Attorney Profiles
Biography
Misty Farris has devoted her career to speaking for people who otherwise would not have a voice in the legal process. A former shareholder now Of Counsel to the firm, Misty spent more than a decade with the firm's Appellate Section, where she represented clients through appeals and dispositive motions in more than a dozen state and federal courts. “We don’t win every battle, but I have the chance to be sure our clients’ interests are heard,” she says.
Misty has certainly won many significant battles for her clients. She was a member of a legal team presented the Trial Lawyers of the Year Award in 2006 by Public Justice for resolving a 21-year-long battle for over 1,600 Tucson, Arizona residents with illnesses caused by contaminated groundwater. She has successfully defended several significant trial verdicts on appeal for people with mesothelioma and other diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. She represented the organization Public Justice as Amicus Curiae in a case before the United States Supreme Court and has also served as Amicus Curiae for the Texas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (Tex-ABOTA) and other groups. She also served for several years as a member of the Amicus Committee of the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of American. For her many career accomplishments, Misty was recognized as a “Rising Star of Texas Law” by Law & Politics Media and Texas Monthly magazine in 2004 and as a “Texas Super Lawyer” by those publications in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Misty has lectured and published extensively on topics including asbestos litigation, bankruptcy, premises liability, and mass torts. She is also a member of the American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers, the Appellate Section of the Dallas Bar Association, and the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects (SCRIBES). Misty was a Townes-Rice Scholar at the University of Texas School of Law, where she graduated with honors, and a National Merit Scholar at the University of Houston, from which she graduated summa cum laude. Before joining Baron & Budd in 1997, she practiced public interest law for the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas Human Rights Foundation. Prior to law school, she taught high school English in the Houston area public schools.
Now Misty has turned her talents to communicating with the public through the law firm’s blog, news and website content, as well as newsletters, articles and editorial submissions. Misty also assists in legal oversight of the firm's marketing and public relations efforts.
“I became a lawyer because I wanted to find a way to help people and to challenge myself by using my strengths for a good cause,” she says. By melding her desire to make a difference for the betterment of society with her strong intellect and interest in cutting-edge legal issues, Misty accomplishes her professional goals for the benefit of the many clients and causes she serves.
Education
University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with honors, 1996)
University of Houston (B.A., summa cum laude, 1988)
Bar & Court Admissions
Texas
United States Supreme Court
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Professional Associations
American Association for Justice
Public Justice
American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects (SCRIBES)
American Bar Association Council of Appellate Lawyers
Texas Trial Lawyers Association
Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
Dallas Bar Association
Publications
Burton LeBlanc & Misty A. Farris, Alternative Theories for Environmental Contamination Cases, TRIAL (April 2008).
Brent M. Rosenthal, Misty A. Farris & Sharon Bautista, Mass Torts & Toxic Torts, 60(3) SMU L. REV. 1345 (2007).
Brent M. Rosenthal, Misty A. Farris & Amanda R. Tyler, Mass Torts & Toxic Torts, 59(3) SMU L. REV. 1579 (2006).
Brent M. Rosenthal, Misty A. Farris & Amanda R. Tyler, Mass Torts & Toxic Torts, 58(3) SMU L. REV. 1183 (2005).
Misty A. Farris, The OSHA Act, Workers' Compensation, & Workplace Tort Liability, in OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH LAW 145 (Bureau of Nat'l Affairs, Inc., 2d ed., Supp. 2004).
Brent M. Rosenthal, Misty A. Farris & Carla M. Burke, Mass Torts & Toxic Torts, 57(3) SMU L. REV. 1267 (2004).
Misty A. Farris, The Nuts & Bolts of Filing a Bankruptcy Claim, 2(1) MEALEY'S ASBESTOS BANKRUPTCY REPORTER 34 (2002).
Misty A. Farris & Carla M. Burke, Applying Texas Premises Liability Law to Asbestos Cases, ASBESTOS COLUMNS, Sept. 2001, at 6.
Reported Cases
Graves v. Riverwood Intern. Corp., 41,810-CA (La. App. 2 Cir. 1/31/07), 949 So.2d 576, writ denied, 2007-0630 (La. 5/4/07), 956 So.2d 621.
Cortez ex rel. Estate of Puentes v. HCCI-San Antonio, Inc., 159 S.W.3d 87 (Tex. 2005) on behalf of amicus curiae TEX-ABOTA, Inc.
Norfolk & W. Ry. Co. v. Ayers, 537 U.S. 807, 123 S.Ct. 57, 154 L.Ed.2d 9 (2002), on behalf of amicus curiae Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
Emery v. Owens-Corporation, 2000-2144 (La. App. 1 Cir. 11/9/01), 813 So.2d 441, writ denied, 2002-0635 (La. 5/10/02), 815 So.2d 842.
Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 264 F.3d 21(2d Cir. 2001), on behalf of amicus curiae Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
Pittsburgh Corning Corp. v. Walters, 1 S.W.3d 759 (Tex.App. - Corpus Christi 1999, pet. denied).
N. Am. Refractories Co. v. Easter, 988 S.W.2d 904 (Tex.App. - Corpus Christi 1999, pet. denied).
Arnold v. Dow Chem. Co., 32 F.Supp. 2d 584 (E.D.N.Y. 1999).
Chestang v. W.R. Grace & Co.–Conn., 709 So.2d 470 (Ala. 1998).
Becton v. Rhone-Poulenc, Inc., 706 So.2d 1134 (Ala. 1997).
Newsrss
Family of Deceased Asbestos Victim Will See Another Day in Court
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (Sept. 22, 2008) Even after exposure to its asbestos-containing joint compound caused a Pennsyslvania construction worker to contract and die of mesothelioma, manufacturer Georgia-Pacific thought it could avoid compensating the victim’s family by requiring them to provide documentation of the precise days and times when the man worked around the product. Read More
