Joe Stephens

Joe Stephens grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, a town of about 2,500 people. His father delivered gasoline, and his mother was a school teacher. He paid his way through school working in the Oklahoma oil fields, then came to Houston for law school, graduating from the University of Houston in 1985. He was licensed in Texas that November and has practiced here for more than 40 years.

The Trial That Made Him a Trial Lawyer

Joe’s older brother was a trial lawyer. Before Joe had a case of his own, he watched his brother try a lawsuit in a Houston courtroom against Chevron and several other companies, all defended by large insurers, on behalf of one injured man. In his own words: “I knew that when I saw him fight against those big companies for this small man that had been wrongfully injured, that’s what I wanted to do with my life.” He also credits his father, who “always told me to stand up for the little guy.”

His brother put him to work right away. Joe took part in major trials straight out of law school and tried the smaller cases himself, about 20 trials in his first two years. He has now tried more than 150 cases, most of them for working people and families.

Verdicts Against Trucking Companies, Manufacturers, and Insurers

A sample of the cases Joe has handled:

• A Texas jury awarded $9.6 million to the family of a father and his teenage son, killed when an empty tractor-trailer jackknifed into oncoming traffic on Highway 290.

• A McLennan County jury returned a verdict of more than $1.2 million for the family of a four-year-old boy, killed when an 18-wheeler hauling liquefied propane pushed his father’s SUV under a flatbed trailer. The evidence included driving logs that broke federal hours-of-service limits nine times in the month of the crash.

• A cyclist riding to work on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 90 was struck and paralyzed. The driver’s insurer offered its $25,000 policy limit. A Liberty County jury awarded $3,803,094.

• A concrete truck driver’s hand was crushed in an unguarded gap between the rotating drum and a steel bar seven inches from the wash rack. Joe showed that the manufacturer already built other models with more clearance, and the jury returned a $1,000,000 verdict.

• A 24-year-old long-haul driver developed complex regional pain syndrome after a pickup towing a trailer made a U-turn across a Midland County highway. The case settled for $2.45 million.

• A Katy home health nurse was hit by a driver who ran a stop sign. The defense blamed her spinal injuries on degeneration, and the jury returned $1.275 million.

• Two water filtration technicians were broadsided in Dallas by a driver who admitted at the scene that she had not stopped, then changed her story at trial. In 2026 a Dallas County jury awarded $905,521.

• Diane Perez was hit by a Yellow Cab van that ran a stop sign. The cab company said the driver was not its employee; after the Texas First Court of Appeals overturned a ruling in the company’s favor, a jury returned a $7 million verdict against Yellow Cab.

• Four boys were abused at a ranch in New Caney. Their families were offered nothing before trial. In June 2008 a Montgomery County jury returned an $8 million verdict and found the abuser’s father liable for failing to warn the families.

• In January 2011 a Harris County jury returned a $10.7 million verdict against the operators of a clinic whose prescriptions led to a Conroe man’s fatal overdose. Verdict Search Texas placed the verdict in its Hall of Fame.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different and is evaluated on its own facts.

The Clara Harris Case

Joe’s best known trial grew out of a criminal case followed across the country. After Clara Harris ran over and killed her husband, David, his parents, Gerald and Mildred Harris, hired Joe to bring the civil case. Clara’s lawyers argued the death was unintentional. On the witness stand she invoked the Fifth Amendment 27 times, and the jury awarded Gerald and Mildred Harris $3.75 million. The case later resolved in a confidential settlement.

Joe has been asked by ABC, Fox, NBC, and CNN to discuss his cases, and his trials have been covered by the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express, Texas Lawyer, and The National Law Journal.

The Lawyer You Meet Is the Lawyer Who Tries Your Case

The Stephens Law Firm is led by Joe Stephens, the firm’s sole attorney. With the support of his staff, Joe personally meets with clients, prepares their cases, and takes them to trial. As Joe puts it, “I work on every part of your case.”

In truck cases, he describes his first moves this way: “The very first thing that I do when I get hired is I’ll hire an investigator to go out, take statements from the witnesses, take photographs of the scene, go look at the vehicles, do the vehicle downloads on your vehicle.” His second step is a letter requiring the trucking company’s insurer to preserve the evidence it has already gathered.

Board Certification and Peer Recognition

Joe is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and in Civil Trial Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the federal courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas.

He has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2008 through 2026, and he was selected for The Best Lawyers in America 2027 in Personal Injury Litigation, Plaintiffs. He holds a 10.0 Avvo rating and is listed among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.