Waco Attorney Jim Wren to Teach Practice Court in Spring Quarter

High profile Waco attorney Jim Wren will teach in Baylor Law School's nationally ranked advocacy program after being named the school's Practice Court Professor for the 2006 Spring Quarter. Wren, who will assume his new responsibilities at Baylor on Jan. 1, 2006, has been a partner in the law firm of Williams Squires Wren Brown & Gilliland, L.L.P. since 1997.
Baylor's Practice Court has been led for many years by Professor William D. Underwood, who is serving as Baylor's Interim President until Jan. 1, 2006, when Dr. John M. Lilley takes office as the new President of Baylor University. Underwood, who also serves as The Leon Jaworski Professor of Practice and Procedure and Master Teacher, was elected as the new president of Mercer University, Ga., effective July 1, 2006.
Wren graduated with cum laude honors from Baylor Law School. He served as an editor of the Baylor Law Review and as a member of both the Baylor Moot Court Team and the Baylor Mock Trial Team. He has served for many years as an adjunct professor at Baylor Law School, teaching the Management of Complex Litigation course to third-year law students.
Wren also received his undergraduate education from Baylor and went on to earn a master's degree in international relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England.
His focus as an attorney is business litigation, including business and financial fraud, professional liability and trust litigation. He is licensed for federal practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas. He previously chaired the Region 8B State Bar Grievance Committee and served as president of the Waco Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is currently on the national board of directors of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and on the state board of directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
Professor David M. Guinn, the senior member of the law faculty, Master Teacher and Louise L. Morrison Professor of Constitutional Law, said, "In a school of outstanding students, Jim Wren was one of our best. He has gone on to be a superb attorney, of whom we are very proud. We are honored and excited to be able to add him to our faculty."
Professor Gerald R. Powell, who teaches in the Practice Court curriculum (ranked by U.S.News & World Report as the nation's sixth best advocacy program) described Wren as "a top flight trial lawyer." Powell, who serves as The Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence Law, and recently was named by Baylor as a Master Teacher, said, "I am very excited to have him on board with Practice Court next spring. Jim has vast experience in a wide variety of litigation. He is also a great teacher. We are very grateful for his help."
Wren and his wife Mindy have a daughter and twin sons in Waco schools. Wren teaches College Sunday School at First United Methodist Church of Waco, and has served as a school board president, church administrative board chairman, and as a board member of various organizations.
Wren follows Austin attorney Steve McConnico, who served as Baylor's Practice Court Professor for the 2005 Fall Quarter. Professor Powell served as Practice Court Professor for the 2005 Summer Quarter, following Professor Underwood's selection by the Baylor Board of Regents as Interim President.
Law Dean Brad Toben said, "Jim Wren is an outstanding lawyer with a long-standing very successful trial practice who enjoys a sterling reputation. In this time of transition, with Bill [Underwood] moving into the Mercer presidency, Jim has heeded our call to lead our gemstone Practice Court program in the spring quarter, just as Steve McConnico so graciously did in the fall quarter. Jim, like Steve, has the intellect, experience, and bearing to give to our students the sort of experience of rigor and lasting value that Practice Court is designed to instill. We have been very fortunate to have Steve and Jim step forward in this time of need. Also, of course, Jerry [Powell] has been a trooper in leading the program in the second quarter component. He is a proven leader in trial advocacy training and now, of course, a designated Master Teacher, a most deserving recognition. The program is in very good hands indeed."