Tommy Jacks is Of Counsel to the Austin office of Fish & Richardson. His practice emphasizes general commercial litigation. Mr. Jacks has more than 38 years of law firm experience in general litigation that focused on a wide range of complex personal injury, professional liability, trade secrets and general business litigation. Following law school, he clerked for U.S. District Judge Roszel C. Thompson in Baltimore, Maryland, and spent two years in Washington, D.C., as a litigation attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, a public interest law firm founded by Ralph Nader.
Mr. Jacks is active in professional activities, having been repeatedly appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to serve on its Rules Advisory Committee. He has also served on Texas Supreme Court task forces on the Jury System and on Judicial Selection. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Pattern Jury Charge Committee for the State Bar of Texas that deals with Products Liability, Professional Negligence and Premises Liability. He served as chairman of this committee (1995-2002). He has served on both the Magistrate Selection Committee and the Local Rules Revision Committee for the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Texas.
Mr. Jacks was appointed by Governor Ann Richards as a member of the Texas Health Policy Task Force and has also served as a member of the Trauma Technical Advisory Committee for the Texas Department of Health.
Mr. Jacks has authored several journal articles in such publications as the Texas Law Review, Texas Trial Lawyers Forum, and Trial. His publications have won awards from the Ford Foundation and the Texas Bar Foundation. He is invited frequently to speak at legal seminars for the State Bar of Texas and at numerous law schools.
American College of Trial Lawyers (Fellow);International Association of Trial Lawyers International Society of Barristers; American Board of Trial Advocates; The Best Lawyers in America (1994- ); Top 100 Texas Superlawyers, Texas Monthly; Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and in Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization; State Bar of Texas (Member, Chair and Vice Chair, Pattern Jury Charge Volume III Committee on Medical Malpractice, Premises and Products, 1995- ; State Bar Legislative Committee, 1977-78; Pattern Jury Charge Committee IV, 1985; Long Range Planning Committee, 1990-91; District 9-A Grievance Committee, 1977-80) Supreme Court of Texas Committees: Rules Advisory Committee (1994- ); Judicial Selection Task Force (1995- ); Jury Task Force (1996- ); Travis County Bar Association (Co-chair, Bench Bar Conference Committee, 1996-97); American Association for Justice (Member of President's Council, 1989-91); Texas Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1990-91; President-Elect, 1989-90; Associate Director, 1985-1986; Director, 1986-90; Chair of Medical Malpractice Committee, 1987-88; Co-Chair of Amicus Curiae Committee, 1986-90; Member of Executive Committee, 1987-92); Travis County Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1988-90); Texas Bar Foundation (Fellow); Legal Aid Society of Central Texas (Member of Board of Directors, 1980-83; President, 1982-83); Texas Young Lawyers Association (Chairman, Consumer Affairs Committee, 1977-78); Austin Lawyers Care (Member, Steering Committee, 1979-81); Texas Health Care Discovery Panel (1993-95); American Bar Association; District of Columbia Bar Association.