and effortless transition, law to writing. But it wasn't. I had a series of personal life events that were heartbreaking and confusing - and to complicate things further, the practice of law was rapidly evolving, too.

Suffice to say, I wanted very much to simplify my life. I learned the lesson that each day is a gift, and that time is the commodity to treasure, not money.

I learned to read at the age of two (got my photo in the Corpus Christi Caller Times for that, but that's another story for another day), and I'd always wanted to be a writer.

So, I took the steps to transition from one career to another. There was sacrifice. There was the learning curve. There was the humility of beginning at square one after leaving a profession where I'd mastered quite a bit.

And, here I am. I'm a professional writer now. And I thank God every day for it.