The Texas Trial Lawyers Association has recognized Dallas trial lawyer Charla Aldous of Aldous \ Walker with the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2021. This marks the first time in the group’s history that it has presented the award to a woman.
TTLA presents the award each year to the lawyer whose accomplishments in court and work in the community “bring credit to trial lawyers and the legal profession.”
Previous recipients of the TTLA Lifetime Achievement Award include Walter Umphrey (2015), John Eddie Williams (2018), Broadus Spivey (2006), Mike Gallagher (2011) and Frank Branson (2019), among others.
“This is one of those things that truly does take your breath away,” Ms. Aldous says. “When I look at the others who have received this honor, I am inspired by the notion that my name will be mentioned alongside theirs. And I’m very proud of that.”
Ms. Aldous began her career representing insurance companies, but later switched to representing plaintiffs. Since then, she has amassed a string of verdicts on her clients’ behalf and has built a reputation as someone who is always ready to stand up on behalf of those in the position of playing David to the corporate Goliath.
Her many courtroom victories include a string of four wins in 2018 and 2019, in which juries awarded her clients $25 million, $37.6 million, $32 million and $20 million. Several of those wins found their way to Texas Lawyer magazine’s Top 10 Verdicts of 2019. The $25 million win in a dram shop case collected an Elite Trial Lawyers Law Firm of the Year award from American Lawyer Media and The National Trial Lawyers.
“Our 7th Amendment right to trial by jury is among the most important foundations of our American democracy. I’m happy to do my part to support that right,” Ms. Aldous says.
This is just the latest honor for Ms. Aldous, who this year was also the only female trial lawyer named among the Top 10 in Texas by Texas Super Lawyers magazine. Most recently, she and a group of lawyers received the John Howie Award from the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association for their pro-bono representation of Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in his mask case against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.