McCormack, James M.

Mr. McCormack is the former General Counsel and Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas (1991-1996) and a former Managing Attorney of the Civil Litigation Section of the Travis County Attorney’s Office in Austin, Texas. As the State Bar’s Chief Disciplinary Counsel, he served as the chief legal ethics enforcement officer for the attorney discipline system in Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin:BBA with Honors, 1981; Doctor of Jurisprudence, 1984.

Mr. McCormack also served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin where he taught professional responsibility . He is a regular lecturer on legal ethics and malpractice issues. His article in the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management magazine entitled “Good Ethics, Smart Tactics” was named by the magazine as one of the top five articles of 1995.

From 1998 to 2004, Mr. McCormack served as a member of the State Bar’s Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, which is charged with recommending amendments to the Texas ethics rules.

He served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism (Chair-Elect, 2006-2007; Chairman, 2007- 2008; Immediate Past Chairman, 2008-2009). Mr. McCormack presently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Ethics Exchange of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics.

Mr. McCormack’s Austin-based practice emphasizes legal ethics and legal malpractice consultation as well as practice management services for law firms across Texas. Past consultations include conflicts of interest analysis, mass tort settlements, disqualification motions, lawyer advertising and solicitation questions, organizational ethics reviews, expert testimony, representation before the Texas Board of Law Examiners, and other professional responsibility and malpractice-related counsel.