If you are reading this after an adverse judgment, you are already behind — but not necessarily out of time. If you are reading it during trial, you are in exactly the right place.
We handle civil appeals in the Texas courts of appeals, petitions for review in the Supreme Court of Texas, appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, certiorari practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, and original proceedings — mandamus, prohibition, and emergency relief — where there is no adequate remedy by appeal.
Error preservation is trial work
Most appeals are lost in the trial court. An objection that was not specific enough, a running objection that did not run, an offer of proof that was never made, a charge objection that did not track the complaint on appeal — each of those is an appellate case that ended before the notice of appeal was filed.
We are frequently retained by trial counsel to sit second chair on the record: to draft and argue the charge, to preserve the evidentiary rulings that matter, and to build the record the standard of review will require. That engagement is far cheaper than the appeal it prevents, and it is the single highest-leverage thing a trial team can do.
What we do
- Appeals, prosecuted and defended — briefing and oral argument in the Texas courts of appeals and the Fifth Circuit.
- Supreme Court of Texas practice — petitions for review, responses, briefs on the merits, and argument.
- Original proceedings — mandamus and prohibition, including emergency stays, in the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas.
- Certiorari practice — petitions and briefs in opposition in the Supreme Court of the United States.
- Post-judgment and enforcement — supersedeas, turnover, receivership, and post-judgment discovery, on both sides.
- Dispositive motion practice — summary judgment, special appearances, and jurisdictional motions written to survive review.
- Consulting engagements — charge conferences, error preservation, and briefing support for trial teams that want to keep first chair.
Representative appellate results
Certiorari defeated in the Supreme Court of the United States
Defended, as lead counsel, the Nevada Supreme Court’s finding of personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant.
Ralph Lewis v. Power Research, Inc., No. 21-494 (U.S. Mar. 7, 2022).
Disqualification order sustained on mandamus by the Supreme Court of Texas
Disqualification of opposing counsel and his firm, based on a side-switching legal assistant, upheld in the Fourteenth Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas.
In re Zaidi, 732 S.W.3d 525 (Tex. 2026) (orig. proceeding).
$2.2 million judgment reversed and rendered
Reversal and rendition of a take-nothing judgment, establishing that expert testimony is required to prove causation in disease-transmission cases.
West v. D.C., 718 S.W.3d 331 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] June 26, 2025, pet. filed).
Special-appearance rulings reversed; petition for review defeated
Obtained reversal, as lead appellate counsel, of orders granting special appearances of defendants in California, Nevada, and Greece, then successfully defended the ruling on petition for review.
Power Research Inc. v. Lewis, No. 14-19-00012-CV, 2020 WL 5200913 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Sept. 1, 2020).
Summary judgment reversed in the Fifth Circuit; favorable settlement obtained
Reversal of the district court’s summary-judgment order on FMLA retaliation claims against a municipality.
Murillo v. City of Granbury, No. 22-11163, 2023 WL 6393191 (5th Cir. Oct. 2, 2023) (per curiam).
Defamation claims dismissed; fees and costs awarded
Dismissal of a congressional candidate’s defamation claims against his opponent, with an award of fees and costs, affirmed on appeal.
Moore v. Reed, No. 14-20-00463-CV, 2022 WL 1180116 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Apr. 21, 2022, no pet.).
Each matter depends on its own facts and law. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter.
Who handles the work
Shawn A. Johnson clerked for Justice Paul W. Green of the Supreme Court of Texas and interned for Justice Debra H. Lehrmann, Judge Sim Lake (S.D. Tex.), and Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton (N.D. Tex.). He has written on original mandamus jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of Texas for the State Bar of Texas, and he graduated first in his class at Texas A&M University School of Law, where he was Managing Editor of the Texas A&M Law Review.