HORSESHOE BAY, TEXAS — “Texas Casual” is traditionally the attire for the awards dinner that the Dallas Bar Association hosts during its annual Bench Bar Conference. But this year, more than half of the attendees traded their jeans and cowboy boots for suits, heels and dresses.
The reason? The dinner’s honoree, of course.
Always spotted in public impeccably dressed in a suit and tie, E. Leon Carter is the DBA’s 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year. A ballroom full of friends, family, colleagues, public officials and peers among the Dallas legal community gathered at the Horseshoe Bay Resort on Thursday night to honor Carter’s celebrated three-decade legal career.
A former assistant district attorney and assistant attorney general, Carter does it all. He’s tried more than 100 cases and has a diverse client base, from corporate giants and governmental entities to small businesses and individuals.
Clients often hire Carter anywhere from three months to three weeks before trial to advocate for them in their most important legal battles. A couple of weeks ago, Carter successfully defended sports equipment giant Spalding in an East Texas trademark infringement and unfair competition trial that had up to $1.1 billion at stake.
Carter is known for his professionalism, unmatched storytelling in the courtroom, community service and commitment to improving diversity in the legal market.
“You’re a great trial lawyer for many reasons, but the number one reason you’re a great trial lawyer… is because you have a tremendous heart,” DBA President Laura Benitez Geisler, who selected Carter as this year’s recipient, said from the podium.
She pointed out that Carter and his law firm, Carter Arnett, have donated more than $167,000 to the Dallas Bar’s Equal Access to Justice Campaign, which benefits low-income families in the Dallas area in need of civil legal services.
But the real reason Carter is a remarkable trial lawyer, other colleagues say, is because he always tells the truth — even if it’s at his expense.
“He is a man of absolute integrity,” U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer told the ballroom of her longtime friend and former law partner during the dinner. “He speaks the truth to the court — sometimes to the detriment [of his case.]”
Even outside of the court, Judge Scholer added, “he’s honest to a fault. He doesn’t know how to tell a lie; he’s the first person to tell me if I have something in my teeth.”
Carter is also known for always doing the right thing, even if doing so is unpopular.
During his acceptance speech, he recounted a trial in 1990 that he co-led with respected white collar lawyer Cass Weiland. They represented Jon Lance Jordan, a member of a white supremacist group called the Confederate Hammerskins who was among a group convicted for racially motivated hate crimes against Jewish, black and Hispanic residents of Dallas.
Carter said he got “castigated” by the media — “especially the black media” — for agreeing to represent Jordan.
His response? “There was no evidence he attacked anyone; it was our opinion that he was being prosecuted for his beliefs,” Carter said. “If he doesn’t get justice, I don’t get justice.”
Carter advocated for Jordan’s rights even though he visibly treated Carter differently in court from the other lawyers because he is black.
“He has the constitutional right to hate my guts,” Carter said. “That’s what I was defending.”
Overcoming Obstacles
Although he’s now considered one of the greatest trial lawyers in Texas and the U.S., Carter reached his path against all odds.
Carter was born in Galveston but his family moved to the East Texas town of Carthage in 1963 after his father was murdered. Carter was only a toddler at the time. He grew up poor but earned a basketball scholarship to East Texas Baptist University, where he graduated in three years.
Carter said his “life changed forever” in 1968, when the 9-year-old Carter saw two side-by-side water fountains. One was labeled “whites only” and the other was labeled “blacks only.”
After prodding for an explanation from his mother, she reluctantly explained the Jim Crow laws and what “separate but equal” meant. That very day Carter decided he would become a lawyer instead of a preacher.
“My mom said, ‘I want you to be a lawyer because I couldn’t be one,’ ” Carter recalled. “Everyone knows with the law, sometimes the right thing doesn’t happen. “We as lawyers are change agents; we have an obligation to see that changes are made.”
Carter was part of the first generation of African Americans who were permitted to attend law school in Texas. He graduated from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1986. He moved to Dallas after graduation but struggled to get his foot in the door at the large law firms. He began his legal career in the Texas Attorney General and Dallas District Attorney’s offices.
One law firm, Jackson Walker, gave him a chance, but not without a tough job interview.
“They said they had never hired a black lawyer before and asked why they should hire me,” Carter recalled.
Carter responded that he was just looking for an opportunity, and if he did not meet their expectations, they could fire him.
The firm hired Carter, where he eventually became an equity partner. By the time he turned in his resignation letter years later to begin his own law firm, his partners wouldn’t accept it. Carter said Jackson Walker partner Chip Babcock tore up his resignation letter.
“I worked there four more months before leaving [as a result],” Carter said, laughing.
One key element to Carter’s success is his routine. He wakes up at 4:30 every morning to read the Bible, pray and do 200 pushups. If he doesn’t have an early breakfast meeting, he’s in the office by 7:30 or 8 a.m. every day.
A video presented in Carter’s honor during the dinner presented interviews by many high-profile trial lawyers and public figures who have worked closely with Carter, including Dr. Phil McGraw, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price (who also attended the event), Mark Lanier, Lisa Blue, Charla Aldous, Barry Barnett and Dick Sayles (the DBA’s 2018 Trial Lawyer of the Year).
“Normally I’d start with a joke about Leon, but there’s nothing funny about Leon,” Sayles said in the video, which resulted in laughter among the crowd. “It’s good to be shoulder-to-shoulder with him as opposed to nose-to-nose with him.”