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Peers name Branson trial lawyers among the best for personal injury, product liability litigation
DALLAS – Lawyers across Texas and the research staff at Best Lawyers in America have selected veteran trial lawyers Frank L. Branson, Debbie Dudley Branson, Tim Newsom, and Linda Yee Villa among the nation’s best for their representation of individuals in personal injury and product liability litigation in the 2024 edition. They are also joined by John Burkhead, who was named to the list of Best Lawyers Ones to Watch, honoring younger attorneys.
The Best Lawyers honors are only the latest achievements for the firm, which has built a national reputation for representing individuals in catastrophic personal injury lawsuits against trucking and transportation companies, pipeline operators, oil and gas companies, the operators of dangerous worksites, automakers, and manufacturers of defective products.
One of the legal industry’s oldest and most respected peer-review guides to the legal industry, Best Lawyers compiles its list from surveys of tens of thousands of attorneys nationwide, followed by a rigorous vetting by the magazine’s research staff.
Mr. Branson is among an élite group of practitioners who have been honored by Best Lawyers annually since 1987. For the 2023 edition, he is recognized for his expertise in personal injury, product liability, professional malpractice, medical malpractice, and commercial litigation.
In addition to the Best Lawyers honors, Mr. Branson is a Lawdragon Hall of Fame honoree and has been named among the Top 10 lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers each year since 2007. He is the recipient of the Texas Bar Foundation’s Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award and has been named to D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas Hall of Fame, Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar,” the National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.,” and D CEO’s “Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.”
Best Lawyers honorees are selected based on peer nominations and feedback from peer attorneys. To view the complete list of the 2024 Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch honorees, click here.
Dallas, TX – The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, a leading litigation firm focused on personal injury cases, is proud to report that its founder, Frank Branson, has been honored in 2023 as one of D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas.” This distinguished recognition highlights Mr. Branson’s exceptional contributions in the field of tort law and is evidence of his reputation as a battle-tested litigator.
Mr. Branson, renowned for his unwavering commitment to advocating for his clients, has consistently been acknowledged in numerous publications throughout his illustrious career. In addition, his exceptional work in high-stakes personal injury litigation has solidified his position as a trusted and respected legal professional.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized as one of D Magazine’s ‘Best Lawyers in Dallas’ since its inception in 2001,” said Frank Branson. “This accolade reinforces the firm’s mission to deliver outstanding results.”
The annual Best Lawyers in Dallas list showcases attorneys who exhibit outstanding proficiency in their respective practice areas, through peer nominations. A distinguished panel of anonymous lawyers and the D Magazine editorial staff meticulously selects the honorees. The complete list of this year’s exceptional attorneys can be found in the May 2023 issue of D Magazine.
The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson is a leading litigation firm based in Dallas, Texas. Founded by Frank Branson, the firm specializes in handling complex personal injury cases, including product liability, trucking/transportation injuries, catastrophic injuries, commercial air crashes, and professional negligence.
For more information about The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson and the range of legal services they offer, please visit the website at https://flbranson.com.
Law Offices of Frank L. Branson: Officer Lina Mino was shot in the eye, sustained brain damage during training exercise in Tarrant County
DALLAS – A Sansom Park, Texas, police officer who was shot in the eye and suffered brain damage during an active shooter drill in November 2022 has filed a lawsuit against the company that conducted the exercise and its owner.
In her lawsuit, Officer Lina Mino says Texas Police Trainers, LLC, of Killeen was negligent in that it allowed someone to bring a firearm with live rounds into the training. The filing also names the company’s owner and CEO, Janice M. Washington, as a defendant.
The shooting happened at David K. Sellars Elementary School in Forest Hill, where officers from area police departments had gathered to learn and ready themselves for active-shooter scenarios. Officer Mino was taking part in the training when another law enforcement officer fired his weapon, striking her. As a result, Officer Mino lost her left eye and suffered a brain injury.
“If there is any place where this shooting absolutely should not have happened, it’s in the middle of a training drill run by a company that is supposed to be qualified to teach police officers,” says attorney Frank Branson of Dallas’ The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, who represents Officer Mino. “If anyone should know how to be safe around firearms, it’s them. To think that they allowed a set of circumstances that led to Officer Mino being shot is just astounding.”
Texas Police Trainers touts itself as a “one-stop shop” that helps “ensure (members of) our law enforcement community are highly trained.” According to the company’s website, it continues to offer a variety of law enforcement training courses, including basic and advanced instructor courses, crisis intervention training and crime scene investigation.
The case is Lina Mino vs. Texas Police Trainers, LLC and Janice Washington, Cause No.017-341841-23 in Tarrant County, Texas.
About The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson
The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson represents clients in cases involving complex product liability, catastrophic injury, truck accidents, commercial air crashes, electrical and gas explosions, and truck and auto catastrophic injury. To learn more about the firm, visit http://www.flbranson.com.
Media Contact:
Barry Pound
800-559-4534
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Branson named among Top 10 in Texas; Debbie Dudley Branson, Tim Newsom earn repeat recognition
DALLAS – Iconic Texas trial lawyer Frank L. Branson is among an elite group of practitioners who have earned Texas Super Lawyers recognition every year since the prestigious legal guide’s 2003 founding.
While the rigorous Super Lawyers selection process is designed to identify the top 5 percent of lawyers in the state, Mr. Branson’s honors for personal injury litigation exceed that. He has been named among the Top 10 lawyers in Texas since 2007 and among the Top 100 every year for the legal guide’s entire 20-year history.
In addition, veteran trial lawyers Debbie Dudley Branson and Tim Newsom have earned repeat Super Lawyers honors for their expertise in personal injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. Like Mr. Branson, they are accomplished lawyers who are committed to leveling the playing field for individuals seeking justice from powerful corporate interests.
Earlier this year, firm attorney John Burkhead was recognized by Super Lawyers/Rising Stars, which honors the top Texas lawyers age 40 or younger or who have been in practice 10 years or less.
Thomson Reuters researchers compile the annual Super Lawyers list based on a rigorous selection process that starts with peer nominations, followed by independent research and vetting by a blue-ribbon panel. The full list is published in the October issues of Super Lawyers and Texas Monthly magazines and is available at https://www.superlawyers.com/.
Mr. Branson’s Super Lawyers record is just one example of the esteem he has earned in his courtroom career. Best Lawyers in America has recognized him every year since 1987. He is a Lawdragon Hall of Fame honoree, recipient of the Texas Bar Foundation’s Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award in 2020 and is in D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas Hall of Fame. Texas Lawbook‘s “Lions of the Bar” and the National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.” are also among his accolades, as is D CEO’s ”Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.” Under his leadership, the firm was named Elite Trial Lawyers Product Liability Law Firm of the Year by the National Law Journal and the National Trial Lawyers.
This marks the 15th year of Super Lawyers recognition for Ms. Branson, who has played a key role in the firm’s string of record verdicts and settlements. In addition to Texas Super Lawyers, she has earned honors from Lawdragon, D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas and The Best Lawyers in America. She has held numerous leadership positions within governmental, political, business and legal organizations at the national and regional level. She currently serves on Dallas County’s COVID-19 Task Force.
This is the 18th year of Super Lawyers recognition for Mr. Newsom, a veteran trial lawyer who is active in leadership positions in legal and professional organizations and currently serves as president-elect of TEX-ABOTA, the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In addition to Super Lawyers, he is a repeat Best Lawyers honoree.
Lawdragon recognizes Frank Branson, Debbie Dudley Branson, Tim Newsom
DALLAS – Veteran trial lawyers Frank Branson, Debbie Dudley Branson and Tim Newsom have been recognized in the 2022 edition of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers for representing those injured in catastrophic vehicle crashes, at dangerous work sites, or by defective products.
The highly respected legal guide conducts extensive research and vetting to compile a list identifying trial lawyers who in the words of Lawdragon CEO Katrina Dewey “relish their role of underdog, taking on the toughest cases and typically only getting paid if they win – Talk about heroes.”
Click here to see the 2022 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers guide.
Lawdragon honors are just the latest recognition for the three attorneys. Mr. Branson is a Lawdragon Hall of Fame honoree and has been named among the Top 10 lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2007. He is a repeat honoree of The Best Lawyers in America and has been named to Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar,” the National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.,” and D CEO’s “Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.”
In 2019, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association presented Mr. Branson with its Lifetime Achievement Award, while the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association named him among its Living Legends. In 2021, he received the Texas Bar Foundation’s highest honor for a trial lawyer – the Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award for attorneys demonstrating the highest moral and ethical standards and professional conduct.
Ms. Branson is a trial lawyer known for her skill in analyzing jury pools and connecting with jurors. She has held leadership positions within governmental, political, business and legal organizations at the national and regional levels. In addition to Texas Super Lawyers, she has been recognized among D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas and by The Best Lawyers in America. She is a past President of the Texas Trial Lawyers, was Chairman of the Board of Managers at Parkland Hospital 2012-2016, and received the 2016 Linz Award for her civic/humanitarian efforts for the city of Dallas.
With a rare double board certification in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law, Mr. Newsom has extensive courtroom leadership experience. He currently serves as president-elect of TEX-ABOTA, the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a past President of the Amarillo Bar Association and a recipient of the Bob Black Bar Leaders Award. Mr. Newsom has been recognized every year since 2005 by Texas Super Lawyers for his Plaintiff’s Personal Injury work and was recently recognized by The Best Lawyers in America.
The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson represents clients in cases involving complex product liability, catastrophic injury, truck accidents, commercial air crashes, electrical and gas explosions, and truck and auto catastrophic injury. To learn more about the firm, visit http://www.flbranson.com.
D Magazine names acclaimed attorney among the best for personal injury, product defect litigation
DALLAS – Peer lawyers and D Magazine have again selected acclaimed Dallas trial lawyer Frank L. Branson among the best for litigation involving personal injury and product liability.
Mr. Branson is the founder of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, one of the most respected and successful trial litigation boutiques in the Southwest. He is one of an elite group of practitioners to be honored with D Magazine’s prestigious award every year since 2001. Earlier in 2022, Mr. Branson was singled out in the publication’s inaugural Best Lawyers Hall of Fame. The complete list of Best Lawyers honorees is featured in the magazine’s May issue.
The D Magazine honors are based on votes by peer lawyers in North Texas and vetting by a blue-ribbon panel. Mr. Branson earned recognition for his representation of individuals in disputes involving truck crashes, worksite mishaps, oilfield accidents, dangerous and defective products, and other injuries.
Mr. Branson’s career-spanning history of results in the courtroom has earned some of the legal industry’s highest honors. That includes being named among the Top 10 lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2007. He is a repeat honoree of the Best Lawyers in America and the Lawdragon 500 and is a 2021 Lawdragon Hall of Fame inductee. He has been named to Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar,” the National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.,” and D CEO’s “Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.”
The firm has been twice recognized by the National Law Journal and The National Trial Lawyers as the Elite Trial Lawyers’ “Law Firm of the Year” for product liability litigation. In 2019, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association honored Mr. Branson with its Lifetime Achievement Award while the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association named him among its Living Legends. In 2021, he received the Texas Bar Foundation’s highest honor for a trial lawyer – the Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award for attorneys demonstrating the highest moral and ethical standards and professional conduct.
Dallas lawyer honored for expertise in plaintiffs’ personal injury litigation
DALLAS – Peer attorneys have again selected Dallas-based trial lawyer John Burkhead for the Super Lawyers’ Texas Rising Stars list of the state’s top young attorneys based on his work representing plaintiffs in high-stakes personal injury litigation.
Mr. Burkhead is a respected member of The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, one of the most renowned litigation boutiques in the Southwest. His practice focuses on the representation of individuals injured in trucking and transportation accidents, worksite incidents, oilfield injuries, and dangerous and defective products.
Most recently, Mr. Burkhead won a $2 million verdict pending final judgment with request for treble damages and attorneys fees for holding patients against their will in a chain of mental health hospitals, with numerous related settlements.
“At this firm, we work hard to optimize our clients’ recovery,” Mr. Burkhead said. “It’s really gratifying to have that hard work recognized by peers in the legal community.”
The Texas Rising Stars list recognizes the outstanding work of the state’s top attorneys under the age of 40 or those who have practiced law for no more than 10 years. Honorees are selected based on peer nominations, independent research and a review by separate advisory boards. Mr. Burkhead has been selected every year since 2016. The full list is published in the April 2022 issues of Texas Monthly and the Texas Rising Stars issue of Super Lawyers magazine.
Longtime litigator one of 50 top lawyers recognized for years of excellence
DALLAS – Noted Dallas trial lawyer Frank Branson has been selected for D magazine’s inaugural Best Lawyers Hall of Fame, honoring only 50 top lawyers in North Texas.
Mr. Branson, founder of the Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, was chosen based on his recognition for more than 15 years by D Magazine for its annual Best Lawyers in Dallas edition. Mr. Branson has been honored repeatedly for his work representing people injured in traffic collisions and harmed by dangerous products and corporate negligence.
The annual Best Lawyers list is developed through a thorough review of peer nominations conducted by D Magazine editors and an anonymous panel of the city’s most respected attorneys. The Hall of Fame inductees selected from that group will be featured in the March edition of D magazine at https://www.dmagazine.com/.
“This region is home to some of the very finest lawyers anywhere,” Mr. Branson said. “To be selected to this elite group of 50 is truly an honor.”
One of the most accomplished and influential trial lawyers of his generation, Mr. Branson has been honored by D Magazine every year since the inception of its Best Lawyers edition in 2001. He has been recognized for his representation of individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries from trucking and transportation accidents, from injuries in the oilfield and other dangerous worksites, from defective products and through negligence.
Mr. Branson has been named among the Top 10 lawyers in the state by Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2007. He is a repeat honoree of the Best Lawyers in America and the Lawdragon 500 and a 2021 Lawdragon Hall of Fame inductee. He has been named to Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar,” The National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.,” and D CEO’s “Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.”
The firm has been twice recognized by the National Law Journal and The National Trial Lawyers as the Elite Trial Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” for product liability litigation. In 2019, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association honored Mr. Branson with its Lifetime Achievement Award while the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association named him among its Living Legends. In 2021, he received the Texas Bar Foundation’s highest honor – the Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award honoring attorneys who demonstrate the highest moral and ethical standards and professional conduct.
As the first of what is expected to be many injury and wrongful death lawsuits are filed on behalf of those injured and killed during the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, Dallas trial lawyer Frank Branson spoke with the Associated Press about the legal liabilities facing organizers of the event.
In “Rapper’s Rowdy Past Raises Red Flags in Astroworld Lawsuits,” Associated Press reporter Bernard Condon spoke with Mr. Branson about a series of security failings and red flags that went unheeded before a massive concert audience surged toward the stage at the encouragement of hip hop artist Travis Scott. Fans caught in the surging crowd lost consciousness and many were trampled. Eight people – ranging from 14 to 27 – were killed and many more suffered serious injuries.
Mr. Branson, a veteran trial lawyer, noted that concert organizers and Mr. Scott himself could be found liable for the tragedy. Among other things, Mr. Scott continued performing for more than 30 minutes after authorities declared a mass casualty event. During that time, injuries mounted as fans kept pushing toward the stage.
“The band kept going on and on long after the problem existed,” Mr. Branson told the Associated Press. “It’s hard to believe that wasn’t a conscious disregard to the audience, to safety and welfare.”
More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed so far against Scott and several companies, including entertainment giant Live Nation, concert promoter ScoreMore, a nonprofit managing the Houston-owned venue. The complaints allege that organizers failed to take simple crowd-control steps, to staff properly and to act on early signs of trouble at the sold-out concert at NRG Park that attracted 50,000 fans.
Scott is famous for encouraging fans to ignore security and crowd surf and stage dive in the mosh pit below him. A commercial for this year’s Astroworld event, since removed from YouTube, shows fans breaking through barricades and storming the concert grounds at the 2019 event.
In 2015, Chicago officials said Scott encouraged fans at the Lollapalooza music festival to vault security barricades. The rapper was sentenced to one year of court supervision after pleading guilty to reckless conduct charges.
In 2017, Scott was arrested after he encouraged fans to bypass security and rush the stage during a concert in Arkansas, leaving a security guard, a police officer and several others injured. Scott faced several misdemeanor charges, including inciting a riot. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine.
Scott is also being sued by a concertgoer who says he was partially paralyzed when he was pushed from a third-floor balcony at a New York City concert in 2017, an incident the man says happened after Scott encouraged people to jump.
Bar Foundation’s Secrest Award identifies the state’s top trial lawyer based on review of many criteria
DALLAS – Iconic trial lawyer Frank L. Branson has earned the top honor for a trial lawyer practicing in Texas – the Texas Bar Foundation’s Ronald Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award.
The Secrest Award honors the state’s top courtroom practitioner based on peer recognition and careful evaluation of trial and advocacy skills, commitment to the highest standards of ethical and moral conduct, and proven record of success.
The founder of Dallas-based Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, Mr. Branson and his trial team represent clients in a variety of personal injury cases across the Southwest. They routinely achieve major wins involving transportation crashes, oil field accidents, and serious injuries resulting from defective products and reckless or negligent corporate practices. In the last six years, Mr. Branson and his attorneys have won four verdicts that were recognized by VerdictSearch among the Top 100 in the nation.
In addition to the Secrest Award, 2021 saw repeat selection by peer attorneys and Thomson Reuters/Super Lawyers researchers as one of the Top 10 lawyers in Texas. It is an honor he has earned every year since 2007.
Mr. Branson has earned repeat inclusion in D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in Dallas list, the Best Lawyers in America, and the Lawdragon 500. He has been named to Texas Lawbook’s “Lions of the Bar,” The National Law Journal’s “50 Most Influential Lawyers in the U.S.,” and D CEO’s “Dallas 500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders.”
For the past two years, the firm has been recognized by the National Law Journal and The National Trial Lawyers as the Elite Trial Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” for product liability litigation. In 2019, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association honored Mr. Branson with its Lifetime Achievement Award while the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association named him among its Living Legends.
The Law Offices of Frank L. Branson represents clients in cases involving complex product liability, catastrophic injury, truck accidents, commercial air crashes, electrical and gas explosions, and truck and auto catastrophic injury. To learn more about the firm, visit http://www.flbranson.com.
