Leon Carter ('80) was recently named the Dallas Bar Association’s 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year. Carter has been a fixture of the Dallas trial bar for three decades. After beginning his law career as an assistant attorney general, and later an assistant district attorney, Carter became partner in litigation at Jackson Walker in Dallas. He ultimately founded his own firm, merged with another, and later founded his current firm, now known as Carter Arnett.
Carter has tried more than 100 jury cases at the state and federal level. He handles plaintiff and defense matters in exceptionally diverse practice areas ranging from commercial litigation to product liability, to First Amendment, antitrust, and employment. Carter’s client base has run the gamut from AT&T, to Exxon Mobil, to the City of Dallas, to Parkland Hospital. Carter is a member of the International Society of Barristers, the American
College of Trial Lawyers, and the Litigation Counsel of America. He has served as an adjunct professor at SMU’s Dedman School of Law and The University of Texas at Arlington.
Carter is a Carthage native, who earned his Bachelor of Arts in history from ETBC in Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in 1986.