Lively & Associates

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David F. Farris

Mr. Farris serves as Of Counsel with Lively & Associates. After graduating from Arlington Heights High School in 1958, he earned both his B. A. and Juris Doctor degrees from Baylor University. David enjoyed an active private practice in Tarrant County for over twenty years prior to his election to the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. While in private practice he tried civil and criminal cases before juries in Tarrant and several other Texas Counties and argued cases before many of the Texas Courts of Appeals, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court. During his service on the Second Court of Appeals, he led the Court in the number of opinions written every year. After leaving the Second Court in 1994, he served as a visiting judge on several Trial Courts throughout North and Northeast Texas and on seven of the fourteen Texas Courts of Appeals. Since retiring from the judiciary, David has concentrated on his active Appellate practice. He served as a mediator with Burdin Mediations from 1995-2003. Mr. Farris is Civil Appellate Law Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. As a retired justice, he brings years of experience and knowledge that make him uniquely qualified to assist clients in Alternative Dispute Resolution. David is married and enjoys spending time at his farm in east Texas.

Education

• Baylor University, Waco, Texas, J.D., 1965
• Baylor University, Waco, Texas, B.A., 1963
• Arlington Heights High School, Fort Worth, Texas, 1958

Board Certification

• Civil Appellate Law Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1989

Practice Areas

• Civil Appellate Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Civil Litigation

Professional Associations

• State Bar of Texas
  • Section Memberships:
    • Appellate Section – former Council member and
      Historical Committee, co-chairman
    • Litigation Section
• Tarrant County Bar Association
  • Section/Committee Memberships:
    • Bylaws Committee - Chairman
    • Appellate Section - former Chairman
    • Judicial Evaluation Committee – former Chairman
• Texas Bar Foundation - Fellow (1992)
• The College of the State Bar of Texas
• Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court – Emeritus, Member since 1992

Admitted to Practice

• Texas Supreme Court, 1965
• United States Supreme Court, 1975
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Publications and Lectures

"Preservation of Error, Pretrial", Advanced Civil Appellate Practice Court,

State Bar of Texas, San Antonio (1991)

"Interlocutory Appeals", Advanced Civil Appellate Practice Course,

State Bar of Texas, Houston (1990)

"Preparations of Briefs, Effectiveness in Legal Writing",

Appellate Practice for Lawyers and Legal Assistants, San Antonio (1989)

"Jury Charges in Commercial Cases, Insights from the Appellate Bench",

Spectrum of Civil Litigation: Strategies and Insights, State Bar of Texas,

Austin (1987), Fort Worth (1988)

"Reviewing a Record, What to Look For and How to Accurately Summarize the Facts"’

Briefing Attorney’s Institute, Texas Center for the Judiciary, Austin (1990)

"Evidence of Extraneous Offences in Criminal Cases",

State Judicial Conference, San Antonio (1990)

"Effective Appellate Writing, How to Get a Judge to Read Your Brief"

Practicing Law in Tarrant County, a "Nuts and Bolts" Seminar, Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association, Fort Worth (1993)

"Briefs Shall Be Brief, A Judicial View", Appellate Practice Before the Second Court of

Appeals, Denton County Bar Association, Denton (1993)

"Effective Appellate Advocacy, How to Get Judges to Read Your Brief and Hear Your

Argument", A Practical Approach to Practicing Law in Tarrant County, Tarrant County Trial Lawyers, Fort Worth (1994)

Judicial Experience