Howard L. Close

Howard is a trial lawyer.  He has tried and arbitrated complex personal injury, commercial and intellectual property cases all over the state.  From patent and trade secret litigation in northeast Texas to multiple death and burn cases along the Texas-Mexico border, to massive coverage cases in Beaumont, he and his trial team have handled the difficult assignments.  He has tried state and national class actions, medical device, oil & gas, nursing home, insurance coverage and intellectual property matters in both state and Federal Court in the toughest jurisdictions in Texas.  He also has extensive appellate experience, having argued at all levels of the Texas Appellate system and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Howard is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level of peer rated professional excellence. Every year since 2003, Howard has earned selection to Thomson Reuters’ list of Texas Super Lawyers® (2003-present) in Civil Litigation, Insurance Coverage, Intellectual Property Litigation, as published in Texas Monthly. In 2008-present, Howard was listed among the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Houston. In addition, since 2005, Howard has been included on BL Rankings, LLC’s list of Best Lawyers in America® (2005-present) in the categories of Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation-Defense. Howard was also named to the list of “Top Rated Lawyers” in Texas (2010-present) in the area of Intellectual Property Law, by ALM and Martindale-Hubbell. Howard is also a Fellow of the prestigious Litigation Council of America. In 2023, Howard was named one of the top 500 litigators in America in the field of Commercial Litigation by Law Dragon.