Eric Nichols practices both civil and criminal trial law as a partner with the Butler Snow firm.
His background includes not only many years representing companies and individuals in private practice but also experience in both Texas state government and the federal government, having served as Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and a law clerk to a federal judge. He also serves as the Chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the board that oversees the operations of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which among other things operates the Texas state prison system, and the Windham School District, which provides educational and vocational programming to those incarcerated in Texas prisons.
Eric is AV® -Preeminent™ rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and has been recognized by numerous legal publications, including Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers in America®, Thomson Reuters Texas Super Lawyers®, Wall Street Journal, Austin Monthly, and American Lawyers Media.
He is a member or fellow of a number of legal associations, including the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Inns Court (Barbara Jordan Inn), the Texas Bar Foundation, the Austin Bar Association, the Austin Bar Foundation, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, the Texas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Eric earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. He is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and is Board Certified in Criminal Law.
Eric’s work for clients in civil and criminal cases has been profiled in and on, among other places, 60 Minutes, CNN, A&E, truTV, the National Law Journal, Texas Monthly, the Texas Lawyer, and daily newspapers from across the country.
Eric has authored a number of publications on civil and criminal trial practice and procedure for treatises, legal journals, and law reviews, and he actively writes and lectures for various legal education programs and seminars throughout the United States. His publications include a co-authored chapter on jury selection for the Thomson/Reuters treatise Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, now in its fifth edition.