Michael Hughes has practiced law with the firm since 1978 and became a firm officer in 1984.

He has a general civil practice spending most of his time dealing with estate and probate litigation and issues relating to transportation law, handling the trial and appeal of cases at all levels of the state and federal court system. His clients include the BNSF Railway Co., the Port of Galveston and several offshore service companies. The cases he has handled have resulted in over 40 published opinions at either the appellate or state level and one was featured on Court TV. He has served on the University of Texas Maritime Law Conference Planning Committee for over 15 years and has been a member of the Conference of Freight Loss & Damage Counsel for over 20 years.

In his personal time, he has been appointed by the Governor of the State of Texas to serve on the Board of the

Pilot Commissioners (serving as chair 1988-1992); publicly elected to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Independent School District 2000-2006, serving as president of the board 2004-5; served as board member of Rosenberg Library, Galveston Historical Foundation, Trinity Episcopal Church, and of the Galveston Symphony Orchestra. He was married to Nancy for 45 years until her untimely death in 2022, and they have 3 children, Laura, Katherine and Matthew.

EDUCATION

• B.A., University of Texas, Austin, 1975
• J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1978