Bill Powers, former president of The University of Texas at Austin, is entering private practice as of counsel at Jackson Walker in Austin. While working for the firm for about eight hours per week, he also will research, write and teach courses as a full-time law professor at UT School of Law.

“I think it helps when you are in the classroom to kind of be in touch with what is going on in the legal profession, so it works very nicely with teaching and doing research,” Powers said, noting that he has had of counsel relationships with other law firms during his career as a law school professor. Powers expects mostly to handle appellate work on tort cases, product liability and commercial litigation. He will also educate Jackson Walker lawyers about leadership and other topics, and develop young attorneys.

“I'm looking forward to it. It's been a long time since I have written briefs and argued cases and worked on cases. I enjoy doing it. It will be a bit of a change from higher education administration. So, too, will be going back into the classroom and doing academic research. It will be a new phase of my life. I was an administrator for 16 years,” Powers said. “Being a higher education administrator is a kind of intense area of work. Teaching and working with Jackson Walker, I have a little more flexibility, and at my age, I am looking forward to that.”