Justice (ret.) John G. Browning joined the Faulkner Law Faculty in 2021. He serves as
Distinguished Jurist in Residence.
Prior to joining the Faulkner Law Faculty, Justice Browning practiced civil litigation for thirty-
five years, and was a partner in several national law firms. He also served as a justice on Texas’
Fifth Court of Appeals. In private practice, Justice Browning tried numerous cases to verdict in
state and federal courts, and handled many appeals. During his career, he earned the “AV
Preeminent” rating from Martindale Hubbell, was consistently designated a “Texas Super
Lawyer,” and was elected to multiple trial lawyer honorary societies such as the International
Association of Defense Counsel and the Litigation Counsel of America. Justice Browning has
served in a leadership capacity with state and national legal organizations, including as president
of SCRIBES, the American Society of Legal Writers; chair of the Institute for Law and
Technology at The Center for American and International Law; and trustee of the Texas Supreme
Court Historical Society. He holds or has held appointments from the Supreme Court of Texas to
its Advisory Committee and the Professional Ethics Committee of the State Bar of Texas.
Justice Browning has received the highest awards in the legal profession for his legal writing,
service, and legal ethics and professionalism. These include the ABA Silver Gavel Award
(2022); being named a “Courageous Judge” by the National Judicial College (2023); the State
Bar of Texas Presidents’ Certificate of Merit (2016); the Dallas Bar Association’s Presidential
Citation (2020); the Texas Bar Foundation’s Dan Rugeley Price Memorial Award (2013); the
Texas Bar College’s Pat Nester Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contributions to
Continuing Legal Education (2020); the Texas Bar Foundation’s Lola Wright Foundation Award
for Lifetime Achievement in and Contributions to Legal Ethics (2016); the Texas Bar College’s
Jim D. Bowmer Professionalism Award (2016); the Texas Bar CLE’s “Standing Ovation” Award as outstanding speaker (2012); the Texas Bar Litigation Section’s Luke Soules Award for
Lifetime Achievement in Litigation (2022); and the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society’s
President’s Award (2022). His legal writing has also earned many accolades, such as four Burton
Awards for Distinguished Achievement in Legal Writing (2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014); the
Texas Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Law Review Article Award (2012, 2023); the Texas Bar
College’s Outstanding CLE Article of the Year Award (2012); the Oklahoma Bar Association’s
Golden Quill Award for Best Legal Article (2021); the Houston Bar Foundation’s Outstanding
Legal Article of the Year Award (2020); and the Defense Research Institute’s G. Duffield Smith
Outstanding Publication of the Year Award (2016).
Justice Browning is an elected member of the prestigious American Law Institute (2009). He has
held adjunct appointments at SMU Dedman School of Law, Texas A&M University School of
Law, and Texas Tech University School of Law, and has been a faculty member for the Federal
Judicial Center, the National Center for State Courts, the Appellate Judges Educational Institute,
and the Texas Center for the Judiciary. Justice Browning is a nationally recognized thought
leader in legal ethics and in law and technology, and serves as chair of the State Bar of Texas’
Taskforce for Responsible AI and the Law. His work has been cited in judicial opinions in state
and federal courts all over the country, and in practice guides in 11 states. Justice Browning has
been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, USA
Today, Bloomberg Law, Business Insider, Law.com, Law360, the ABA Journal, and many other
publications. He is the author of 5 law books, more than 60 law review articles, and hundreds of
articles in other legal publications.
Education
- J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1989
- B.A. (with general and departmental honors), Rutgers University, 1986
Licensed to Practice
- Texas
- Oklahoma
Courses Taught
- Torts
- Professional Responsibility
- Intellectual Property
- Law and Emerging Technologies (advanced writing seminar)
- Federal Courts
- Law Office Management
Publications
Books
- The Lawyer’s Guide to Social Networking (West, 2010)
- The Social Media Litigation Practice Guide (West, 2014)
- Legal Ethics and Social Media: A Practitioner’s Handbook (with Prof. Jan Jacobowitz) (ABA, 2017; 2 nd ed. 2022)
- Texas Business & Commerce Code Plus (editor – 2021 to present)
Justice Browning has also contributed chapters to 10 other books, including Essentials of E-
Discovery, Strategies for Successful Arbitration, and Texas Employment Law.
Law Review Articles
- Justice Red in Tooth & Claw: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell, 37:3 J. L. MED. & ETHICS (Fall 2009)
- Digging for the Digital Dirt: Discovery and Use of Evidence from Social Media Sites, XIV:3 SMU SCI. & TECH. L. REV. (Summer 2011)
- Your Facebook Status – ‘Served’: Service of Process Using Social Networking Sites, REYNOLDS COURTS & MEDIA L.J. (Spring 2012) (Reynolds National Center for Courts & Media publication)
- Keep Your Hands Off My Nuts: Peanut Allergies, Airlines, and the Law, 77:1 J. AIR L. & COM.
- (Winter 2012) (SMU Dedman School of Law publication)
- Democracy Unplugged: Social Media, Regime Change and Governmental Response in the Arab Spring, 21:1 MICH. ST. INT’L L.J. (2013)
- Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—Oh My! The ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission and Evolving Ethical Issues in the Use of Social Media, 40:2 N. KENTUCKY L. REV. (2013)
- With ‘Friends’ Like These, Who Needs Enemies? Passwords, Privacy, and Discovery of Social Media Content, 3:1 AM. J. TRIAL AD. (2013), Reprinted with permission in 63:3 Defense L.J. (Aug. 2014)
- Keep Your ‘Friends’ Close and Your Enemies Closer: Walking the Ethical Tightrope in the Use of Social Media, 3:1 ST. MARY’S J. ON LEGAL MALPRACTICE & ETHICS (2013)
- Social Media and Athletics: Why University Monitoring of Student Athletes’ Social Media Activities is a Recipe for Disaster, 22:1 TEX. ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS L.J. (Spring 2013)
- The Tweet Smell of Success: Social Media Clauses in Sports & Entertainment Contracts, 22:2 TEX. ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS L.J. (Fall 2013)
- Burn After Reading: Preservation and Spoliation of Evidence Through the Prism of Social Media, 16:2 SMU SCI. & TECH. L. REV. (Fall 2013)
- Why Can’t We Be Friends? Judges’ Use of Social Media, 68:2 U. MIAMI L. REV. (Winter 2014)
- Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Digital Age, 77:3 ALBANY L. REV. (2013/2014) #Snitches Get Stitches: Witness Intimidation in the Age of Facebook and Twitter, 35 PACE L. REV. 192 (Fall 2014)
- Emerging Technology and Its Effect on Automotive Litigation, 84 DEFENSE COUNSEL J. (Jan. 2014)
- Should Voir Dire Become Voir Google? Ethical Concerns of Researching Jurors on Social Media, XVII:4 SMU SCI & TECH. L. REV. (Winter 2014)
- Tattoo You? Copyright Infringement Implications and Tattoos, 23:1 TEX. ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS L.J. (Spring/Summer 2014)
- Proof of Exoneration in Legal Malpractice Cases: The Peeler Doctrine and Its Limits in Texas and Beyond, 5:1 ST. MARY’S J. ON LEGAL MALPRACTICE & ETHICS (2014)
- And the Gods Will Judge: Trial by Combat in “Game of Thrones”, MEDIA & ARTS L. REV. 147 (2015) (Adelaide Law School publication)
- We Stood on Their Shoulders: The Earliest African-American Attorneys in Texas, 59:1 HOWARD L.J. (with Chief Justice Carolyn Wright of the Fifth District Court of Appeals) (Fall 2015)
- A Clean Slate or a Trip to the Disciplinary Board? Ethical Considerations in Advising Clients to ‘Clean Up’ Their Social Media Profiles, 48:4 CREIGHTON L. REV. (2015)
- If Your Heart Skips a Beat, It May Have Been Hacked: Cybersecurity Concerns with Implanted Medical Devices, 67:3 S. CAROLINA L. REV. (with Shawn Tuma) (2016)
- New Developments in Social Media, 35:1 CORP. COUNSEL REV. (2016) (South Texas College of Law publication)
- The Judge as Digital Citizen: Pros, Cons, and Ethical Limitations on Judicial Use of New Media, FAULKNER L. REV. (2017)
- The New Duty of Digital Competence: Being Ethical and Competent in the Age of Facebook and Twitter, 44:2 U. DAYTON L. REV. (Spring 2019)
- Undaunted: William A. Price, Texas’ First Black Judge and the Path to a Civil Rights Milestone, 43:2 THURGOOD MARSHALL L. REV. (Spring 2019)
- Geo-Fencing: Free Speech or Tainting the Jury Pool?, J.L. & TECH. AT TEX. (Fall 2019)
- Early Lessons From Lawyers’ Social Media Use, J.L. & TECH. AT TEX. (Winter 2019)
- Should Judges Have a Duty of Tech Competence?, 10:2 ST. MARY’S J. ON LEGAL MALPRACTICE & ETHICS (2020)
- Righting Past Wrongs: Posthumous Bar Admissions and the Quest for Racial Justice, 21 BERKELEY J. AFRICAN AM. L. & POL’Y 1 (2021)
- It’s 3 A.M.: Do You Know What Your Staff Just Posted? Social Media Ethics Pitfalls for Appellate Lawyers and Judges, 22:1 J. APPELLATE PRACTICE & PROCESS 49 (2022).
- Steering Clear and Fighting Back in the Cancel Culture Age, 29:3 TEX. ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS L.J. 4 (2021)
- Judged by the Digital Company You Keep: Ethical Dimensions of Retweets, Likes, and Shares, 12:2 ST. MARY’S J. ON LEGAL MALPRACTICE & ETHICS 222 (2022)
- “In Pursuit of Noble Causes”: Posthumous Bar Admissions on Compassionate Grounds, 46 J. LEGAL PRO. 245 (2022)
- “Seeking the Fruits of Their Labors”: The Story of Johnson v. McAdoo, the First Major Reparations Case, 11:1 J. RACE, GENDER, & ETHNICITY 1 (2022)
- Real World Ethics in an Artificial Intelligence World, 49 N. KY. L. REV. 155 (2022)
- Should Legal Writing Be “Woke”?, 20 SCRIBES J. LEG. WRITING 25 (2022)
- Is the Devil in the Details? Religious Objections to Biometric Technology in the Workplace, 99 U. DET. MERCY L. REV. 299 (2021–2022)
- A Forgotten First: Everett J. Waring, First Black Supreme Court Advocate and the Case of Jones v. United States, 47:3 J. S. CT. HIST. 265 (2022)
- To Fight the Battle, First You Need Warriors: Edward Garrison Draper, Everett Waring, and the Quest for Maryland’s First Black Lawyer, 53 U. BALT. L. FORUM (2023)
- Ignorance is Not Bliss: Educating Lawyers and Law Students About the High Cost of Shirking the Duty of Technology Competence, 19 ST. THOMAS L.J. (2023)
- “Pioneers of an Interesting and Exciting Destiny”: The Lives and Legacies of Howard’s First Law Graduates, 66:2 HOWARD L.J. (2023)
- What’s Past is Prologue: Posthumous Bar Admissions and Restorative Justice, 17 S.J. POL’Y & JUST. (with Dannielle Thompson) (2023)
- The Duty of Technological Competence and Alabama Lawyers – The Time for Adoption is Now, 14 FAULKNER L. REV. (2023)
- Googling a Mistrial: Online Juror Misconduct in Alabama, 14 FAULKNER L. REV. (with Arjen Meter) (2023)
- Advocacy in the 21 st Century: The Duty of Technological Competence and Today’s Trial Lawyer, 47 NOVA L. REV. (2023)
- I Feel Your (Live-Streamed) Pain: Virtual Bystander Recovery, 75 BAYLOR L. REV. (2023)
- Something Old, Something New: Devising Legal Solutions for Combating Cybersecurity Risks in the Agribusiness Sector, 68 S.D. L. REV. (2023)
- Texans Shortlisted for the U.S. Supreme Court: Why Did Lightning Only Strike Once?, 54 ST. MARY’S L.J. (2023)
- You’ve Been . . . Airdropped? Service Via NFTs as the Next Evolutionary Step, J. COMPLEX LITIG. (2023)
- No Laughing Matter? Perspectives on the Use of Humor and Pop Culture References in Judicial Opinions, SCRIBES J. LEG. WRITING (forthcoming 2024)
- An Undeserved Bad Rap? Finding the Fairness in Mandatory Employment Arbitration MISSOURI BUS., ENTREPRENEURSHIP, & TAX L. REV. (with Janey Whitney) (Fall 2023)
- A Product By Any Other Name? The Evolving Trend of Product Liability Exposure for Technology Platforms, 16 ELON L. REV. (Fall 2023)
- Thomas Goode Jones and the Adoption of the First True Code of Legal Ethics in Alabama, 15 FAULKNER L. REV. 1 (2023)
- No ‘Robot Lawyers’ Just Yet: The Role of Continuing Legal Education in Fulfilling the Duty of Technological Competence, 72 J. LEGAL ED. (2024)
- Robot Lawyers Don’t Have Disciplinary Hearings – Real Lawyers Do: The Ethical Risks and Responses in Using Generative Artificial Intelligence, GEORGIA ST. L. REV. (2024)
- Setting Guardrails or Overreacting? Examining Judicial Treatment of AI in the Courtroom, CHARLESTON L. REV. (2024)
- Let’s Chat About ChatGPT: A Practical Guide to Risks in Attorney Use of Generative AI, AKRON L. REV. (2024)
- A Death in the Family: Examining Bystander Recovery for the Loss of a Companion Animal (forthcoming 2023)
- Breaking Through in the Bay State: Massachusetts’ First Black Lawyers, MASSACHUSETTS L. REV. (forthcoming 2024)
- Justice Has No Expiration Date: The Posthumous Bar Reinstatement of Arthur Madison, FAULKNER L. REV. (forthcoming 2024)
- Martyr on the Altar of Truth: A.W. Bouldin and the Suppression of Black Media During World War I (forthcoming 2024)
- Warriors at the Bar: Why the Posthumous Bar Admissions of Ely Parker and Maris Pierce Matter (forthcoming 2024)
Contact:
Distinguished Jurist in Residence
334-386-7355
Jones School of Law