T. John Ward

T. John Ward served as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas from September 24, 1999 until his retirement October 1, 2011. While serving as federal judge, he presided over 150 jury trials and managed a diverse but intellectual property-heavy docket resulting in the final disposition of over three thousand civil cases.

Prior to being appointed to the federal bench, Mr. Ward spent 31 years as an active trial lawyer, trying over 250 cases to jury verdict throughout Texas.

Mr. Ward graduated from Texas Tech University with a B.A. degree in Chemistry and received his law degree from Baylor University.

At the time of his appointment by President Clinton, in addition to being licensed in Texas, Mr. Ward was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, as well as the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas.

Mr. Ward is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He served as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Court Management from October 2003 to October 2009. He is a long-time Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (1986-1999 and Oct. 2011-present) and was a Judicial Fellow during his years on the bench (1999-Oct. 2011). He is also an Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (1990-present). He served on the Board of Governors of the Fifth Circuit Bar Association from 1987 to 1991 and from 1996 to 1999. Baylor University Law School named Judge Ward the 2004 Baylor Lawyer of the Year. In 2006 the American Inns of Court, in cooperation with the members of the local bar, chartered the Honorable T. John Ward American Inn of Court for East Texas. In 2009 the Texas Chapters of American Board of Trial Advocates named Judge Ward Trial Judge of the Year. Judge Ward was profiled in the Fall 2010 Intellectual Property supplement to American Lawyer Magazine and was selected as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in IP. Judge Ward served as a member of the National Patent Jury Instruction Project at the request of Chief Judge Paul R. Michel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This project was completed in June 2009, and the results may be found at http://www.nationaljuryinstructions.org/.