Jeffrey S. Edwards

Jeff Edwards founded Edwards Law to help people obtain the justice they deserve.  With this goal in mind, Jeff and his team have successfully tried numerous cases.  

Before practicing law, Jeff went to Dartmouth College and taught sixth grade in the Rio Grande Valley as part of the Teach for America Program.   In 1999, Jeff graduated with a joint degree in law and public affairs from the University of Texas School of Law and LBJ School of Public Affairs.

While he began his career working for an international defense firm doing business litigation and securities fraud work, his passion for helping people led him to the plaintiff’s side.  Since 2003, Jeff has represented individuals who have suffered serious injuries or endured significant financial hardships.   

Jeff has been victorious in numerous trials and has achieved several settlements resulting in multi-million dollar recoveries for his clients.   Among others, these include the Richard Danziger wrongful imprisonment case, a securities fraud case brought by an Austin company against several investment banks, the drowning of a child at a fitness center swimming pool, the deaths of two children due to a defective compnent part in a truck, a debilitating injury to an elderly woman from a defective electric door, and an unarmed teenager shot by the police.  Jeff was named Texas litigator of the week after winning a million dollar jury award in a wrongful death in federal court in Amarillo.  Jeff has also been nationally recognized for obtaining multiple injunctions against the Texas prison system to ensure safe living conditions for prisoners.

Jeff is proud to be an active meber of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates, that his peers have recognized him in Super Lawyers, an honor accorded to the top five percent of practicing lawyers in Texas, and that his success has led to his inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America for the field of commercial litigation, as well as the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an honor afforded to less than 1% of the national plaintiff’s bar.   Though he is now too old for the award, Jeff is also proud that the business community honored him as Austin’s most outstanding lawyer under 40 several years ago. 

Jeff is well known for his work in the medical malpractice and civil rights arenas and has obtained numerous high profile victories in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Angelo, Marshall, Amarillo, San Antonio, and Michigan.   These include police shooting cases, sexual abuse of minors by government employees, jail deaths, and failures by medical providers to diagnose cancer or provide adequate treatment in hospitals and nursing homes.

In 2008, the Texas Civil Right Project awarded him their Pro Bono Champion award for successfully resolving several sexual abuse cases at the Texas Youth Commission and helping them make systemic changes to the way in which children are treated in Texas’ juvenile justice system. 

Despite his success, Jeff strives to maintain strong working relationships with members of the defense bar and takes great pride when, as is often the case, his adversaries recommend him to their friends and colleagues.

Jeff and his firm are also committed to making a difference in the community.  From 2005-2009, Jeff served as a Commissioner on the Access to Justice Commission, the State Bar and Supreme Court’s effort to provide legal services for the poor and regularly testifies before the legislature on behalf of its legislative committee.  While on the Commission, he chaired the technology section and arranged for the delivery of $800,000 worth of computer equipment  to Texas’ legal services organizations.   

Jeff is on the Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, served on the Board of Volunteer Legal Services for more than ten years, and was a founding member of its Sustainability Society.  Jeff is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, a member of the Lloyd Locheridge Inns of Court, and is active in ABOTA.  He previously served as President of the Austin Young Lawyers Association and on the Executive Committee of Youth Launch, a teen-mentoring group.

Jeff has spoken on a variety of topics throughout the state on topics as diverse as federal practice, evidence, civil rights issues, and pro bono service, and is often asked to speak at his alma mater, the University of Texas School of Law.  Jeff also serves as an adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law teaching a course on civil rights litigation.

Jeff is married to a wonderful woman and attorney, Allison.  They have three beautiful children, Bering, Luke and Gracie.  Both Jeff and Allison volunteer at their schools and though they are from Connecticut and Houston, respectively, are proud to call Austin their home.