About Justice Brown
Jeff Brown was appointed to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals by Governor Rick Perry in December 2007. The court has nine justices and hears appeals from Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Waller, and Washington counties. Before taking the appellate bench, he served for six years as judge of the 55th District Court in Harris County. While on the trial bench, the bar consistently ranked him among the county's top district judges.
Jeff is board-certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Before taking the bench, he practiced at Baker Botts, a prestigious Houston law firm, trying jury cases throughout Southeast Texas. Before joining Baker Botts, he was a briefing attorney to Justices Jack Hightower, a conservative Democrat, and Greg Abbott, a Republican, on the Texas Supreme Court.
He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas and his law degree with high honors from the University of Houston. While in law school he served as an editor of the Houston Law Review. In 2006, the Texas Young Lawyers Association named Jeff Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas. Jeff has been active in state and local bar activities and has served on several non-profit boards, including the Christian Community Service Center. The Texas Jaycees have named Jeff one of the Five Outstanding Young Texans of 2008.
An Eagle Scout, Jeff served on the Sam Houston Area Boy Scouts' Urban Scouting Committee, a program dedicated to bringing Scouting's values to inner-city young men. He is cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 455, has coached baseball, soccer, and flag-football, and teaches Sunday school. He also volunteered for Operation Compassion, serving food to Katrina evacuees in 2005. Jeff has been an adjunct law professor at the University of Houston.
The son of a longtime police officer, Jeff was named Civil District Court Judge of the Year by the Houston Police Officers Union in 2002 and by P.O.L.I.C.E., Inc., ("Peace Officers Looking Into Courthouse Excellence") in 2003. He and his wife, Susannah, a schoolteacher, live in southwest Houston with their three children, Kathleen, Rob and Gus. They are active members of Bellaire United Methodist Church.