Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP partner and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott A. Brister has been named Chief Justice of the newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals, Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently announced.

Established by legislation in 2023, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals will open for business for the first time on September 1, 2024. The Court will have exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over disputes brought by or against the State of Texas and its officers, constitutional challenges to state laws, and appeals from the newly created Texas business courts.

Judge Brister’s fellow appointees to the new court include 480^th Judicial District Court Judge Scott K. Feld and First Court of Appeals Justice April L. Farris. Their appointments are effective September 1, 2024, for a term set to expire on December 31, 2026.

“I am honored to return to the judiciary  and look forward to once again serving the citizens of Texas,” said Judge Brister. “I am so grateful to Governor Abbott for his confidence in me, to his staff for guiding me through the process, and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead. I also want to express my thanks to my colleagues at Hunton Andrews Kurth for their 15 years of friendship and support.”

As co-lead of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Issues and Appeals practice, Judge Brister is experienced in all aspects of litigation and regularly represents clients in civil appellate, civil trial and personal injury trial law.

Prior to joining the firm, he served as a judge for 20 years at all levels of the Texas court system: six years on the Texas Supreme Court, three years as Justice and Chief Justice of the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals respectively, and eleven years as Judge of the 234th District Court.

In those two decades, he presided over 670 trials to verdict, and authored more than 600 appellate opinions, including 122 opinions of the Texas Supreme Court. Judge Brister was also a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee and the Supreme Court Jury Task Force and has continued his public service as chair of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance.