Douglas K. O'Connell

Doug O’Connell is a licensed attorney with over 25 years of experience practicing in Austin, Texas.  Doug handles criminal law, personal injury as well as military-related legal issues. He routinely represents goverment contractors accused of procurement fraud or other violations of the law.  Doug holds a government Top Secret Clearance (TS-SCI) and assists clients with government security clearance issues including denial of a clearance application and revocation of security clearances.  A former state and federal prosecutor, Doug is also a retired Army Special Forces (Green Beret) Colonel. He aggressively fights for individuals and organizations accused of state and federal crimes, and people who are being bullied by the wealthy and powerful in civil court. As a Criminal Defense Attorney, Doug has represented client’s accused of misdemeanor and felony offenses and has fought for clients in jury trials from Driving While Intoxicated and Assault cases to Murder.  Doug has also brought civil lawsuits on behalf of clients wronged by powerful interest and are forced to fight back.  He also regularly defends Veterans and service members who may also face collateral consequences in their military careers due to criminal charges. Doug also represents college students who are facing a Title IX Investigation. 

Doug is the youngest of six children and attended college on a ROTC scholarship.  After several years of Active Duty at Fort Hood, Doug became a reservist and went to law school, graduating from Wake Forest University, and has been licensed to practice in Texas since 1994.  Doug began prosecuting crimes that year in Austin, TX, as a misdemeanor prosecutor with the Travis County Attorney’s Office. Later Doug served as a felony prosecutor with the Travis County D.A.’s Office, before moving to the United States Attorney’s office in Austin where he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting federal offenses.  Over the years, Doug prosecuted countless cases including over 100 jury trials in county, state and federal court, including capital murder. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Doug returned to Active Duty with the military.  He deployed to Iraq with U.S. Army Special Forces-10th Group and Afghanistan with the US Special Operations Command.  In addition, Doug served in Washington, D.C., New York, and other locations with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and served on the FBI’s Manhattan, NY based Joint Terrorism Task Force which investigates terrorism-related cases arising out of the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

 Along the way, Doug earned two Master’s degrees, one in Homeland Security from the Naval Post Graduate School and the other in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.  Doug's last military assignment was serving as the Commander a Special Operations Unit in the Texas Army National Guard focused on enhancing the counter terrorism capacity of African Countries facing threats from Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda and other violent extremist groups.  

 Doug uses mission-focus, strategic analysis, and extensive experience in criminal and military-related law to benefit his clients now in federal and state court, including Travis County Veterans Court.  He also consulted on complex, multi-jurisdictional cases where service members face state and military charges with career and family implications.

Doug serves on the Vestry of his Episcopal Church and as a Director of the Texas Lyceum. He is also a Board Member of Songwriting with Soldiers.