The Honorable Terry Jennings (D)

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Personal Information

The Honorable Terry Jennings, the Senior Justice on the First Court of Appeals, first took the Oath of Office on January 1, 2001. He is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. The Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists named Justice Jennings as its 2009 Appellate Judge of the Year.

In 2003, Justice Jennings was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee, where he currently serves on the Texas Rules of Evidence and Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure Subcommittees.

A fourth-generation Texan, Justice Jennings is a native of San Antonio and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in government and was a member of the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society. He attended the University of Houston Law Center, where he earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1988. Based on academic excellence, Justice Jennings served as an Associate Editor of the Houston Law Review, where he won the 1987 Outstanding Law Review Candidate of the Year award. Upon graduation, he began his legal career practicing civil litigation.

In 1990, Justice Jennings joined the Harris County District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted criminal cases under the leadership of the legendary John B. Holmes, Jr. Beginning in the Trial Bureau, he prosecuted everything from narcotics to murder cases. In 1994, Justice Jennings was promoted to the Special Crimes Bureau, where he prosecuted complex white-collar crime cases, including engaging in organized crime, fraud, and intellectual property crimes. In all, he prosecuted over 1000 cases and tried, first chair, over 100 cases to verdict.