“Consistently professional, informative and 100% honest.”

Dan Cogdell is the real deal.  

Battle-proven in more than four decades of courtroom clashes, Dan delivers consistent excellence to his clients.  

After a brief stint as a briefing attorney for the Chief Judge of the highest criminal appeals court in Texas, where he honed his legal analytical skills, Dan trained with and worked alongside renowned trial lawyer Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. Dan became the youngest partner at Haynes & Fullenweider before branching out on his own in 1988.  

Time and again, Dan has substantiated his mettle as a courtroom force to be reckoned with, successfully representing defendants in such high-stakes cases as  

• The Enron litigation 
• The Branch Davidian trial 
• The trial of alternative cancer treatment doctor Stanislaw Burzynski 
• The Houston City Hall bribery case 

Dubbed by his contemporaries a “Texas trial legend,” Dan is skilled and comfortable in state and federal courtrooms within and outside Texas. He has represented clients charged with offenses ranging from murder to medical fraud to sophisticated white-collar crimes.  

With a trial record encompassing nearly 300 jury cases, Dan considers each matter unique. His practice of developing successful strategies and personalizing the accused to the people deciding their fate has been uncommonly effective.  

After he secured for his client the only “not guilty” verdict in the series of Enron trials, the Houston Chronicle described Dan as “a gunslinger of a Texas criminal lawyer” standing out in opposition to “mostly New York lawyers.” Dan knows that anyone can be a gunslinger; it takes skill, experience, meticulous preparation, and tenacity to be a successful one. These are the traits that have garnered honors in his profession, as well as favorable outcomes for his clients. 

Among other honors and accolades, Dan is: 

• A Fellow of the American Academy of Trial Lawyers 
• Chambers-rated 
• Listed in Woodward & White’s The Best Lawyers in America 
• Included in Texas Super Lawyers