Professor R. Matt Dawson

R. Matt Dawson taught the practice court program for thirteen years as the Leon Jaworski Chair of Practice and Procedure. His teaching had a profound effect on students at Baylor Law School, and the R. Matt Dawson Endowed Lecture Series was established to honor his service to the legal profession and Baylor University.

Dawson graduated from Baylor Law School in 1938. As a law student, he clerked under Judge James P. Alexander, the long-time Practice Court professor. Upon graduation, Dawson and close friend Abner V. McCall, who would later hold the positions of Dean of Baylor Law School and President of Baylor University, founded the law firm of McCall & Dawson in Longview, TX. The two practiced for a short time before McCall was asked to return to Baylor as a law professor. Dawson remained in Longview and continued the practice.

Dawson was elected as County Judge in Gregg County in 1942, and the firm of McCall & Dawson dissolved. After World War II, Dawson moved to Corsicana and practiced as a trial attorney with the firm of Dawson, Dawson & Price for more than twenty-five years.

In 1972, Dawson returned to Baylor as a full-time faculty member. He retired in 1984. In 1995, Joseph D. Jamail and W. James Kronzer established the R. Matt Dawson Endowed Lecture to honor Dawson's many years of service to the legal profession and to the university. Dawson was also honored as Baylor Lawyer of the Year in 1987.