Lawyers

Christian J. Ward
Senior Counsel
Chris’s practice focuses on complex appeals. He has represented major corporations in a variety of industries—including energy, insurance, and financial services—as well as governmental entities and private parties in litigation against governmental entities in federal and state courts throughout the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has briefed numerous successful appeals and orally argued in federal and state appellate courts.
Chris is admitted to practice in Texas, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits, and the United States District Courts of Texas.
Chris was a law clerk for the Honorable Will Garwood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before attending law school, he worked as a Latin teacher, for the Republican Party of Texas, and for Texas State Senator Jane Nelson.
- JSW v. MM Steel Upheld in the Fifth Circuit a $160 million award of treble damages in a group boycott case under the per se rule of liability. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.
- Joseph Hardesty, et al. Helped secure a unanimous $107 million federal jury trial win for two mining families in California. Plaintiffs alleged that the County of Sacramento violated their procedural and substantive due process rights by improperly shutting down a sand-gravel mine at the urging of a large competitor.
- Valero Refining v. Galveston County Appraisal District Obtained rulings from the Texas Supreme Court favorable to all issues presented in an ad valorem tax appeal. Specifically, the Supreme Court held that a taxpayer may appeal appraisal of separate accounts established by the taxing authority relating to a single petrochemical facility.
- Business Logic Holding Corporation v. Morningstar et al. In a complex case involving financial software in the retirement sector, was part of trial team that secured a $61 million cash settlement that represented 95% maximum claimed damages by our client, Business Logic.
- TracFone Wireless, Inc. v. Commission on State Emergency Communications Successfully represented a prepaid wireless phone company in the appeal of a state agency’s decision that it owed 911 fees under a statute originally intended to impose the fee on monthly billed wireless service. The firm represented TracFone at all stages of the appeal, and the Texas Supreme Court held, as we argued, that applying the fee to prepaid wireless service was not authorized by statute and would result in illegal double taxation.
- Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. Successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court clarifying the jurisdictional Rooker-Feldman doctrine.
- Best Lawyers in America® in Appellate Law, 2013-2019
- "Texas Super Lawyer" in Appellate Law, Thomson Reuters, 2012-2018
- "Texas Rising Star" by Thomson Reuters' Super Lawyers, 2008-2011
- “The Republican from Harvard”, Texas Super Lawyers, April 2009
- Past President: The Federalist Society, Austin Lawyers Chapter
- “The Limits of Comprehensive Peace: The Example of the FLSA,” Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law 38:2 (co-author), 2017
- "The Impact of Wal-Mart v. Dukes on Employment Law Class Actions and FLSA Collective Actions," State Bar of Texas 2013 Labor and Employment Law Institute (co-author)
- "Anatomy of a Good Oral Argument," Appellate Practice Conference (National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute), 2012
- "Morrison v. National Australia Bank: The Impact on Institutional Investors," White paper for the Council of Institutional Investors, 2012
- Testimony to Texas Senate regarding the constitutional standard for legislation requiring voter identification, 2011
- Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2001 (Notes Editor 1999-2001, Harvard Law Review, Editorial Staff, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy)
- Hampden-Sydney College, B.A. Economics & Classics, cum laude, 1991 (Eta Sigma Phi, Omicron Delta Epsilon)
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Will Garwood, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit 2001-2002
- Admitted to Practice: Texas, 2001