John Wesley Raley

John Raley is a trial lawyer with over 38 years of courtroom experience. He has tried cases in a wide variety of areas, including intellectual property, legal malpractice, products liability, hospital and physician malpractice, pharmaceutical claims, chemical exposure, industrial accidents, railroad accidents, securities and common law fraud, wrongful termination, malicious prosecution, and general commercial litigation. He has over nearly 40 victorious first chair verdicts, and has handled over 200  mediations as lead counsel.  John has defended many cases involving multi-million dollar claims, and, as plaintiff’s counsel, obtained multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for his clients. He has argued many times before Texas courts of appeal, and took the lead presenting a landmark case before the Texas Supreme Court.

John obtained a B.A. in Letters (History, Literature, and Philosophy) summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and played offensive guard on the varsity football team. He obtained his J.D. at Oklahoma University, where he served as Note Editor of the Law Review and received The Order of Barristers Award.  He attended the University of Aberdeen, Scotland on a Rotary Fellowship and obtained an L.L.M. in International Law. 

John  is rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell.  He has been named as Texas Monthly Super Lawyer since the award's inception in 2003. During that time, he has also been listed in "Who's Who in American Law" and in "Outstanding Lawyers of America."  He was also named a Law & Politics magazine "Super Lawyer" in Civil Litigation and recognized by H Texas Magazine as one of "Houston's Top Lawyers."  John has been inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates. 

In 2013, Texas Lawyer magazine named John one of the top five "Impact Players" of Texas.   He was awarded a Presidential Citation from the Texas State Bar Association in recognition of his seven-year pro bono fight in state and federal courts to exonerate Michael Morton, an innocent man who served 25 years in prison.  The resultant Michael Morton Act, described as the most significant change in Texas criminal law in 50 years, requires prosecutors to provide defense counsel free access to investigation information. 

John was named 2013 "Houstonian of the Year" by the Houston Chronicle.  In 2014, the Brazos County Bar gave him their annual "Atticus Finch Award."  John received the 2015 Houston Bar Association President's Award for Pro Bono Service.  In 2017, John was named the recipient of HCDLA's annual "Clarence Darrow Award."