As a kid growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, King & Spalding partner Bruce Hurley remembers hearing his relatives, who were trial lawyers, tell stories about their careers.
“We do have some distant relatives that were trial lawyers, and through family gatherings and things like that I got to learn what they did, and it seemed super interesting and really rewarding,” Hurley said. “I guess you could say that the lawyers in the family were the best storytellers, or had the best stories, and that’s what was interesting to me.”
That interest turned into a career for Hurley. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Southwestern University and his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.
Hurley was recently named trial lawyer of the year by the Texas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
His practice at King & Spalding involves representing multinational construction and maintenance contractors, integrated oil field service companies and other businesses in the Gulf Coast petrochemical industry, as well as large manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, in a variety of toxic tort, environmental, drug and medical device cases.
Hurley has been at King & Spalding since 2000.
He recently sat down with The Texas Lawbook to reflect on his career and being named trial lawyer of the year by Texas ABOTA. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Lawbook: What trends are you seeing in your practice area?
Hurley: AI is front of mind for everybody. Probably anybody you ask would say that’s going to be a big change. I think we’re just starting to see the impact of AI on the practice of law. I’ve been around long enough where I remember practicing law before email and before the internet. If you just kind of compare and think about the way email and the internet changed the practice of law, I think the AI changes are more impactful than that, which is really hard to believe. Another trend that I’m kind of tracking is how commonplace what are called nuclear or thermonuclear jury verdicts have become. When I started practicing law in ‘89, a $250,000 verdict was frightening. It was alarming, and it was something you didn’t want to report back to the client. Million-dollar verdicts were rare, and before Texaco v. Pennzoil made all the headlines, billion-dollar verdicts were unheard of. And I realize that Texaco v. Pennzoil was 40 years ago, but still, it seems like not a week goes by in the U.S. without hearing or reading about some billion-dollar verdict taking place. So that’s something I track.
Lawbook: What is a memorable moment or case in your career so far?
Hurley: There have been quite a few. People always say that if you try these cases long enough, you’re going to win one you should have lost, and you’re going to lose one that you should have won. That certainly holds true by practice. People also say that the more accomplished you become as a plaintiff’s lawyer, the better your cases are, and the more accomplished you become as a defense lawyer, the harder your cases are.
Something that stands out was one of my first cases I tried when I was on the plaintiff’s side of the docket with my legal mentor. It was not long after I became a lawyer, and we actually went over a million dollars, and that was 35 years ago. That was a lot of money back then, and it’s certainly a memory that stuck with me. It was something that I was proud of, and it also gave me confidence that I made the right career choice.
Lawbook: What has surprised you about serving on the ABOTA National Board of Representatives?
Hurley: How dedicated and devoted the people that I serve with are to this mission that we have, and how important that mission really is. In today’s society, I think being a lawyer is an important job and responsibility, and I think that we all owe it to our profession to try to maintain civility.
Lawbook: How do you feel about being named trial lawyer of the year?
Hurley: The importance of that to me is being selected among a group of trial lawyers and judges that do really important work, things that I care about. The surprise with that is how important that work is to all of us — and I mean that all of us, not just lawyers or trial lawyers, but collectively, the citizens of the U.S. I’m really proud to be a part of that group and am proud to serve with people who are so dedicated to that mission.
Lawbook: What is something you would change about the practice of law?
Hurley: Jumping back into the mission of ABOTA and our promotion of civility in the practice of law, that’s something that we are all working collectively to improve. I think we have a lot of wood to chop to get that done. I think it might have a little bit, or maybe even a lot, to do with kind of the table stakes that I talked about earlier — how much money is at stake. But I do think it’s important to the profession that we promote civility for everyone.
If you or someone you know would like to be profiled in a future edition of Asked & Answered, please let us know at tlblitigation@texaslawbook.net. Check out our other Asked & Answered interviews below:
McKool Smith’s Sam Baxter, who recently retired, reflects on his 56-year career. While he is known for his work trying intellectual property cases in the Eastern District of Texas, he started out as a prosecutor and judge.
Bracewell partner Steve Benesh discussed his time serving as president of the State Bar of Texas and issues plaguing the legal profession. In Benesh’s 39-year career at Bracewell, he’s represented actor Leonard Nimoy and called the prime minister of Belarus to the witness stand.
Norton Rose Fulbright partner Julie Searle talked about being inspired by her parents to go to law school and her decade of experience at the Department of Justice. From government to in-house to private practice, Searle draws on these experiences in her role as a litigator in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Austin office.
Beck Redden partner Russell Post shared how he went from resisting the idea of attending law school to contemplating a career as a law professor. For Post, who recently secured a win at the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming a law professor is no longer a goal of his, but teaching isn’t out of the question.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner Chris Porter discussed what he loves about being a trial lawyer, his early dreams of being a restaurateur and how the door closing on his football career opened other opportunities.