Legislative Law Bulletin

Hugh L. Brady is a clinical professor of law and director of the Legislative Lawyering Clinic at The University of Texas School of Law. “Without ever stepping on the House floor, Hugh Brady . . . had a larger impact on the 78th Legislature than many representatives did,” reported the Texas Observer in 2003. An acknowledged expert on the Texas legislative process, Brady is the editor of Texas House Practice, considered the authoritative text on the Texas House Rules, and of Texas Senate Practice, a core material supplementing the Texas Senate Rules. As an Austin lawyer with a practice in legislative, administrative, and appellate law, Brady has provided advice on complicated legislative and legal issues to Texas lawmakers of both parties and local officials. He was appointed by President Obama to serve as general counsel for the White House Office of Administration and held that position from 2014-2017.

He is admitted to the practice of law in Texas and Vermont, and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas. Brady is a member of the Education Committee of the Institute of Parliamentary and Political Law in Ottawa. In 2011, the UT Student Bar Association named Brady as one of two Faculty Members of the Year.

Brady was editor-in-chief of the Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, worked for United States Circuit Judge Juan Torruella, and sat for and passed the Texas bar examination while still a third-year law student. Before becoming a lawyer, Brady worked as a reporter, political newsletter publisher, lobbyist, marketing firm executive, and legislative aide. The son of a preacher and a horsewoman, he was raised in Jack, Palo Pinto, and Dallas counties.