Attorneys

John Brown is one of the firm's three founding partners. He practices in the areas of accountant's negligence, fidelity bond litigation, fiduciary and trusts and estates litigation, and estate planning, trust and probate law. Mr. Brown has taken a lead role in every significant accountant malpractice investigation the firm has undertaken, and has litigated cases against all of the national accounting firms. Mr. Brown has handled major cases in federal district and bankruptcy courts, and state courts in Texas, California, New York, Florida, Oregon, Michigan, Delaware, Kansas, West Virginia, and Mississippi which have resulted in recoveries in excess of $120 million.

Mr. Brown specializes in representing creditors' committees, trustees of litigation trusts established in bankruptcy proceedings, and receivers of federally insured financial institutions seeking to recover on various professional liability and bond claims on behalf of creditors. For over twenty-five years, Mr. Brown has successfully represented trustees, executors, guardians and beneficiaries, on both sides of the docket, in a wide variety of trust and estate issues. He also advises clients in connection with their private tax and estate planning, structuring their business interests, and carrying out their duties as trustees and executors.

Mr. Brown has been Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Estate Planning and Probate Law since 1986. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the California State Bar, and is a licensed certified public accountant in Texas and California. Mr. Brown is a member of the American Bar Association, the Amarillo Bar Association, the Panhandle Chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs, and the Amarillo Area Estate Planning Council (Vice-President, 1991-1992; President 1992-1993; Seminar Chair since 1990). Mr. Brown is also a co-chair of the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee of the Texas Supreme Court (District 13).

Mr. Brown received his B.B.A. degree in Accounting with Distinction from the University of Hawaii in 1974. Following college, Mr. Brown joined the audit staff of Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte & Touche) in the San Francisco office, and became licensed as a certified public accountant in 1976. He received his J.D. degree with Honors from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1979. During law school, he served on the editorial staff of the Hastings Law Journal, where he co-authored a published article with Dean Miguel de Capriles, former Dean of New York University Law School. Mr Brown was also a member of the Thurston Society and the Order of the Coif, both academic honor societies.