Eric Nichols practices both civil and criminal trial law as a partner with the Butler Snow firm.
Eric is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He also serves as a Member of the Board of Criminal Justice, the Texas state board that oversees the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Windham School District that serves TDCJ’s inmate population.
Eric served for over four years as Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice for the Office of the Texas Attorney General. While overseeing the Attorney General’s Criminal Justice Divisions, which included over 500 prosecutors, peace officers, and other criminal justice professionals, he remained actively engaged in trial and appellate practice. For example, Eric was the lead prosecutor for the State in multiple cases arising from the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, including during seven trials in which juries convicted Warren Jeffs and former leaders at the Ranch of sexual assault of children and bigamy. The Texas District and County Attorneys Association honored him with the Lone Star Award in 2010, in recognition of his service to the State.
Eric previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. As an Assistant United States Attorney, he prosecuted white-collar federal criminal matters, including fraud cases relating to health care, banking, investments, customs enforcement, bankruptcy, tax matters, and government procurement.
Eric’s work for clients in civil and criminal cases has been profiled in and on, among other places, the documentary Preaching Evil: A Wife on the Run with Warren Jeffs (Peacock TV, 2022), 60 Minutes, CNN, A&E, truTV, the National Law Journal, Texas Monthly, the Texas Lawyer, and local 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.