Lionel James Roach Jr.

Lonnie Roach represents clients with disability claims including long term disability claims, ERISA disability claims and Social Security disability claims. He is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law. 

The son of a career army officer, Lonnie Roach was born at Fort Lewis Washington in 1963. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he graduated with honors with a B.A. in Political Science. He then moved to Austin in 1988 to attend law school at the University of Texas at Austin. While in law school, he and his close friend, Greg Reed, won the State Bar of Texas Moot Court Competition, a prestigious State-wide competition. This was Mr. Roach’s first experience in appellate law. He’s been winning ever since. 

After completing law school, Mr. Roach began his career practicing personal injury trial law and became Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization the first year he was eligible. In addition to his trial practice, he is the firm’s primary appellate lawyer and has successfully argued cases before the Texas Court of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. 

It was natural that Mr. Roach’s career path would eventually lead him to the field of ERISA law, especially as it applies to long term disability insurance. Disability benefits cases are, by their nature, medical cases. They involve volumes of medical records that require a solid medical background to interpret. These are the skills of a Board Certified Personal Injury lawyer. When these cases go to trial, however, they take on the aspect of appeals. Disabled claimants are appealing the decision of powerful claims administrators. These trials call for the skills of an appellate attorney. Mr. Roach is both and has become a recognized expert in the field of ERISA, Long Term Disability. He has successfully overturned denials of disability benefits at the administrative level, at trial in United States District Court, and at the United States Court of Appeals. 

Our disability benefits legal services are state-wide. At any given time, Mr. Roach is likely to have cases pending in all four federal districts in Texas. He is a Board Certified Texas attorney and is admitted to the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Texas, the Southern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Texas, and the Western District of Texas, as well as the United States Court of appeals for the Fifth Circuit.