Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister announced last Monday that he would be leaving the Court effective September 7, 2009, to return to private practice with the law firm of Andrews Kurth L.L.P.
Justice Brister has served on the Supreme Court for six years, since his appointment in November 2003. Before that, he was chief justice of the 14th District Court of Appeals in Houston, justice on the First Court of Appeals in Houston and district judge in Harris County.
“Scott Brister has served with distinction on this Court. Always current on his docket, always penetrating in his analysis, Scott added greatly to the collegial exchange of ideas around the conference table,” Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said. “The people of Texas should know that Scott Brister devoted decades of his life to serving them, and did so with brilliance and grace.”
Justice Brister will lead Andrews Kurth’s appellate section from the firm’s Austin office.
Brister was the first of five judges who came to the Court during a period of high turnover between late 2003 and mid-2005. With a stable membership over the four years since then, the Court has increased its productivity and some may argue has changed the face of litigation to enforce personal rights.