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Joe Marrs (Of Counsel) |
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Joe Marrs practices civil litigation in federal and state courts and has first-chair trial experience in both jury and non-jury cases. Joe’s practice emphasizes probate and estate litigation, and he has appeared on behalf of his clients in courts throughout Texas.
Joe received his undergraduate degree with high honors in 1998 from the University of Texas (B.A., Plan II and Latin). He received his law degree in 2002 from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was an editor of the Texas Law Review. Prior to entering private practice, Joe served as law clerk to the Honorable Guy Herman in the Travis County Probate Court of Austin, Texas. |
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Joe is a member of the American Bar Association, the Austin Bar Association, the Real Estate, Probate and Estate Planning section of the Austin Bar Association, and Austin Young Lawyers’ Association, and has also been involved in the Harris County chapters of these groups.
Joe is admitted to practice in Texas (2002) and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas. |
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- Represented a will proponent in a jury trial involving an estate contest, and obtained a jury verdict upholding the will and recovering attorneys’ fees for his client.
- Represented the executor in a bench trial contesting the executor’s qualification, securing a judgment in his client’s favor
- Represented a defendant caretaker against claims for breach of fiduciary duty in a lawsuit seeking over $1.4 million in actual damages from inter vivos transfers, obtaining a settlement on terms favorable to his client.
- Represented a testator’s children in prosecuting a will contest and bringing fiduciary-breach claims involving $1.5 million in assets, securing a settlement on terms favorable to his client.
- Obtained summary judgment in favor of heirs in a probate action challenging a fraudulent contract.
- Obtained dismissal of fiduciary claims against defendants in trust litigation, including an award of attorney’s fees.
- Represented a defendant shopping center in a commercial breach-of-contract jury trial, obtaining a take-nothing verdict on the plaintiff’s claims and an affirmative finding of DTPA violations against the opponent.
- Served as lead counsel for a corporate defendant in a breach-of-contract action brought by a plaintiff attempting to collect on fraudulent accounts receivable, winning summary judgment in his client’s favor.
- Assisted in representing a landowner in a $4 million taking by TXDOT, worked with engineers and a land-planning team in advance of trial, and obtained a favorable pretrial settlement.
- Represented a condemning authority in a multimillion-dollar project to acquire electric-transmission-line easements over 60 separately owned tracts.
- Represented both plaintiffs and defendants in temporary-injunction proceedings in district courts and temporary-administration proceedings in probate courts.
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- Playing the Probate Card: A Plaintiff's Guide to Transfer to Statutory Probate Court, 36 St. Mary’s L.J. 99 (2004)
- “Temporary Guardianships: When Are They Appropriate?” (coauthor), Guardianship Course 2003, March 13, 2003, Dallas, Texas
- Wills: What Will You Do?, The Austin Chronicle, April 7, 2004
- Intestacy: No Will, Several Ways, The Austin Chronicle, May 30, 2004
- “Sovereign Immunity in Eminent Domain Acquisition,” Eminent Domain Superconference, January 22, 2009, Austin, Texas “The Use of Eminent Domain in Water Resources Management” (coauthor), TRWA/TWCA Water Law Seminar, January 2007, Austin, Texas
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Glenn Sodd
Joe Marrs (Of Counsel)