Chris Gober

Top rated Legislative & Governmental Affairs attorney in Austin, Texas

Lex Politica PLLC
Chris Gober
Lex Politica PLLC

Practice areas: Legislative & Governmental Affairs, Constitutional Law, White Collar Crimes

Licensed in Texas since: 2005

Education: Harvard Law School

Selected to Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2025 Selected to Rising Stars: 2012 - 2014

Lex Politica PLLC

PO Box 341016
Austin, TX 78738 Phone: 512-354-1783 Email: Chris Gober Visit website

Chris Gober is a trusted legal adviser and problem solver for the toughest political, public policy, and regulatory challenges faced by ambitious and high-profile changemakers.

As the Founding Partner and CEO of Lex Politica, Gober oversees a national law firm focused on constitutional and political litigation, government investigations and enforcement actions, and providing strategic advice and guidance to elected officials, companies, nonprofits and industry trade associations, high-net-worth individuals, and high-profile executives and athletes. As recently described by The New York Times, Gober is a “swaggering Texas-based lawyer” who has represented billionaires like Elon Musk, championship-winning athletes and coaches, award-winning on-air personalities, and dozens of U.S. Senators, Members of Congress, and Governors.

Gober is a proven winner in courtrooms across the country, so he often gets the call when someone has a complex problem or case they can’t afford to lose.

  • Successfully represented Elon Musk and America PAC in high-profile lawsuits brought by the Wisconsin Attorney General and Philadelphia District Attorney, stemming from their support of political candidates and the Constitution.
  • Successfully represented U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in a U.S. Supreme Court case striking down an unconstitutional provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
  • Successfully represented Attorney General Ken Paxton in the State Bar of Texas inquiry over allegations that the Texas Attorney General’s Office’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election amounted to professional misconduct.
  • Successfully represented a senior advisor to President Trump in connection with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s two-year investigation and the U.S. House Select Committee’s inquiry into the 2020 election.
  • Successfully represented a Republican Congressman in Fani Willis’s Georgia grand jury investigation into President Trump and the 2020 election.
  • Successfully sued and secured a settlement against President Obama’s IRS after Lois Lerner and her deputies unlawfully targeted a conservative nonprofit organization and leaked confidential taxpayer information.
  • Successfully sued multiple states to strike down unconstitutional state laws in First Amendment lawsuits argued in federal district courts and courts of appeal.
  • Successfully defended a Republican U.S. Senator in a multi-year investigatory inquiry by President Obama’s Justice Department.
  • Successfully defended conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro in a high-profile defamation suit brought by the father of the former Irving, Texas student known as “Clock Boy.”
  • Successfully defended dozens of U.S. Senators and Representatives in matters before federal and state agencies, as well as the Senate and House ethics committees.
  • Successfully represented the Republican Party of Texas in a 2017 federal lawsuit filed by the Texas Democratic Party.
  • Successfully drew and implemented Texas’s new congressional map in 2021 after being hired by 23 U.S. Representatives from Texas and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

He has previously served as General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Deputy Counsel to the Republican National Committee, General Counsel to the Republican Party of Texas, and Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2005-06, Gober worked on national security matters and the team that prepared Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito for their confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court.

A 7th-generation Texan raised in the rural communities of Throckmorton (pop. 727) and Graham (pop. 8,372) in the “Big Country” area of Texas between Lubbock and Dallas, Gober went on to attend Texas A&M University and earn his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2004.

First Admitted: 2005, Texas

Professional Webpage: https://gobergroup.com/bios/gober/

Verdicts / Settlements (Case Results)

  • Federal Election Commission v. Cruz, 596 U.S. 289 (2022), 2022
  • Ted Cruz v. Federal Election Commission, 542 F.Supp. 3d 1 (D.D.C. 2021) , 2021
  • — Mohamed vs. The Blaze, Inc. et al., No. DC-16-12579 (Dallas County District Court). In a decisive victory for free speech and freedom of the press, a legal team led by Chris Gober and Ross Fischer of The Gober Group and Kurt Schlichter of Schlichter & Shonack won a dismissal and fee award in a high-profile defamation suit filed by the father of a Muslim teenager who was arrested and suspended in 2015 for bringing a clock, which many have said looked like a bomb, to school. The incident put the Irving, Texas student, who came to be known in the media as “Clock Boy,” at the center of a national debate about terrorism and racial profiling and set off a firestorm of social media support for the teen who received invitations to visit Facebook, MIT, NASA, and even then-President Obama at the White House. In the fall of 2015, lawyers for Mohamed Mohamed, the student’s father, sent two demand letters—one to the City of Irving, and another to the Irving Independent School District—asking for a total of $15 million for alleged civil rights violations related to the arrest. The incident was widely discussed in the press, and well-known political commentator Ben Shapiro discussed the controversy with Megyn Kelly during a segment on The Kelly File. Nearly a year later, the father filed a defamation lawsuit against various media defendants who reported on and commented on the controversy, including Shapiro. Representing Mr. Shapiro, The Gober Group and Schlichter & Schonack moved to dismiss the suit using the Texas Citizens Participation Act, widely known as the “anti-SLAPP” statute, a Texas law that protects Texans from retaliatory lawsuits that aim to punish them for exercising their First Amendment rights. During a district court hearing on January 30, 2017, Gober established that Shapiro’s statements were covered by the anti-SLAPP statute and successfully argued that the claims should be dismissed because the statements were not defamatory per se, and were opinion or fair, true, and impartial statements involving a matter of public concern. Notably, the court also ordered the Mohameds to pay Shapiro’s attorneys’ fees. A copy of The Gober Group's press release can be viewed at http://gobergroup.com/the-gober-group-wins-dismissal-and-fee-award-in-high-profile-defamation-suit-brought-by-father-of-former-irving-tx-student-known-as-clock-boy/, 2017
  • Missourians for Fiscal Accountability v. Klahr, 2015 WL 1893359 (W.D. Mo.), 2015
  • Missourians for Fiscal Accountability v. Klahr, 830 F.3d 789 (8th Cir. 2016), 2016
  • Texans for Free Enterprise v. Texas Ethics Com'n, 732 F.3d 535 (5th Cir. 2013). On October 16, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a published opinion in Texans for Free Enterprise v. Texas Ethics Commission that vindicates the political speech and association rights of corporations and political committees. The decision upheld the right of individuals and corporations to make unlimited contributions to a committee making independent expenditures only, which should permanently clear the way for so-called “super PACs” to influence state and local political races in Texas. Following the Citizens United decision, the Texas Legislature amended the state election code to repeal all sections of the code prohibiting a single corporation from making direct campaign expenditures (more commonly known as “independent expenditures” under federal law). The Legislature did not, however, repeal or amend code provisions that prohibit corporations from contributing to political action committees (i.e., super PACs) for the same purpose. Although not widely recognized, these laws continued to make it illegal for super PACs to influence state and local races in Texas. Texans for Free Enterprise, a Texas-based political committee formed for the purpose of making direct campaign expenditures only, sued the Texas Ethics Commission alleging the prohibitions unconstitutionally infringed its First Amendment rights. Shortly after the 2012 general election, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the State of Texas from enforcing the Texas Election Code laws that prohibited Texans for Free Enterprise from accepting corporate contributions for the purpose of making direct campaign expenditures. The Fifth Circuit’s opinion unanimously affirmed that lower court’s decision. Texans for Free Enterprise was represented by attorneys Chris Gober of Gober Hilgers PLLC and Lewis Sessions of Sessions & Schaffer, P.C., and the Fifth Circuit appeal was argued by Chris Gober. Copies of the appellate and district court opinions, as well as some relevant briefs filed in the litigation, can be viewed at http://goberhilgers.com/writing., 2013
  • Texans for Free Enterprise v. Texas Ethics Commission, No. 1:12-cv-00845-LY. A federal judge ruled in favor of a Texas-based political action committee (PAC) by granting a permanent and preliminary injunction in a First Amendment lawsuit that clears the way for so-called "super PACs" to influence state and local political races in Texas. In September 2012, the PAC Texans for Free Enterprise sued the Texas Ethics Commission challenging the constitutionality of the Texas Election Code provisions that prohibit PACs from accepting corporate contributions for the purpose of making direct campaign expenditures. The Texas Ethics Commission defines direct campaign expenditures as independent expenditures made without the prior consent, approval or cooperation of the candidate benefitted. The lawsuit cited the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which held that corporations and unions can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money to campaign independently for candidates running for office. The Citizens United ruling and other court decisions that followed resulted in a new breed of political committees known as super PACs, which can legally raise and spend corporate money to influence elections for federal offices. Following the Citizens United decision, the Texas Legislature amended the state election code to repeal all sections of the code prohibiting a single corporation from making direct campaign expenditures. The Legislature did not, however, repeal or amend code provisions that prohibit corporations from contributing to political action committees (i.e., super PACs) for the same purpose, which made it illegal for super PACs to influence state and local races in Texas. The ruling from Judge Lee Yeakel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin prevents the Texas Ethics Commission from enforcing the contribution restrictions in Sections 253.003(b) and 253.094(a) of the Texas Election Code against super PACs like Texans for Free Enterprise.  Texans for Free Enterprise was represented by attorney Chris Gober of Gober Hilgers PLLC and Lewis Sessions of Sessions & Schaffer, P.C. Copies of the complaint in Texans for Free Enterprise v. Texas Ethics Commission, No. 1:12-cv-00845-LY; the motion for preliminary injunction; and Judge Yeakel's opinion can be viewed at http://goberhilgers.com/writing., 2013

Representative Clients

Special Licenses / Certifications

  • Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Texas Campaign and Legislative Law Section, 2023

Pro bono / Community Service

  • National Law Enforcement Foundation, Board Member
  • Dallas CASA, Texas Bar Foundation

Honors

  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2023
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2022
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2021
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2020
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2019
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2018
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2017
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2016
  • U.S. Government Lawyer of the Year, Corporate LiveWire, 2015
  • Top 40 Under 40, The National Trial Lawyers, 2014
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2014
  • Texas Rising Stars, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2014
  • Legal Leaders on the Rise, Texas Lawyer, 2013
  • Texas Rising Stars, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2013
  • U.S. Government Lawyer of the Year, Lawyer Monthly, 2013
  • Texas Rising Stars, Texas Monthly/Super Lawyers, 2012
  • Political "Dream Team" for Legal Services, Aristotle Inc., 2011

Office location for Chris Gober

PO Box 341016
Austin, TX 78738

Selections

12 Years Super Lawyers
3 Years Rising Stars
  • Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2025
  • Rising Stars: 2012 - 2014

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