Clyde Seibman
When the biggest corporations in the world – Toyota, Wal-Mart, Phillip Morris, Boeing and Huawei – needed a lawyer in East Texas, they called Sherman’s Clyde Siebman. So did single moms, the elderly and veterans.
A zealous advocate for the right to trial by jury, the 2020 D/FW Patent Litigation Lawyer of the Year and a force within the Republican Party of Texas, Siebman died Friday. He was 62.
“In every sense of the word, Clyde Siebman was a giant of a man,” said Chief Judge Barbara Lynn of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. “His impact and influence in the Eastern District of Texas as a lawyer and as a citizen was phenomenal. His passing leaves a great void in the universe and in our profession and, of course, in his wonderful family.”
Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District told The Texas Lawbook that Siebman was “a trial lawyer of recognized and often sought abilities.”
“He was the guiding spirit behind our EDTX Bench Bar conference for many years,” Judge Gilstrap said. “He will be sorely missed.”
A 1984 graduate of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Siebman served as a law clerk to the late U.S. District Judge Paul Brown. He cofounded Siebman, Forrest, Burg & Smith, which has 10 lawyers in five Texas offices. He appeared as counsel in approximately 500 cases in the federal courts of East Texas.
Siebman was a frequent speaker at CLE conferences across the U.S. He was a member of a delegation of attorneys and judges that presented the first patent mock trial at Beijing University in China and he delivered a presentation on U.S. trial practices at Southwestern University School of Law and Political Science in Chongqing, China.
During law school at SMU, he met Carol Mumm from Maine. They were married for 35 years and his wife is now a judge. The couple have one daughter, Elizabeth Forrest, who is a named partner in his firm.
“Clyde was an intellectual giant with a huge heart, a great sense of humor,” Grayson County District Attorney Brett Smith told KXII-TV. “The Clyde Siebman that I knew worked very hard.”