Scott Charles Medlock

Scott has practiced law since 2005, and is a founding partner of Greisen Medlock in Denver, Colorado. Before returning to Denver, Scott began his legal career with the Texas Civil Rights Project, then practiced for eight years with the civil rights and personal injury firm of Edwards Law in Austin, Texas.

Practicing with Edwards Law, Scott won one of the largest civil rights jury verdicts in the Texas Panhandle ($1,000,000), won a preliminary injunction on behalf of elderly and disabled prisoners to protect them from extreme temperatures, successfully defended multiple important civil rights issues on appeal to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and settled dozens of prisoner wrongful death, police shooting, false arrest, and personal injury cases on terms favorable to his clients, recovering millions of dollars (including many of the largest civil rights settlements ever against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the City of Austin).

Practicing with the Texas Civil Rights Project, a non-profit, Scott built the agency’s prisoners’ rights program from the ground up, going from being the sole attorney to supervising a practice group with three lawyers, a legal assistant, and numerous law students and undergraduate interns. In very difficult cases, Scott recovered millions of dollars for inmates and their families, and forced county jails, juvenile prisons, and the state prison system to make important policy changes to protect prisoners’ rights. He also protected the rights of non-violent demonstrators, and citizen groups denied public information.

Scott became one of the nation’s leading voices for prisoners, and has been quoted by publications including: the New York Times, Huffington Post, Houston Chronicle, and Texas Tribune. Scott has also had op-ed pieces published by Time Magazine, and the Houston Chronicle. He has presented at continuing legal education seminars for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Association, El Paso County, Texas Public Defenders Office, and the State Bar of Texas Individual Rights Section.

As TCRP’s pro bono coordinator, Scott engaged attorneys at major law firms to provide thousands of hours of free legal services to low-income Texans whose civil rights had been violated. Under Scott’s direction, the pro bono program protected Texans from warrantless searches, extreme temperatures in prisons, retaliation for exercising their free speech rights, violations of religious liberties, and the rights of people with disabilities. Scott continues to mentor young attorneys practicing civil rights law.

Scott is the youngest recipient of the prestigious J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services award, given annually by the State Bar of Texas to an outstanding legal services program staff attorney. He was named a Legal Leader on the Rise in 2013 by The Texas Lawyer, and a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2014 to 2019, an honor given to less than five percent of Texas attorneys. In 2021, he was named a Texas Super Lawyer. For three years he was a barrister in the Barbara Jordan American Inn of Court, and a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association. He is now a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association. Scott also assisted in teaching the Constitutional Litigation seminar course at the University of Texas School of Law.

Scott believes in the importance of pro bono work and community service, and served on the board member for the Lone Star Victims Advocacy Project, which provided free legal services to immigrant domestic violence survivors. LSVAP empowered immigrant clients to escape abusive relationships and legally immigrate to the United States. He also served as a member of the Texas State University Institutional Review Board to review the ethics of potential research studies involving prisoners. Scott worked to protect people from gun violence with the Austin chapter of Moms Demand Action, and has represented the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence as local counsel in suits filed in Texas.

A native of Denver, Scott returned to his home town to practice civil rights and employment law with King & Greisen in 2021, before founding Greisen Medlock. Scott is a graduate cum laude of Northwestern University, and with honors of the University of Texas School of Law. Scott is licensed to practice law in all state and federal courts in Colorado and Texas, as well as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.