Position: Member

TEL: (hidden)

FAX: 713-653-7897

Email: Click Here

Website: (hidden)

Admitted: 1965, Texas; 1999, District of Columbia; 2000, New York; 2002, Colorado.

Law School: Yale University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1962)

College: University of Texas (J.D., with highest honors, 1965)

Birth Date and Place: Houston, Texas

Practice Areas: Commercial Civil Litigation

Additional Information: Stephen Susman is among a small group included in The Best Lawyers in America for 25 years and most recently, he has been recognized for two consecutive years by Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers as the 2006 and 2007 Leading Commercial Litigator in the World. Who's Who Legal: Texas 2007 has also acknowledged Susman in both the Commercial Litigation and Unfair Competition categories. He was featured in The National Law Journal 's June 5, 2006 issue as one of the nation's top 10 litigators. Texas Super Lawyers has named him as one of the top 10 lawyers in Texas in 2003-2009. Susman was listed in the 2008 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America with the comment: "This legendary litigator is hot when it comes to global warming suits, getting TXU reforms for 37 Texas cities and representing an Inuit tribe whose home was lost to environmental changes. "Susman was also featured in a February 2008 article in the ABA Journal"The G-Man- A week in the life of a $1,000-per hour lawyer." Jury consultant, Don Vinson, in his book, America's Top Trial Lawyers, ranks Susman among the 14 best trial lawyers in the United States. International Commercial Litigation's worldwide poll of lawyers ranked Susman as the Litigator of the Year for 1997 and the top litigator in the United States in 1996. [Click here to see references, list of trials, or letters of recommendation from clients.] Susman's landmark victory as a plaintiff's attorney came in 1980 with an award of more than $550 million to victims of a nationwide price-fixing conspiracy, the largest jury verdict of its time. He has since represented both plaintiffs and defendants such as Northrop in its suit against McDonnell Douglas over the F-18 jet fighter, Speaker Jim Wright (cover of New York Times, May 24, 1989) in his ethics battle, the Hunt brothers (New York Times Magazine) in the largest lender liability case in history, and the state of Arkansas in a milk price-fixing case.

Susman represents both plaintiffs and defendants pursuant to fee arrangements that compensate him for results, not effort. In March 2005, he successfully obtained a jury verdict in an antitrust treble damage action for Masimo against Tyco in federal court in Los Angeles. Immediately prior to that, he served as lead counsel to 93 financial institutions suing PwC for errors it made in the audits of a borrower, Safety-Kleen. That case was settled the day it was scheduled to go to trial before a jury in state court in Atlanta. Susman has successfully defended Clear Channel in an antitrust case in Miami and Little Caesar's in an antitrust case in Detroit. Other former clients include: Medtronic, Ericsson, Hughes Electronics, Northrop, Decker Coal, and Amerisource Bergen. In 1999, he successfully tried the longest civil jury trial ever held in Detroit, Michigan, and was co-lead counsel in the Vitamins Antitrust case that settled for over $1 billion. In 2000, he successfully settled a mammoth antitrust case against Microsoft on the eve of trial in Salt Lake City. Susman is currently representing the plaintiffs in numerous patent infringement cases and two monopolization cases, one in New York and one in Kentucky.

Susman has recently become a pioneer in global warming litigation. He has completed a successful representation of a coalition of 37 Texas cities opposing the permitting of coal-fired electric generating plants by TXU. This case garnered Susman Godfrey the National Law Journal's 2008 Pro Bono Award as well as being featured in Robert Redford's Sundance Preserve documentary Fighting Goliath – Texas Coal Wars. The new purchasers of TXU have agreed to suspend all the permit application that Susman was opposing. The Mayor of Dallas had this to say about Susman's efforts: "Without Susman Godfrey, we would never have gotten the result that we did, with TXU withdrawing permit applications, for all eight units that the coalition challenged. The aggressive, relentless, and comprehensive legal work that was done on this case in record time caused TXU to have to rethink its environmentally unfriendly plan. What Steve Susman and his team did will be remembered by the utility industry for a long time to come: people in this country will no longer accept the construction of dirty, old-technology, coal-fired power plants. Not even in Texas. Susman taught a Climate Change Litigation course at the University of Houston Law School and has frequently lectured on the subject for the ABA, BNA, University of Texas and Stanford. He is currently counsel to an Inuit tribe that has lost its home because of global warming. View Houston Business Journal article regarding the Kivalina suit against 24 energy companies in global warming litigation.

A native Houstonian from a highly respected family of lawyers, Susman worked his way through Yale University, graduating magna cum laude. Returning to his home state and the University of Texas Law School, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review and graduated first in his class, with the highest grade point average in the school's history.

After serving as law clerk to The Honorable John R. Brown of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Susman clerked for the United States Supreme Court. A recent biography of then Justice Hugo Black states that Susman was the first law clerk whom Black trusted to draft opinions for him. In his early career path, Susman joined a large Houston firm and became a partner, took a year's leave of absence to teach law at the University of Texas, and hit on the magic niche that led to a new style of law practice representing plaintiffs in complex commercial disputes. In 1980, he founded Susman Godfrey, the first firm in this part of the country to limit its specialty to commercial litigation. Susman Godfrey has more than 80 lawyers in offices in Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. In 2005, the firm was chosen by the American Lawyer as one of the top two litigation boutiques in the country.

As further testimony to Susman's affecting style, in 1994, four of the best trial lawyers in the country were selected to compete in the "Best of the Best Shoot-Out" at the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association's annual meeting. After final arguments by each top lawyer, the 30 person jury voted unanimously for Susman as the most persuasive. Susman has also been portrayed in John Jenkins' best seller, The Litigators, and in 1995, Texas Lawyer placed him among the ten "whose actions had the greatest impact on the Texas legal profession from 1985 to 1995." Business Week has called him "a lion of the Texas Bar"; Town & Country, "the Houston courtroom gladiator best known nationally"; the Houston Business Journal, "the reigning prince of Houston business litigators."

Although the stakes are high and the challenges immense in his private practice, that doesn't stop Susman from tirelessly pursuing issues of justice and reform. Teaching lawyers around the world effective advocacy, instituting reforms in the civil justice system, and through ABA Task Forces on which he serves, improving jury comprehension, streamlining class actions, and promoting efficient trials are top priorities in his dedication to law. Currently chairman of the Discovery Subcommittee of the Texas Supreme Court's Advisory Committee, Susman has been instrumental in discovery rule revision, tantamount to making trials quicker and less expensive. A board-certified civil trial specialist, Susman is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Firm Members: Stephen Susman

Firm Members: Johnny Carter

Firm Members: Geoffrey Harris

Firm Members: Chanler Langham

Firm Members: J. Peacock

Firm Members: James Peacock, III

Firm Members: Shawn Raymond

Firm Members: Neal Manne

Firm Members: Alejandra Salinas

Firm Members: Lexie White

Firm Members: Krisina Zuniga