J. Brett Busby

Houston
711 Louisiana Street, Ste. 2300
Houston, TX 77002
713.221.1160
brett.busby@bgllp.com
Firm: 
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Practice: 
Appellate
Position: 
Partner
Admissions: 
Texas, 2001
New York, 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, 2000
Texas and U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 2001
U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh and Federal Circuits, 2003

Cases

Biography: 

Brett Busby handles civil appeals on a variety of subjects, including general commercial disputes, securities,
products liability and torts, punitive damages, real property rights, energy, and cross-border disputes (including issues
such as personal jurisdiction and application of foreign law). He has argued cases successfully in the Texas Supreme
Court and the federal and Texas courts of appeals, and he argued his first case in the United States Supreme Court in
February 2006. He has also briefed many cases in the United States and Texas Supreme Courts and in other federal and
state courts at both the appellate and trial level. In addition, Brett works with trial counsel to prepare dispositive
motions, preserve error, and craft the jury charge, and he serves as a member of the State Bar of Texas Committee on Pattern
Jury Charges (Business, Consumer, Insurance & Employment). He is board certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board
of Legal Specialization.

Texas Monthly magazine has recognized Brett as a Texas Rising Star attorney in the field of appellate litigation.
He is a frequent CLE speaker, serves as the Fifth Circuit Editor for the ABA Appellate Practice Journal, and regularly writes
the United States Supreme Court Update for the Appellate Advocate journal of the State Bar of Texas. He is also an active
member of many bar organizations, including the Houston Bar Association Appellate Practice Section (Council Member 2005-present)
and the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section (Chair, Website Committee, 2004-present). Prior to joining Mayer Brown LLP,
he practiced civil appellate litigation at the firm of Hogan Dubose & Townsend in Houston.

Brett received his J.D. from Columbia University, where he was named a James Kent Scholar, won the Young B. Smith Torts Prize,
and served as Head Articles Editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. He served as a law clerk for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and for Justices Byron R. White and John Paul Stevens of the United
States Supreme Court. Brett is a summa cum laude graduate of Duke University.

Education: 
Columbia University Law School, J.D., 1998; James Kent Scholar; Young B. Smith Torts Prize; Head Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law
Duke University, A.B. summa cum laude, 1995; Phi Beta Kappa
Boston University, M.A., 1972