Before being elected to a six-year term on the Third Court of Appeals in 2006, Justice Diane Henson was a litigator with over twenty-five years of courtroom experience.
She graduated with honors from Drake University Law School in 1979, where she was Case Notes Editor of the Drake Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif and Order of the Barristers.
After graduation, Justice Henson was selected for the Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. As a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, she investigated and prosecuted corrupt politicians.
In 1983, she began practicing with the Austin law firm of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody and in 1986 was named the firm’s first female litigation partner. After 12 years with Graves, Dougherty, she founded her own litigation firm.
In 1997, she was inducted in to the American Board of Trial Advocates. In 2005 and 2006, she was recognized in Texas Monthly as a Super Lawyer in the field of civil litigation. She is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Justice Henson has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin and St. Mary’s University School of Law.
In private practice, she handled many appellate matters and argued cases before the Texas Supreme Court, numerous Texas intermediate appellate courts, and the federal courts of appeals. Before joining the Court, she was nationally recognized for her work in Title IX, having litigated cases that resulted in greater participation opportunities and scholarships for female intercollegiate student-athletes. She also litigated cases that expanded the rights of disabled students to participate in high school athletics.
Updated: 03-June-2008
