A board-certified personal injury trial lawyer in Texas receives the State Bar’s official recognition of a certain level of experience, knowledge, and expertise in trying personal injury cases.
That designation bolsters marketing and employment prospects. As you will read below, board-certified Texas personal injury trial lawyers have achieved significant experience in court and before juries.
Attorneys who concentrate their practice in one area rather than in general practice enhance their career prospects. BSC Attorney Search states that nearly 58 percent of specialty lawyers get callbacks on job inquiries and applications, compared with just 15 percent of general practitioners. Having a specialty means focusing your energy, skills, experience, and knowledge in one area of law. Your handling of the same types of cases builds expertise and familiarity such that employers need not spend much time training new hires.
What is the Certification Program in Texas?
Board-certified Texas personal injury trial lawyers have demonstrated to the regulators of the legal profession (and the public) a certain level of competence, experience, and expertise. As you will read below, the requirements for certification take into account a lawyer’s handling of personal injury cases and trial work, knowledge of the personal injury law field, and the lawyer’s reputation among the judiciary and the personal injury attorney profession.
The Texas Supreme Court established the State’s lawyer certification program in 1974. At that time, certification existed in three areas of practice. In 1978, the Texas Board on Legal Specialization began certifying attorneys for “Personal Injury Trial” practice.
The Texas Board on Legal Specialization currently certifies Texas-licensed attorneys in 22 areas of practice. These include:
- Criminal
- Criminal Appellate
- Family
- Estates and Probate
- Residential Real Estate
- Commercial Real Estate
- Child Welfare
- Construction
- Insurance
- Farm and Ranch Real Estate
- Judicial Administration
- Aviation
- Personal Injury Trial
Texas has over 98,000 resident attorneys licensed by the Texas State Bar. According to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, over 6,800 have certification across 22 specialty areas. In the “Personal Injury Trial” category, that number stands at 1,213 according to the Board. By some estimates, only two percent of Personal Injury Trial Lawyers in Texas enjoy are certified by the Board of Legal Specialization. When we say “board-certified,” we refer to lawyers who meet all of the requirements for and earn the title from the Board of Legal Specialization.
The Texas Board of Legal Specialization maintains a searchable database of board-certified personal injury trial lawyers.
What is “Personal Injury Trial Law”?
The public commonly thinks of personal injury lawyers as those representing victims of automobile accidents, slips and falls, and defective products. Personal injury law certainly encompasses cases arising from the negligence of a motorist, property owner, or other actor. “Personal injury trial law” also includes:
- Intentional torts, such as assaults and batteries
- Claims against state agencies and local governments, including law enforcement agencies
- Insurance contracts and disputes involving bodily injuries
- Malpractice by physicians, attorneys, architects, and other professionals
- Defamation
- Nuisances
A significant part of personal injury practice happens outside the courtroom. In fact, by most studies, less than five percent of personal injury cases reach trial. According to a Texas Judiciary’s report for fiscal year 2025, District Courts disposed of 70,845 injury or damage cases. Among those, 425 reached a jury verdict and 2,147 resulted in a non-jury verdict.
Texas’ Statutory County Courts had 17,557 cases go to disposition. Juries rendered verdicts in 79 of those cases, while 949 injury and damage cases resulted in a judge’s verdict.
(Statutory and District Courts generally can share jurisdiction over most personal injury cases. Personal injury trial lawyers can choose one type based upon the circumstances of the case.)
These figures signal to lawyers and the public the need for personal injury trial lawyers to skillfully and competently plead, investigate, and negotiate personal injury cases. The certification process encourages expertise in these tasks as well as in trying cases.
Qualifications to Become a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer:
Board-certified personal injury trial lawyers must satisfy the following minimum requirements set by the Board of Legal Specialization:
- Five years of full-time practice as a lawyer admitted in Texas
- Three years of personal injury law trial practice and at least one-fourth of the
time each year substantially involved in personal injury cases - Ten personal injury trials in Texas courts, of which at least five are personal
injury jury trials - References from four Texas personal injury lawyers
- One reference from a Texas judge before whom the applicant tried or advocated in a
personal injury case - 60 hours of continuing legal education (CLE) in Personal Injury Trial Law from
approved programs - Pass an examination
The Test:
The Board requires that applicants take the exam using a laptop. The six-hour certification exam consists of a three-hour session of essay questions and a session of multiple-choice questions. The essay portion features three questions worth 100 points each. On the 100-question multiple-choice exam, each correct answer earns two points.
A perfect score is 500. To pass the test, you must score at least 350. That means getting 70 percent of the points.
What is Covered on the Examination?
The Board publishes online an “Exam Specifications for Personal Injury Trial Law.” It affords general guidelines on the examination, which you will read below. Notably, you will not find past examinations or sample questions from which you can practice.
According to the Specifications, applicants must demonstrate in the exam their knowledge and skills in handling the pretrial, trial, and posttrial stages of a personal injury case. These include:
- Preparation of complaints, responsive pleadings, motions, interrogatories, document
production requests, and responses to discovery requests - Mediation, settlement negotiations, and arbitrations
- Pursuing and defending pretrial motions to dismiss complaints and for summary
judgment - Jury selection procedures and limits
- Showing the authenticity of medical records, business records, videos, photographs,
social media posts, and other documents - When hearsay and other out-of-court statements are admissible
and parishioner, and spouses - Opening statements and closing arguments
- Conduct of jury and non-jury trials
You will see from the Exam Specifications an extensive list of substantive and procedural topics that might appear on the exam. Below are a few of the potential areas of personal injury law covered:
- The elements of negligence (duty, breach, proximate cause, injury)
- Intentional torts, such as assault, battery, false imprisonment
- Nuisances
- Premises liability
- Wrongful death (Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Section 71.002 – Cause of
Action) - Texas Tort Claims Act (Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Title 5, Governmental
Liability, Chapter 101 — Tort Claims) - Defenses, such as “modified comparative negligence,” statutes of limitations, and
open and obvious conditions - Insurance, including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (Insurance Code
Chapter 1952 Title 10 – Property and Casualty Insurance, Subtitle C – Automobile
Insurance)
According to the Specifications, you may see questions on the Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Evidence for both Texas state courts and Federal Courts. These topics include:
- Subject matter jurisdiction, including diversity jurisdiction in federal court
- Personal jurisdiction, including serving various types of defendants
- Proper venue for the trial of a personal injury lawsuit
- The applicability of Texas law in federal court suits
- Pretrial efforts to dismiss lawsuits, such as motions to dismiss or for summary
judgment - Rules on interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and depositions
- Evidence rules on relevancy, hearsay (out-of-court statements), and inadmissibility
of insurance coverage, remedial measures and settlement negotiations; - Preserving objections to trial court rulings
- Jury Instructions
- Posttrial motions, such as motions for a judgment despite an adverse verdict and to
reduce a damage award
The certification examination also touches upon ethical rules. The Board advises that these questions on professional responsibility are not limited to the personal injury law realm. That means you might have essay or multiple choice questions involving conflicts of interest, attorney-client privilege, false testimony by a client in a deposition or trial, and advertising.
How a Lawyer Prepares for the Examination:
The Board does not publish or post practice or past exams. To prepare, applicants have the Specifications for the Exam with a list of various areas of personal injury law, civil procedure, and trial advocacy.
Beyond reading the Specifications, applicants should keep abreast of Texas appellate court decisions in these areas. For instance, the Texas Supreme Court has in recent years ruled upon:
- Evidence required to prove that a premises owner has constructive notice of hazardous conditions
- What satisfies the requirement that a defendant’s negligence is a “substantial factor” in causing injury in a chain-reaction wreck
- Whether defendants may obtain in discovery the rates that a medical provider and a plaintiff negotiate
- Whether a pallet at a store can constitute an unreasonably hazardous condition
Also, applicants (as well as other personal injury lawyers) should become familiar with legislative updates.
Lawyers seeking certification can go to publications offered by organizations such as the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and sections of the Texas State Bar such as Insurance Law and Litigation. The Texas Court publishes online opinions from the State’s appellate courts. From the Texas Legislative Service, lawyers can search for proposed and passed legislation affecting personal injury law and trial practice.
Attend continuing legal education seminars that cover personal injury trial law. You may find them through the TexasBarCLE, law schools, and other professional organizations. These allow attorneys to refresh themselves on basic principles of personal injury claims, civil procedure, and trial practice. Accredited CLEs also cover case and legislative updates, and emerging personal injury legal theories and claims.
Board-certified personal injury trial lawyers also possess great knowledge and perspective on the process. Those who have navigated the process can explain or review your applications, advise you on what your applications should provide, and recall the types and subjects of exam questions.
