David J. Pels
Partner, Fort Worth Texas
Partner, Fort Worth Office
David J. Pels focuses his practice in the areas of business torts and commercial litigation, personal injury litigation and transportation law. Mr. Pels is admitted to practice before the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the Western District of Oklahoma, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Pels is licensed in Texas, having graduated from Loyola University School of Law.
He is a Past Chair of the Tarrant County Bar Association’s Election Commission, member of the Association of Transportation Law Professionals, National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, and Texas Association of Defense Counsel and a former arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association. Prior to joining Brown Dean, Mr. Pels was a partner at Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP. He also served four years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Jag Corps.
Business Torts
Commercial Litigation
Personal Injury Litigation
Transportation Law
Loyola University School of Law (J.D. 1979)
Loyola University (B.A. 1976, cum laude)
____ The Code (Loyola Law School newspaper), Editor-in-Chief 1978, 1979
United States Army, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Captain 1980-84
Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP, Partner 1989-2016
State Bar of Texas (1979)
U.S. District Court, Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas
U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Military Appeals
U.S. Army Court of Military Review
American Arbitration Association, former arbitrator
American Bar Association
Association of Transportation Law Professionals
National Association of Railroad Trial counsel
Tarrant County Bar Association (Elections Committee, Chair, 2016-2017, Chair-Elect. 2015-2016)
Tarrant County Bar Foundation Charter Fellow and Sustaining Life Fellow
Texas Association of Defense Counsel
Texas Bar Foundation,, Sustaining Life Fellow
Cowtown Executives Association, (Past Board Member and Past President and Chairman)
Fort Worth Business Professionals Networking Group (2013-2016)
Brown, Proctor & Howell, LLP, a law firm concentrating on highly complex litigation and negotiation, originated in 1922 with the partnership of two prominent north Texas attorneys, Jesse M. Brown and Sidney Samuels. Today our lawyers handle multi-million dollar cases from our offices in Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin Texas. For more than 90 years, we have provided clients with the highest level of expertise and professionalism. All named partners are rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest level of professional excellence awarded by their legal peers, as established through the 2012 Martindale Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings.™