Carl Robin Teague

After graduation from St. Mary's University School of Law (San Antonio), my practice began in 1973 with the San Antonio firm then known as Oppenheimer, Rosenberg, Kelleher and Wheatley, which has since merged with Strasburger and Price. We had a full service practice, and I practiced general litigation under mentors Herb Kelleher (now chairman of the board of Southwest Airlines Co.), Stanley David Rosenberg (attorney then and now for Tom Benson), and Seagal Wheatley (former United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas).  My first two cases, under Mr. Wheatley, were trial and appellate work for Federico Lutcher Brown, in the suit for divorce of Brown v. Brown (Houston), and appellate work in the case of Sierra Club v. Lynn (W.D. Tex., affirmed in part and reversed in part by 5th Cir., cert. denied). Eventually I represented Tom Benson Chevrolet and several of his other dealerships, primarily in cases involving violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practice Act, or the UCC chapter applicable to warranties and sale of goods. 

My solo practice began in April 1985. For about 15 years after that, most of my practice involved representation of Emerson Electric Co. (St. Louis, Mo.), in product liability cases.  Emerson and its subsidiaries and divisions manufactured a wide variety of products, and my defense primarily involved tools and appliances.

Beginning in 1999-2000, my practice evolved into representation of clients in commercial cases, and plaintiffs in personal injury cases. Several years ago, I began taking appointments in federal misdemeanor cases.  Representation of a client in a misdemeanor case led to an appointment to represent him in a related felony case. As a result, I became a mentee in the federal Criminal Justice Act mentoring program of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.  I am now a member of the CJA felony and misdemeanor panels, and regularly appointed in both felony and misdemeanor cases, all of which are quite challenging.  I have tried cases to juries in Austin, Bandera, Beaumont, Beeville, Brownsville, Del Rio, Hondo, Houston, San Antonio, and have appeared in cases in Boerne, Dallas, El Paso, Fredericksburg, Kerrville, the Texas Panhandle, the Rio Grande Valley, and South Texas, including Laredo. I am a member of the American Board of Trial Attorneys (ABOTA). As a trial lawyer, I have enjoyed participating as a judge in many moot court, mock trial and negotiation competitions in San Antonio and places where the American Bar Association holds annual meetings.

I have been actively involved in organized bar associations for a couple of decades. I began my involvement as the chairman of the District Courts Committee of the San Antonio Bar Association.  Participation in SABA led to the chairmanship of the Litigation Section, chairmanship of the Mentoring Program, and presidency of the over 100 year old, and 3000 member San Antonio Bar Association (2009-10).  From the beginning of the over ten year old Community Justice Program, which is an access to justice or pro bono program, I have taken appointments to represent indigents. For about 5 years, I have been the representative of the San Antonio Bar Association to the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, which is a 550 member body that sets policy for the 400,000 member ABA, the largest professional association in the world.