Harry M. Reasoner graduated from Rice University in 1960 and from The University of Texas School of Law in 1962. He then completed post-graduate work at the University of London as a Rotary Foundation Fellow, studying international law and comparative law of competition and monopoly. Reasoner has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Texas, the University of Texas School of Law, and Rice University.
Reasoner clerked for Judge Charles E. Clark on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1963-1964. He joined Vinson & Elkins in 1964 and was Managing Partner from 1992 through 2001. His principal area of practice is complex civil litigation, including antitrust and securities litigation.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, and the American Bar Foundation. Reasoner’s professional memberships include The American Law Institute and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He received the Professionalism Award for the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit from The American Inns of Court Foundation in 2004. The American Lawyer presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, and he was named One of the 25 Greatest Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century in 2010 by Texas Lawyer.
Reasoner serves on the Board of Trustees of Baylor College of Medicine and as a Trustee Emeritus of Rice University and The Center for American and International Law. He chairs the Supreme Court appointed Texas Access to Justice Commission. He is a Board Member of The Supreme Court of the United States Historical Society and serves on the Board of Advisors of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Reasoner is also a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas and a Life Trustee of the University of Texas Law School Foundation.