Chief Justice J. Woodfin “Woodie” Jones received his J.D. degree from the University of Texas Law School in 1975 and earned an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995. He received his B.A. in Plan II from the University of Texas at Austin in 1972, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.
After law school, he served as Briefing Attorney for Chief Justice J. Curtiss Brown of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston. He practiced business litigation with the firm of Bracewell & Patterson in Houston from 1976 to 1981 and with Sneed, Vine, Wilkerson, Selman & Perry in Austin from 1981 to 1988.
A former president of the Austin Bar Association, Chief Justice Jones was first elected as a Justice on the Third Court of Appeals in Austin in 1988, serving until the end of 2000. After leaving the bench, he became a partner with the Austin firm of Scott, Douglass & McConnico. In 2003 he cofounded the appellate firm of Alexander Dubose Jones & Townsend. He was elected Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals in 2008.
Chief Justice Jones is board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and was selected as a “Texas Super Lawyer” in the area of appellate law by Texas Monthly Magazine each of the years 2004 through 2008. He is also a Life Fellow in the Texas Bar Foundation. He has been a frequent speaker and author for continuing legal education programs, most often in the areas of judicial decision-making and appellate advocacy.
Updated: 08-Dec-2008
