Michol  O'Connor

O'CONNOR, MICHOL (1942 ~ ). Michol O'Connor, state appellate judge, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston School of Law. After beginning her legal career in 1973, she has worked in almost every aspect of the law. She was a briefing attorney for the First Court of Appeals, an Assistant District Attorney in Harris County and was an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. She has also worked in private practice, Michol O'Connor, P. C., and as a corporate attorney with Kronzer, Abraham and Watkins and the Century Development Corporation.

On November 8, 1988, O'Connor was elected to the First Court of Appeals. After taking her oath of office on January 1, 1989, she was reelected on November 8, 1994. Deciding not to seek a third term, she left the bench on December 31, 2000, and went to work for Jones McClure Publishing.

Though no longer a public official, Justice O'Connor continues to serve the legal community, whether it is through her highly popular annual publications, O'Connor's Texas Rules * Civil Trials and O'Connor's Texas Rules * Civil Appeals, or serving on committees within the State Bar of Texas. She has also been a featured speaker at numerous Bar Associations and CLE programs and at the Peking Law School in Beijing, China.

For her work, Justice O'Connor has been given numerous awards and honors. In 1999, she received the Star of Texas Award from the Common Cause of Texas, the U. S. Department of the Treasury Appreciation Award, the Texas Bar Foundation Award, and the Outstanding Contribution Award from the Houston Young Lawyers Association.

Information provided by Justice O'Connor and taken from Texas State Cemetery file materials.