When the Case Calls for a Former Judge, Call Us. When It Doesn’t, We’ll Tell You Who To Call.
Lawyers take plenty of calls that land outside their immediate ability to help: a family law client is arrested over the weekend, an injured client blows a .12 at the scene, or a good client’s cousin needs help with an unrelated matter. Clients don’t often research who to call themselves. They ask you what to do next, and whoever you name becomes part of your reputation.
E.R. "Ned" Turnbull has spent more than 25 years on every side of a criminal courtroom. He has been the Chief Prosecutor deciding what to charge and what to offer. He has been the State District Court Judge ruling on the motions that decide cases before a jury ever hears them. And he has been defense counsel in felony jury trials. When attorneys across Texas hit a matter they cannot or will not handle themselves, his is the phone that rings.
He is also the call attorneys make when they need to know who else to call. Turnbull Legal Group refers matters out as readily as it takes them in. Twenty-five years in these courts builds a network, and we use it in both directions — because we believe cases should always be placed with whoever is best suited to it.
Whether you’re referring a case or we’re referring to you, your client ends up in the right hands.
Why attorneys refer to Turnbull Legal Group
Ned Turnbull has occupied the two chairs that decide criminal cases in Texas. As a Chief Prosecutor, he made the charging decisions, set the offers, and chose which cases were worth trying. As a State District Court Judge, he ruled on suppression motions, decided what a jury would and would not hear, and handed down sentences. He reads a motion to suppress the way the judge on your client’s case is going to read it, because he has been the one reading them. He knows which offers have room in them and which ones are the State’s actual position, because he used to be the one making them.
For a referring attorney, that translates into something specific and useful: an honest read on the case within a single phone call. Whether it should be tried or resolved, what the realistic exposure is, and whether Turnbull Legal Group is even the right firm for it.
E.R. “Ned” Turnbull’s credentials include:
- Former State District Court Judge, Chief of the Criminal Division
- Former Chief Prosecutor
- More than 200 felony jury trials
- Qualified as trial counsel in death penalty cases
- 25+ years practicing in criminal courts
- Deep working familiarity with Harris, Montgomery, Brazos, and Galveston County courts
Not every referral is a full hand-off, and not every attorney wants one. Depending on what your client needs, Turnbull Legal Group can serve as:
- Referral counsel: We take the matter outright and handle it start to finish
- Co-counsel: We work the case alongside your firm under a formal co-counsel agreement
- Trial counsel: You have built the case and it is going to a jury; we try it
- Local counsel: You are out of market and need someone who knows the judges, the prosecutors, and the unwritten rules in Harris, Montgomery, Brazos, or Galveston County
- Second chair: Your firm is trying the case and wants a former judge at the table
While most attorneys choose to hand the matter over to Turnbull Legal Group and allow us to carry it to resolution, we’re committed to lending your client our experience, and there are many ways to do that. If you’re not sure which agreement fits best, we’re happy to have a conversation about that before we get started.
Two ways to work with Turnbull
Most referral relationships run one direction, which is why so many of them go quiet after a case or two. Ours run both ways. Pick the one that fits your situation.
Types of criminal cases you can refer to Turnbull Legal Group
Criminal defense in Texas is what our firm specializes in, and our experience can’t be recreated by a general practitioner who takes the occasional criminal case.
Criminal matters are decided on a faster clock than most civil practices are built around, and the window on some of it is unforgiving. A client arrested for DWI usually has only 15 days from the date of arrest to request an administrative license revocation hearing, and if that deadline passes, the suspension proceeds whether or not the criminal case ever results in a conviction. By the time a referral reaches us three weeks in, options have already closed.
Some matters we often accept from referring attorneys include:
- DWI, repeat DWI, and felony DWI
- Intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter
- Commercial driver and CDL alcohol offenses
- Assault, family violence, and aggravated assault
- Violent crime, including cases involving serious bodily injury
- Drug possession, distribution, and trafficking
- Theft, fraud, and white collar matters
- Weapons charges
- Probation and community supervision revocations
- Capital and death penalty eligible cases
- Expunctions and orders of nondisclosure
If your client is facing something not named above, give us a call and ask whether we’re the right firm. We’ll give you a straight answer, and if we believe we know someone better for the job, we’ll tell you.
Where Turnbull Legal Group appears
Turnbull Legal Group practices throughout the Greater Houston region, with concentrated courtroom experience in Harris County, Montgomery County, Brazos County, and Galveston County. Here are some of the counties in which Turnbull most frequently appears:
- Austin County
- Brazoria County
- Chambers County
- Fort Bend County
- Galveston County
- Harris County
- Liberty County
- Montgomery County
- San Jacinto County
- Waller County
- Robertson County
- Brazos County
- Leon County
- Madison County
- Grimes County
- Washington County
- Burleson County
- Matagorda County
- Jefferson County
- Hardin County
If you are an out-of-market firm that needs local counsel in any of these county courts, that is a role we are glad to take on its own terms.
While we call Houston, Conroe, and Bryan home, we often take cases throughout all of Texas. If you have a serious matter that requires traveling outside of our home locations, we’d love to discuss the matter to see how we can help.
When an injury case needs more, we bring in more
Turnbull Legal Group also represents injured clients across our Texas service areas. We’re honest about where the ceiling sits on any one firm’s resources, and catastrophic injury litigation against a well-funded insurance carrier is not the place to discover you are under-resourced halfway through.
When a case needs more than we should be carrying alone — a venue outside our footprint, a matter demanding specialized expertise, a case requiring investigators and experts funded at a scale that only a dedicated injury practice maintains — we place it. We have referral relationships with plaintiff firms in Texas and nationwide, and we vet them the way we would want to be vetted before a case is handed to us.
This bit of practicing law doesn’t show up on most firms’ websites, and it should. Twenty-five years in and around these courts means Ned usually knows who the right lawyer is even when it is not him. That knowledge is often important to our clients, and it may be able to help you.
How personal injury referral works
We are actively interested in expanding the set of firms we place injury cases with. If you try cases rather than settle them, and you want a referral relationship with a criminal practice that regularly sees injury claims arising from the same incidents, we would like to hear from you. Tell us what you handle and where. We also accept injury referrals in our Texas service areas.
You made the introduction. You’ll be compensated for it.
When you send a case here, you are spending credibility you spent years building. We treat that as something owed rather than something given, and Turnbull Legal Group pays referral fees on matters referred to the firm.
Terms are negotiated case by case.
The right number depends on the nature of the matter, its complexity, and the structure of the engagement, and we would rather have that conversation honestly than publish a range that fits some cases and shortchanges others.
Here’s how the arrangement usually works:
- You call or email with the basics. Client name, charge or injury, county, and two sentences on what happened. That is enough for us to tell you whether we are the right firm.
- We give you a straight answer, fast. If it is a matter we should take, we say so and walk you through how we would approach it. If it is not, we say that too and point you toward someone better suited.
- Both firms sign a written agreement. Your client consents in writing to the arrangement and the fee division, and everyone knows their role before any work begins.
- We take it from there. You stay counsel of record, you get updates as the case moves, and you get your client back at the end of it.
FAQ
What kinds of criminal cases do you accept from other attorneys?
DWI and felony DWI, intoxication assault and manslaughter, assault and family violence, violent crime, drug charges, weapons offenses, white collar matters, probation revocations, and capital cases. Ned Turnbull is qualified as trial counsel in death penalty cases, so the ceiling on what we will take is high. If you are unsure whether your client’s matter fits, call and ask.
Do you pay referral fees?
Yes. Terms are negotiated case by case rather than set at a fixed percentage, because the right arrangement depends on the matter. Every division is documented in writing between the firms and consented to in writing by the client before the referral, consistent with the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.
What happens to my relationship with the client?
It stays yours. Think of it the way a surgical referral works: the specialist handles the procedure, and the patient returns to their regular doctor afterward. Your client came to you first, and when this is resolved, they should remember that you were the one who put the right lawyer in front of them.
Can you serve as trial counsel, local counsel, or second chair rather than taking the whole case?
Yes. Some firms want a full hand-off. Others have built the case themselves and want a former judge trying it, or need local counsel who knows the bench and the prosecutors in a particular county. Both are roles we take.
Do you refer personal injury cases out?
Yes, when a matter calls for resources or a venue beyond what we should be carrying. We maintain referral relationships with plaintiff trial firms in Texas and nationwide, and we place cases with firms we have vetted. If you are a plaintiff firm interested in that relationship, get in touch.
Tell us about the case
Ready to send a matter over, or want to talk through whether it is a fit first? Fill out the form and someone from our team will get back to you directly. Everything you share is confidential. If you would rather just talk it through now, call us at (832) 314-3232.
