Stephen Susman

Stephen Daily Susman (born January 20, 1941) is a plaintiffs attorney and a founding partner of Susman Godfrey LLP. He has been described as “the dean of the plaintiffs bar.”^[1]

Early life

Susman was born in Houston. His father, a graduate of Yale University Law School, practiced law in Houston until his death at the age of 50. His mother, a 1934 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, returned to her law practice and raised Susman and his brother after the death of their father when Susman was eight years old.^[2]

Education

Susman attended Yale University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English. Susman then received his J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law. While attending law school, he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review and graduated first in his class with the highest grade point average in the school's history.^[3]

He also clerked for the Honorable John R. Brown of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Supreme Court of the United States.^[4]

Legal career

Susman has won some of the largest cases in U.S. history. In Samsung Electronics v. Texas Instruments, Inc., he won a $1.1 billion settlement on behalf of Texas Instruments. He secured a $536 million jury verdict on counterclaim in El Paso Natural Gas Co., et al., v. GHR Energy Corp. and in the Corrugated Container Antitrust case, he won a verdict for the plaintiffs and the case eventually settled for $500 million.^[5]

As an advocate for better management of the trial process, Susman has developed trial agreements with the purpose of reducing litigation costs for both sides and bringing cases to trial more efficiently.^[6] As a result of Susman’s belief in a contingency-fee model and the law firm efficiency necessary to make it work, in 2012 he launched TrialbyAgreement.com as a repository of pre-trial and trial agreements that lawyers can use to reduce the expense of unwarranted discovery and associated motions.^[7]

In 2010, he was among a team of attorneys that represented Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in his divorce trial.^[8]

Charitable giving

In December 2011, Yale University announced an $11 million gift from alumnus Susman in support of new exhibition space at the Yale University Art Gallery. The newly renovated art gallery re-opened on December 12, 2012.^[9]

In May 2010, the University of Texas announced a $5 million gift from alumnus Susman in support of the university’s law school. In recognition of this gift, the Board of Regents, the governing body for The University of Texas System, named a portion of the Jesse Jones building the Stephen D. Susman Academic Center.

Along with his wife Ellen, Susman sits on the 2015-2016 National Leadership Board of the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas.^[10]

References