Elizabeth Lang-Miers, who spent 15 years as an appellate court judge in Dallas, has returned to Locke Lord as a partner.

Lang-Miers, who is also the firm's director of attorney development, practiced at a predecessor firm to Locke Lord for 27 years before she was appointed to the Fifth Texas Court of Appeals in 2003. She is joining Locke Lord's appellate practice.

A Republican, Lang-Miers is one of a number of incumbent judges in Texas who were defeated in the November 2018 election. Democrats won eight seats on the Dallas appeals court.

“They contacted me in December and said, 'Are you interested in returning?' I thought, yeah, I really am. It was a great firm to work with,” she said.

She left the bench at the end of December, but said she delayed her return to Locke Lord until Monday because she had hand surgery and wanted to wait until she could type and write.

In addition to handling appeals, Lang-Miers said she looks forward to mentoring other lawyers as director of attorney development.

“For all of the U.S. offices, I'll try to help other people develop their skills and career, primarily with litigation, but in other areas as well. …I've always had a lot of interns and externs at the court, so I enjoy that,” she said.

David Taylor, chair of Locke Lord, said in a press release that Lang-Miers brings more than appellate skills to the firm.

“At Locke Lord, we're committed to developing our associates and senior counsels and mentoring them to partnership and otherwise successful legal careers. Liz's strong background and distinct perspective surrounding attorney development will be integral to our continued success in this area,” Taylor wrote.

While on the Fifth Texas Court of Appeals—the busiest in Texas—Lang-Miers authored more than 1,800 opinions in civil and criminal matters in the Dallas area. She clerked at the Missouri Supreme Court before she joined Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely in Dallas. After two mergers with Texas firms, that firm became Locke Lord.

In some of the 2018 opinions Lang-Miers authored, the court affirmed a $211 million damage judgment in a fraud and breach-of-contract case against Credit Suisse; denied a Dallas attorney's attempt to reopen a couple's divorce case to collect his fees, and affirmed sanctions imposed against that lawyer for pursuing a groundless matter brought for the purpose of harassment.

She was on the panel that affirmed a summary judgment in 2018 in favor of defendants Strasburger & Price and The Law Office of Donato D. Ramos of Laredo, who had faced legal malpractice claims. Strasburger is now Clark Hill Strasburger following a merger in 2018.

Lang-Miers said she brings a new perspective to oral argument, now that she is returning to the practice of appellate law.

“Having participated in so many oral arguments now as a judge, I think I can really understand better what you need to talk about and what they are really looking to hear,” she said.

The former judge is chair-elect of the judicial division of the American Bar Association and a past chair of the ABA's Appellate Judges Conference. She also is a past president of the Dallas Bar Association and is a member of the bar's Pro Se Litigant Committee.

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