Justice Brister was appointed in November 2003 by Gov. Rick Perry and was elected to a six-year term in November 2004. Justice Brister has been a trial and appellate judge since 1989.
A native of Waco, Justice Brister is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke University, and a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School. After law school he was a briefing attorney for Chief Justice Joe Greenhill at the Texas Supreme Court in 1980-1981, then practiced law with Andrews & Kurth in Houston. In 1989, Gov. Bill Clements appointed him judge of the 234th District Court in Harris County, to which he was re-elected in 1990, 1994 and 1998.
In November 2000 Justice Brister was elected to the First District Court of Appeals in Houston, where he served until Gov. Perry appointed him chief justice of the 14th Court of Appeals in 2001.
Justice Brister is board-certified in civil appellate, civil trial, and personal injury trial law. He previously served on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee and on the Supreme Court Jury Task Force. He is a fellow of the Houston and Texas Bar foundations and a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas. He is a co-author of "Texas Pretrial Practice" and has written law review articles in the Baylor, Oak Brook, South Texas, and St. Mary's law reviews.
Justice Brister and his wife, Julia Upton Brister, have four daughters, Elizabeth, Susannah, Sarah and Mattie. They are members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin.
His term ends at the end of 2010.
Updated: 11-Jan-2007
