Mr. Barnett joined Baker Botts LLP in 1958. He was Managing Partner from 1984-1998 and Senior Counsel from 1998 to 2004, when he retired from the firm. His main areas of practice have been commercial litigation and antitrust law. He is the former Chairman of the Section of Antitrust Law of the American Bar Association and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was Chairman of the Rice University Board of Trustees (1996-2005); he is a director and former chairman of the Advisory Board of the Baker Institute of Rice University.
He is a Director Emeritus and former Chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, Director Emeritus and former founding Chairman of Houston Zoo, Inc., and former Chairman of Central Houston, Inc. He is a Director Emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine. He is a former Director of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System. He is a founding director and an advisory director of the Center for Houston’s Future. He is a director of Enterprise Products G.P. and a former director of several other corporations. In 2005, he received the Corporate Director of the Year award from the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Mr. Barnett received a B.A. from Rice University in 1955 and an LL.B., with honors, in 1958 from The University of Texas School of Law, where he was a member of the Chancellors and the Order of the Coif, and served as Comment Editor of the Texas Law Review. Mr. Barnett is the recipient of the 2003 Law School’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2005 Rice University’s Gold Medal Lifetime Achievement Award.