In nearly 30 years of practicing law, Dan Cogdell has built an outstanding reputation in the legal community. A graduate of the University of Texas, Dan earned his B.B.A. in 1979. Three years later, he graduated with Highest Honors from South Texas College of Law. After serving as Briefing Attorney at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for Presiding Judge John F. Onion Jr. in 1982 and 1983, Dan joined the firm of Haynes & Fullenweider, where he spent six years working with legendary defense attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dan was among the first lawyers in Texas to successfully defend individuals charged with federal mortgage or bank fraud in the Savings and Loan scandals. The acquittal of Carroll Kelley, who owned Continental Savings and Loan, began Dan's long, successful career of assisting individuals falsely charged with federal fraud-related offenses. Charges like this often result in a guilty plea and a deal (oftentimes with attendant lengthy prison sentences); however, Cogdell's clients frequently opt for trial, and ultimately prevail. Time after time in those cases, it has been Dan Cogdell's ability and tenacity that resulted not in "plea bargains" but in successful outcomes after a jury trial.
That same caliber of commitment is obvious today. Dan's highly personal method of client representation stems not just from his desire to prevail in the courtroom, but also from the fact that, as a former partner stated for the Houston Chronicle, Dan has "as big a heart as you can find."
Dan has earned a spot among the Best Lawyers in America for the last 17 years, and has been featured on the annual Texas Super Lawyers listing in Texas Monthly every year since its inception in 2003. AV Preeminent rated* by Martindale-Hubbell, he received the Texas Department of Public Safety Directors Award in 1997 and was voted Lawyer of the Year in 1999 by the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. In both 2010 and 2011, Dan was featured on the cover of Texas Best Lawyers magazine and was voted "Best White Collar Lawyer in Texas" for 2011.
Dan is a member of the College of The State Bar of Texas and a Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer for the State Bar of Texas, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; and frequently guest lectures in various law schools in the state. He is a past president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association and served as a board member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. In 2011, he was inducted into the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers, which comprises only the top 1 percent of lawyers admitted to the bar in the United States and Canada and is the only professional organization to count every member of the United States Supreme Court in its ranks. Dan is one of only two criminal defense lawyers from Houston who have been admitted to the College and are currently practicing. Recently, he was named to the Texas Super Lawyers list and singled out as Houston's 2011 White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year.
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*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.