Phil Burleson, Jr.
More Than Four Decades of Texas Legal Experience. A Legacy Generations in the Making.
Phil Burleson, Jr. has practiced law in Texas for more than four decades, bringing a lifetime of exposure to Texas trial and appellate practice to the clients he represents today. Born in Houston, Phil completed his undergraduate studies at The University of Texas before earning his law degree from South Texas College of Law and becoming licensed to practice in Texas in 1984. He has spent much of his career representing individuals and families throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with Family Law forming a substantial part of his practice. For Phil, however, legal education began long before law school. He is the son of the late Philip Burleson, Sr., the renowned Texas trial and appellate attorney whose career included nationally significant cases, leadership within the Texas criminal defense bar, and eventual induction into the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Hall of Fame. Growing up immersed in that legal tradition gave Phil an early understanding of the preparation, judgment, strategy, and personal responsibility required when another person entrusts an attorney with something that matters deeply to them. Today, Phil brings those principles to every case. His decades of experience allow him to identify the issues that truly matter, get to the heart of a dispute quickly, and develop a practical strategy without creating unnecessary conflict or expense. Sometimes that means working toward an efficient agreement; other times it means preparing aggressively for litigation. In either circumstance, clients are treated with courtesy, candor, and personal attention, with the goal of providing clear advice, experienced advocacy, and a thoughtful path forward.
A Texas Legal Legacy
Phil is the son of the late Phil Burleson, Sr., one of the most recognized Texas defense attorneys of his generation and a lawyer whose career became intertwined with some of the most significant criminal proceedings in Texas history.
Phil Sr. began his career in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office before building a prominent private practice in trial and appellate law. His career eventually included leadership in the Texas legal community, nationally publicized trials, significant appellate proceedings, and decades devoted to courtroom advocacy.
Most famously, Phil Sr. served on the defense team of Jack Ruby, who was prosecuted for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
While numerous lawyers participated in the Ruby proceedings at various stages, Phil Burleson remained with Ruby's defense longer than any other attorney. He continued representing Ruby through the appellate proceedings that ultimately resulted in the reversal of Ruby's murder conviction by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1966.
That case remains part of Texas and American legal history. Phil Sr.'s own recollections of the Ruby case are preserved today in the Oral History Collection of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
Phil Sr. later became part of another nationally watched Texas defense team representing Fort Worth millionaire T. Cullen Davis, working alongside legendary trial attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes through proceedings that became some of the most publicized criminal trials of the era.
His career extended far beyond famous clients.
Phil Sr. served as President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, received the State Bar of Texas President's Award for exceptional service to the public and the legal profession, and was later inducted into the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Hall of Fame.
The lessons Phil Jr. inherited from that environment were not about celebrity cases. They were about preparation, advocacy, understanding the law beneath the facts, recognizing the issue that may ultimately decide a case, and accepting the responsibility that comes with representing another person when something important is at stake.
Building His Own Record
Phil Burleson, Jr. graduated from South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1984.
He began his career in a legal environment shaped heavily by litigation and appellate practice, including practicing with Burleson, Pate & Gibson, the Dallas firm bearing his family's name.
His own career soon produced published appellate work in both Texas and federal courts.
In Alford v. City of Dallas, Phil represented the appellant before the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas in litigation involving constitutional claims against the City of Dallas and its police department.
That same year, he appeared in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp. v. Dixon, complex federal litigation arising from the collapse of Vernon Savings and Loan.
In Henry v. Premier Healthstaff, Phil represented the appellants before the Fort Worth Court of Appeals. The appellate court agreed that summary judgment had been improperly entered against his clients and reversed the trial court's judgment.
Those cases reflect something that continues to inform Phil's practice today: good trial work requires understanding not only what is happening in the courtroom now, but how the record, the evidence, and the legal arguments may ultimately be viewed by another court later.
Over more than four decades of practice, Phil's work has increasingly focused on the legal problems that arise within families, estates, businesses, and property ownership.
Divorces. Custody disputes. Child support. Adoptions. Enforcement actions. Probate proceedings. Guardianships. Estate planning. Property disputes. Civil litigation.
The subject matter may be different from the historic criminal cases associated with the Burleson name, but the fundamentals of effective representation have not changed.
Know the law. Know the facts. Prepare the case. Identify what matters. And never forget that, to the client, this case may be one of the most important events of his or her life.
That philosophy is at the center of Burleson Law today.
Experience Without the Ego
After more than forty years in practice, Phil understands that most clients are not looking for a lawyer who simply tells them how impressive he is.
They want someone who will listen.
Someone who can explain what is happening without making the law unnecessarily complicated.
Someone who can distinguish between a battle worth fighting and one that will simply consume the client's money.
Someone who knows when an agreement makes sense and when litigation is necessary.
And, when litigation becomes necessary, someone who is comfortable walking into a courtroom and advocating for the client.
Phil brings decades of experience to each case while remaining focused on the practical question that matters most:
What are we trying to accomplish for this client, and what is the most effective way to get there?
The Burleson name has appeared in Texas courtrooms and reported appellate decisions for generations.
We are proud of that history.
But our clients do not hire us because of what happened fifty years ago. They hire us because they need help with what is happening today.
The history matters because it shaped the principles behind the practice: preparation, independence, practical judgment, vigorous advocacy, and respect for the responsibility entrusted to an attorney by a client.
At Burleson Law, we carry those principles forward while offering the accessibility, transparency, technology, and practical fee arrangements today's clients expect.
Rooted in People. Focused on Results.