Firm Founders - A.W. Walker Jr., Jackson Walker, LLP

Since its founding in 1887, Jackson Walker attorneys have significantly influenced the industries and legislation that have shaped the course of Texas history; among the most notable being one of the firm founders, A.W. Walker Jr.

Born Agnesiluas Wilson Walker Jr. in 1901 in Dennison, Texas, Jess Walker is known for his significant contribution to the field of oil and gas law. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he received both his BA and LLB in just five years. While there, he was chosen to help inaugurate the Texas Law Review and served as its first Editor in Chief. He later returned to UT to teach for 23 years during which time he developed, wrote about, and taught principles of oil and gas law that we follow to this day.

In the publication of his first article in 1928 exploring the various theories of oil and gas ownership applied throughout the country, Walker was one of the first to see oil and gas rights as a type of property peculiar unto itself which necessitated a distinct body of law. His next article maintained the view that an oil or gas lease be treated as a fee simple determinable—a view that has been repeatedly confirmed by Texas courts and continues to be tested on the Texas Bar Exam to this day.

To the disappointment of a devoted student body, Walker left UT in 1948 to join the firm that would later be known as Jackson Walker. It is reported that in one of his appearances before the Texas Supreme Court, seven of the nine justices were his former students.

Throughout his practice, he continued to influence oil and gas law, serving as Chairman of the Natural Resources Law Section of the American Bar Association and of what is now the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Section of the State Bar of Texas (OGERL). In 1963, the Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section of the State Bar of Texas presented him with its 25thAnniversary Award. Three years later he received Texas Law School’s Leon Green Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1976, the Texas Bar Foundation named him recipient of its Fifty Year Award for service to the legal profession. In 1983, the two Centennial Chairs established in his honor at Texas Law School garnered the largest endowment in the history of the law school at the time.

To this day, the firms carries on Walker’s tradition with one of the premier oil and gas practices in the state. Three of Jackson Walker attorneys have followed in Walker’s footsteps as chair of the OGERL section, including Pete Hosey who currently serves as chair and regularly participates in the renowned Earnest E. Smith Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Institute. OGERL’s recent publication, “Landmarks of a Century in Oil and Gas Law” was inspired by Walker’s writings. The book was 10 years in the making, and Jackson Walker's Mike Pearson, also a prior chair of OGERL, contributed 2 of the 20 cases reviewed.

To learn more about Jackson Walker’s history, check out their timeline.