By the age of 14, a young Jim Cowles discovered the desire to become a lawyer. He went on to obtain both his BBA and LLB from the University of Texas in Austin. Later, just two years into his legal career, he had already tried 40 cases — and won all 40. By 2022, Cowles had tried close to 600 cases to a jury verdict.

In 1965, he was one of the first attorneys in Texas to effectively use scientific evidence to demonstrate the flaws in eyewitness testimony. He was a pioneer in the use of demonstrative and scientific exhibits, for example: a toilet paper roll as a cancerous bronchial tube, a paper napkin from lunch for a sketch of an oil pipeline from Texas to California, and an actual airplane wing to demonstrate the difficulty of improperly installing an aileron. Cowles, following the tradition of an early famous Dallas trial lawyer, commonly memorized the names and occupations of each member of the jury panel and called them off during voir dire.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]