Chad Dunn

Chad Dunn is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and expert in state and federal voting rights and apportionment law, and in corporate, bankruptcy, personal injury, and civil rights matters. Licensed in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia, his 20+ years of experience guides his work in his private practice, and as an instructor and Legal Director at UCLA.

Born and raised in Spring, Texas, Chad is a proud fourth-generation Houstonian who completed all his schooling in Texas. Chad graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and continued to earn his law degree from Houston Law School, formerly the South Texas College of Law, where his passion and hard work for litigation manifested in notable mock court presentations and published law reviews. 

Throughout his career, Chad has amassed a reputation that precedes him, having consistently been honored with high recognition for legal publications and an extensive trial and litigation practice in courts across the nation. With his 20+ years of experience, Chad has the expertise to prevail in even the most challenging situations and environments, from the United States Supreme Court to State Supreme Courts, Circuit-level Courts, and virtually all trial and appellate courts in between. He has successfully navigated complex litigation in various states including Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, North Carolina, Florida, and the District of Columbia, and has tried numerous jury cases, trials to the bench, and arbitrations.

Legal Experience

Chad began his career as an associate at O’Quinn, Laminack & Pirtle, LLP, where he managed complex and high-profile litigation. Attending countless trials and hearings and participating in preparing numerous appellate briefings, only affirmed Chad’s passion for trial litigation and ignited a determination to start his own practice. After O’Quinn, Laminack & Pirtle, LLP, Chad joined the private firm of Scott Brazil to develop a trial and appellate practice, known today as Brazil & Dunn, LLP. Eager to pursue a meaningful career in law, within only three weeks of being permanently licensed, Chad jumped at the opportunity to independently try a jury trial in Harris County. Within a few years, he would try more than a dozen jury-and-bench trials in courts throughout the state. As a result of his extensive experience as a trial attorney, Chad not only earned a Board Certification in Personal Injury Trial Law, but was noted as one of the youngest recipients to receive the honor. Chad’s work would soon be recognized by not only his peers, but respected professionals in the field, being approved to sit for the Board Certification exam of appeals early in his career.

Thoroughly skilled as both a defendants’ and plaintiffs’ attorney, Chad has successfully defended and obtained substantial verdicts on behalf of all his clients. Chad’s tenacity and acumen has consistently exhibited itself in his work, having won $1,000,000+ verdicts in numerous cases, including a $1,000,000 verdict against a major league baseball player for knowingly transmitting a sexual disease, and a $1,000,000 recovery verdict for a small-business client during a four-week arbitration in North Carolina. Chad has successfully recovered valuable assets for a corporate client in a six-year derivative lawsuit, has worked on complicated RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), federal antitrust, and white-collar cases, and has tried and/or litigated numerous other real estate, bankruptcy, personal injury, election, and civil rights matters.

Chad has substantial experience leading appellate matters, having argued at the Fifth Circuit, both before the full en banc and three-judge panels on more than two dozen occasions, and routinely serves as counsel on various appeals cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, State Supreme Courts, federal Circuit Courts, and lower Courts of Appeals. Widely considered an expert in voter apportionment, redistricting, and civil rights law, Chad has been hired to defend even government bodies in intricate and prolonged civil rights litigation and appeals cases and has lectured to audiences all over the country on the same matters.

Political and Voting Rights Experience

Prior to practicing law, Chad worked as a policy intern for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), where the foundation for a career in politics was laid. After working with Senator Hutchison, Chad supported State Representative Dawnna Dukes (Austin, TX) as a legislative assistant and State Senator Rodney G. Ellis (Houston, TX) as a TLIP director. Eventually, in 2003, Chad was appointed as General Counsel to the Texas Democratic Party. For over two decades, Chad has represented the Party in dozens of matters including in regulatory, election, civil rights, redistricting, and general litigation. In 2006, arguing before the Federal Court in Austin and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Chad successfully led a trial and appellate team that prevented a prominent U.S. Congressman from unlawfully hand-selecting his successor. Chad continued to support legal matters pertaining to the historic 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, and ultimately pursued voting rights and redistricting cases, prevailing against Dallas and Harris Counties in Texas. Today, Chad is actively working to ensure fair voter procedures and apportionment of voting districts both privately and as the Legal Director of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project. 

Having honed his skills as a trial and appellate attorney, there is virtually no type of court dispute that Chad has not successfully managed and does not feel comfortable and confident leading. His unwavering commitment to justice has rightfully built him a reputation as the community’s go-to lawyer for any litigation needs and has been a guiding pillar in both his private and professional life.