John G. Browning
June 6 was a good night for Southeast Texas Record columnist John G. Browning. The Dallas attorney brought home several writing awards at journalism competitions in Beaumont and Houston.
At the Press Club of Southeast Texas Excellence in the Media Awards banquet held at the Mary & John Gray Library at Lamar University in Beaumont, Browning garnered recognition for a "Legally Speaking" column published in the Southeast Texas Record.
"Weird Laws and Lawsuits are Universal" received a third place award for guest column in the open newspaper category, which had Browning competing against daily and weekly papers in the area.
First and second place went to a guest columnist for the Beaumont Enterprise.
Browning's writings brought in even more wins at the Houston Press Club Lonestar Awards competition the same night.
His column, "From Ground Zero to the Courtroom: For Heroes of 911, The Fight Has Only Changed Location" won first place general commentary/criticism for newspapers under 100,000 circulation. The winning column for the Houston Press Club was published in the Rockwell County Herald Banner. The same column also appeared in the Southeast Texas Record.
About Browning's column, judges for the Houston contest commented that it was "well written in lay terms to anyone can understand what the 'heroes' of 911 have gone through since 2001. The piece was obviously well researched and thoroughly thought out before the writer began. This should be a national story so people will know what Congress is spending tax dollars on."
Browning also won second place in the category.
In the magazine category, one of Browning's columns, "What Price Victory," published in Dallas CEO Magazine brought home a third place win. Dale Dudly of Austin Monthly Magazine took home the first and second place wins in that category.
John Browning is a partner in the Dallas office of Gordon & Rees, where he handles civil litigation in state and federal courts in areas ranging from employment and intellectual property to commercial cases and defense of products liability, professional liability, and general negligence matters.
He has extensive trial, arbitration, and summary judgment experience, and has represented companies in a wide variety of industries throughout Texas and on a pro hac vice basis in other jurisdictions.
Browning received his bachelor of arts degree with general and departmental honors from Rutgers University in 1986, where he was a National Merit Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1989.
Browning is "AV" rated by his peers, the highest commendation issued by Martindale-Hubbell for legal ability, ethics, and professionalism. He was selected as a "Texas Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics and Texas Monthly in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Browning was inducted as a Charter Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society.
He is the author of one book and a contributing author to two others, including the two volume treatise Texas Employment Law. His work has appeared in both regional and national legal publications, including the Texas Bar Journal, Texas Lawyer, Executive Legal Adviser, and In-House Defense Quarterly.
As a legal journalist, he serves as a contributing editor to Dallas CEO Magazine, writes the legal column "Courting Success" for the Dallas Business Journal and the Houston Business Journal, and authors the weekly syndicated newspaper column "Legally Speaking," which appears in the Southeast Texas Record.
In 2007, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.