The Best Lawyers in Dallas
Jim Coleman was overwhelmingly voted the most respected lawyer in town—to no one’s surprise but his own. PLUS: our exclusive list of the top 188 attorneys in 20 specialties, as voted by their peers.
By Tim Rogers
D Magazine MAY 2005
Before you object to the subjective nature of this list, let us explain how we did it. D Magazine mailed ballots to 2,500 attorneys across Dallas-Fort Worth who were licensed to practice with the State Bar before 1994, asking them to vote for the lawyers who represent the best of the profession. The ballot was also posted on our web site. Anyone with a valid Bar number was eligible to vote.
We asked each attorney two questions. First—and new to the ballot this year—we asked them to name the most respected lawyer in Dallas, regardless of concentration or firm. We also posed the following: which Dallas lawyer, of those whose work you’ve witnessed firsthand, would you rank among the current best? With that question in mind, lawyers were asked to provide three names—one from inside their firms and two from outside their firms. They had to vote for two attorneys from outside their own firms for the same-firm votes to be valid.
That said, we took great pains to prevent any bias in favor of large firms and to prevent ballot-box stuffing. We hired a marketing research company to tally the votes. Same-firm votes were assigned less weight than outside-firm votes, so a large number of same-firm votes didn’t guarantee a best listing. Only ballots signed by the attorney with his or her State Bar number were counted. We also enlisted the help of a panel of well-respected local lawyers to review the list. Final decisions regarding confusing ballots or close calls were deferred to our committee.
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| Please note that the lawyers name listed in RED link to a profile listed in D Magazine. |
ANTITRUST
Jerry Beane
Andrews Kurth LLP
Curtis L. Frisbie Jr.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Debra L. Goldstein
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Gregory S.C. Huffman
Thompson & Knight, LLP
John McDowell
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Barry McNeil
Haynes and Boone, LLP
APPELLATE
Danny S. Ashby
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Nina Cortell
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Charles T. Frazier Jr.
Cowles & Thompson, P.C.
Robert B. Gilbreath
Jenkens & Gilchrist
Deborah Hankinson
Law Offices of Deborah Hankinson PC
Cynthia C. Hollingsworth
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Steve Baughman Jensen
Baron & Budd, P.C.
P. Michael Jung
Strasburger & Price, LLP
Jeffrey S. Levinger
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P.
Brent M. Rosenthal
Baron & Budd, P.C.
Chad M. Ruback
Godwin Gruber, LLP
Ben Taylor
Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P.
BANK LENDING
Rick Goyne
Baker Botts L.L.P.
James R. Littlejohn
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
James A. Markus
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Dan Nicewander
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Scott Night
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Emeline Yang
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
BANKRUPTCY & WORKOUT
Bob Albergotti
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Sander Esserman
Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka
Toby Gerber
Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P.
Patrick J. Neligan Jr.
Neligan Tarpley Andrews Foley, LLP
Holly O’Neil
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Robin E. Phelan
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Alan Rich
Baron & Budd, P.C.
Judith Ross
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Dan Stewart
Vinson & Elkins LLP
BUSINESS LITIGATION
Chip Babcock
Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
Amy Davis Benavides
Hermes Sargent Bates, LLP
John W. Bickel II
Bickel & Brewer
George W. Bramblett Jr.
Haynes and Boone, LLP
William A. Brewer III
Bickel & Brewer
Craig Budner
Hughes & Luce, LLP
James E. Coleman
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P.
Jim Cowles
Cowles & Thompson, P.C.
Ernest E. Figari Jr.
Figari & Davenport, LLP
Donald E. Godwin
Godwin Gruber, LLP
Brad Jackson
Law Offices of Brad Jackson
Alan Loewinsohn
Loewinsohn & Flegle, L.L.P.
Mike Lynn
Lynn Tillotson & Pinker, L.L.P.
Mike McKool Jr.
McKool Smith, P.C.
Tom Melsheimer
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Robert H. Mow
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Terrell W. Oxford
Susman Godfrey
Rod Phelan
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Mark S. Werbner
Sayles Werbner
Betsy Whitaker
Bracewell & Patterson, L.L.P.
Robert J. Witte
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
Fletcher Yarbrough
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P.
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Patrick M. Arnold
Powell & Coleman, L.L.P.
John E. Bromberg
Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka
W. Robert Dyer Jr.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
M. Lawrence Hicks Jr.
Thompson & Knight LLP
C. Ted Raines Jr.
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Harry M. Roberts Jr.
Thompson & Knight LLP
Ralph G. Santos
Greenberg Traurig LLP
James H. Wallenstein
Jenkens & Gilchrist
Robert E. Wilson
Haynes and Boone, LLP
CORPORATE FINANCE/MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Andrew Baker
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Michael M. Boone
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Jeffrey A. Chapman
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Shane Egan
Wick Phillips
Mark A. Girtz
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, PC
Lawrence E. Glasgow
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Glen J. Hettinger
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Thomas W. Hughes
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Brian Lidji
Lidji & Dorey
Gregory R. Samuel
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Larry Schoenbrun
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
Mark Solomon
Andrews Kurth LLP
Michael D. Wortley
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Thomas H. Yang
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Jeffrey A. Zlotky
Thompson & Knight LLP
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
Jim Burnham
Law Offices of Jim Burnham
Kenda Culpepper
Culpepper & Pruitt
Ronald L. Goranson
Law Office of Ronald L. Goranson
S. Michael McColloch
McColl & McColloch
Tom Mills
Mills & Williams, L.L.P.
George Milner III
Milner & Finn
Reed W. Prospere
Prospere & Russell
Barry Sorrels
Sorrels & Udashen
ERISA
Vicki Blanton
J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.
E. Philip Bush
Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP
Barry W. Cowan
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
T. David Cowart
Jenkens & Gilchrist
Nancy Furney
Hallett & Perrin, P.C.
James R. Griffin
Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
Riva T. Johnson
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
John A. Kober
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Karen Suhre
Law Offices of Karen Suhre
FAMILY LAW
Angeline Lindley Bain
Goranson, Bain, Larsen & Greenwald, LC
Kevin Fuller
Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson, P.C.
Thomas Goranson
Goranson, Bain, Larsen & Greenwald, LC
Rhonda Hunter
Law Offices of Rhonda Hunter
Paula Kurko Larsen
Goranson, Bain, Larsen, & Greenwald LC
Kelly McClure
McClure Duffee & Eitzen, LLP
Mary Jo McCurley
McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley Nelson and Downing
Mike McCurley
McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson and Downing
Kathryn J. Murphy
Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson, P.C.
Thomas L. Raggio
Raggio & Raggio
Ike Vanden Eykel
Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Roberston, P.C.
FRANCHISE & DEVELOPMENT
Gayle Cannon
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Deborah Coldwell
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Ann Hurwitz
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP
Joyce Mazero
Haynes and Boone, LLP
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
John Cone
Akin Gump
Herb Hammond
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Wei Wei Jeang
Haynes and Boone, LLP
V. Bryan Medlock Jr.
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood
Jerry Mills
Baker Botts, LLP
P. Weston Musselman
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Jerry R. Selinger
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Bart Showalter
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Bruce Sostek
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Andy Szuwalski
Jenkens & Gilchrist
Robert Turner
Jones Day
Betsy Whitaker
Bracewell & Patterson, L.L.P.
Matthew E. Yarbrough
Fish & Richardson P.C.
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT
Jennifer Burr Altabef
Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, L.L.P.
Kim J. Askew
Hughes & Luce, LLP
J. Derek Braziel
Edwards & George, LLP
Edward Cloutman
Law Offices of Edward Cloutman
Rogge Dunn
Clouse Dunn Hirsch, LLP
Stephen E. Fox
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Hal K. Gillespie
Gillespie, Rozen, Watsky, Motley, & Jones P.C.
Andrew Gould
Wick Phillips
Michael P. Maslanka
Ford & Harrison LLP
Mark A. Shank
Hughes & Luce, LLP
LAND USE & ENVIRONMENT
Fredrick Baron
Baron & Budd, P.C.
William S. Dahlstrom
Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
L. Suzan Kedron
Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
Jill Kotvis
Jill A. Kotvis, P.C.
Susan Mead
Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
Dwight “Ike” A. Shupe
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Scott Summy
Baron & Budd, P.C.
LEGAL MALPRACTICE
Robin P. Hartmann
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Coyt Randal Johnston
Johnston Tobey, P.C.
Paul M. Koning
Hughes & Luce, LLP
George M. Kryder
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Steve Malouf
Law Offices of Stephen F. Malouf
Robert H. Mow Jr.
Hughes & Luce, LLP
MEDIATION
Mary Burdin
Burdin Mediations
Earl F. Hale Jr.
Offices of Earl F. Hale Jr.
(Hon) Harlan A. Martin
(Former) JAMS
Christopher Nolland
Law Offices of Christopher Nolland
Will Pryor
Will Pryor Mediation & Arbitration
Sid Stahl
Sid Stahl, Attorney - Mediator
Ross W. Stoddard III
Attorney - Mediator
PERSONAL INJURY
Charla Aldous
Aldous & McDougal
Lisa A. Blue, Ph.D.
Baron & Budd, P.C.
Frank L. Branson
Law Offices of Frank L. Branson
Russell W. Budd
Baron & Budd, P.C.
Rob Crain
Crain & Montes, L.L.P.
Ralph "Red Dog" Jones
Parham Jones & Shiver
Paula Sweeney
Howie & Sweeney, L.L.P.
Windle Turley
Law Offices of Windle Turley, P.C.
Les Weisbrod
Morgan & Weisbrod
TAX
William Bowers
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Jeff W. Dorrill
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Thornton Hardie
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Vester T. Hughes Jr.
Hughes & Luce, LLP
C. Ronald Kalteyer
Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP
Emily A. Parker
Thompson & Knight LLP
David Wheat
Thompson & Knight LLP
TRUSTS & ESTATES
Todd Amacher
Law Office of Todd R. Amacher
John F. Bergner
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
Santo Bisignano Jr.
Bisignano & Harrison LLP
R.W. Calloway
Calloway, Norris, Burdette & Weber
Thomas H. Cantrill
Jenkens & Gilchrist
John Collins
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Barbara B. Ferguson
Thompson & Knight LLP
James J. Hartnett Sr.
The Hartnett Law Firm
Kathryn G. Henkel
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Robert H. Kroney
Kroney-Mincey, Inc.
Lawrence Wolfish
Wolfish & Newman, PC
WHITE COLLAR DEFENSE
Jim Burnham
Law Offices of Jim Burnham
Paul Coggins
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Robert E. Davis
Hughes & Luce, LLP
Michael P. Gibson
Burleson Pate & Gibson
Barry McNeil
Haynes and Boone, LLP
Charles M. Meadows Jr.
Meadows, Owens, Collier, Reed, Cousins & Blau
Tom Melsheimer
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Edwin J. Tomko
McManemin & Smith, P.C.
The Gentleman’s Lawyer
To no one’s surprise but his own, Jim Coleman’s peers voted him the most respected lawyer in Dallas.
by Tim Rogers
The first thing you should know about James E. Coleman is that he will not enjoy this story.
The man’s been practicing law for more than 50 years, his name’s on the stationery of the firm he helped found—Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal—yet still, as best anyone can tell, he’s never once been profiled.
That’s the way he likes it.
“He doesn’t really like to talk about himself,” says Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, who’s known him for 30 years. “Jim would be thrilled if no one ever mentioned his name in any news story.”
So he is ambivalent when presented with the news that in a survey conducted by
D Magazine, he was overwhelmingly voted by his peers as the most respected lawyer in town. The No. 2 vote-getter was a highly respected man, a jurisprudential giant in this city—he didn’t come close. Coleman is flattered. But the news comes with a request for an interview and even a sitting for a photograph. He doesn’t relish the prospect of either and says he needs a few days to think about it. He doesn’t think he warrants all the fuss and attention.
This is a lawyer, understand, who is shunning free publicity.
But then the call comes and Coleman says he’ll sit for the photo and meet for an informal interview on two conditions: one, the story will have to make it plain that the last thing he would do is indulge in self-promotion. And, two, lunch is on him.
And so on a recent afternoon at the Crescent Club, wearing a gray pinstriped suit, Coleman does something very unusual, for him. He sits down to lunch and, in his buttery Georgia accent, talks about himself for nearly two hours. He lets slip a few biographical details that are apparently too flattering; he asks that they not be printed. But the basic outline is this:
Coleman was born in Georgia six years before the Great Depression. He went to high school in Atlanta and met his wife Margaret in their senior year while he was “jellying,” which, for those who don’t know, was a courting ritual wherein gentlemen would go from house to house on a Sunday, calling on girls. Sometimes, you’d call on a girl and she’d already be entertaining
other callers. When Coleman met Margaret, the phonograph was playing a Frank Sinatra record. Or it could have been Duke Ellington.
Coleman graduated from high school in 1941 and went on to Georgia Tech, but when the United States entered World War II, he enlisted. That’s when he learned he was colorblind. They stuck him in the Army. And in 1945, he crossed the Rhine with General George Patton’s Third Army.
But that detail doesn’t surface at lunch. Coleman simply says he “served in the Army.” Another detail that somehow escapes him and that would be volunteered later by one of his law partners: as a combat infantry officer, Coleman handled himself well enough in battle that he was awarded the Silver Star.
After the war, he finished up at Tech in 1948, one year after he’d married Margaret. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1951.
He planned to come to Dallas, where the oil and gas business was booming.
“Deals were being made, people were making money,” he says. “It seemed like a good place for a lawyer.” He pronounces the word “law-yah.”
Once again, though, his plans were interrupted. When the Korean War broke out, Coleman was still in the reserves. This time, the CIA wanted him. To this day, he won’t say what he did, exactly, during his two years with the agency, citing an agreement he signed when he left. But he will allow you this: no, he was not a paper pusher. In fact, on several occasions during his service in the CIA, he
wished he were just a paper pusher. That, and what he did was so much fun that he considered not leaving when his tour was up.
About halfway through lunch at the Crescent Club, a judge and lawyer stop by Coleman’s table. His firm’s offices are in the building, and everyone knows him here. One of the men says he saw an article in
Texas Lawyer that mentioned that the Carrington Coleman offices recently installed four defibrillators.
“You know why?” the other man says. “Because when Jim’s clients find out how much he charges, they need ’em!”
From Coleman’s reserved, yet polite, reaction to the joke, one gets the impression that he does not sit around laughing about how much he charges his clients. After working for two other firms in Dallas, Coleman and four others founded Carrington Coleman in 1970 as a sort of utopian shop for lawyers.
Partners didn’t squabble over compensation or even keep track of billable hours. There was no vacation policy.
Today, things have changed a little. The firm has about 100 lawyers, and billable hours are tracked—more than anything to ensure no one is overworked. And Coleman does have some fairly high-profile clients that surely pay him what his services are worth. In fact, Coleman’s most noteworthy client right now is former Enron chief executive Ken Lay. But when Coleman travels to Houston for business, he still flies Southwest Airlines.
“Unassuming” is a good description of the man. His favorite dessert is butter pecan ice cream. They keep a tub of it at the Crescent Club just for him. He brags about this special treatment as if it were the most wondrous luxury in the world. And then, when the waiter profusely apologizes for not being able to locate the tub and instead brings three substitute flavors, Coleman pretends each is butter pecan.
Unassuming. Coleman has four children. One of them is County Judge Margaret Keliher. She says “Daddy” never talked about work at home. “Actually, I didn’t even know that my dad was so well-respected until I got out of school,” she says. After she graduated in the top five of her class from SMU law and was in the profession awhile, she began to appreciate his stature. “They would say, ‘Oh, you’re Jim Coleman’s daughter, aren’t you?’”
Indeed, as evidenced by
D’s survey, people in the law community do have a high opinion of the man. If you ever want to have some fun, you can call big-time trial lawyers in town and try to get them to say something bad about Coleman.
Frank Branson: “Jim Coleman is a gentleman, a scholar, and a class act. And I don’t care whether you’re on the same side he is or opposing him, he’s a trustworthy, honorable man.”
George Bramblett, at Haynes and Boone: “Jim Coleman is unique in the Dallas legal community. He is the most successful lawyer and also the most respected, and that’s not always the case. He is our Atticus Finch.”
It only gets more difficult. Judge Lynn, as previously mentioned, has known Coleman for 30 years. She, in fact, was Carrington Coleman’s first female associate (1976) and, by the way, also the firm’s first female partner (1983). You can keep her on the phone for upwards of 30 minutes, and she won’t be able to accuse the man of having even the most minor of peccadilloes. Beyond his good manners and irreproachable sense of justice, she says there’s his sharp mind.
“He is the quickest study of anyone I have met in my entire life,” she says. “I mean, he can learn the most complicated, Byzantine facts in law on short order and then go right into the courtroom and present them in the most cogent, brilliant, folksy way that anybody’s ever been able to do. I mean, it’s really miraculous.”
But, again, Jim Coleman will have none of it. The dining room at the Crescent Club long ago emptied out, and as he’s signing for the bill, he really can’t say why people think he’s the most respected lawyer in town.
“I always have to go with what my daddy told me,” he says. “He said if you keep your shirt clean and do what’s right and work real hard, sooner or later, it’ll get out on you.”