Elizabeth M. Fraley

Gerald Reading Powell Chair in Advocacy and Co-Director of the Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management

Professor Elizabeth M. Fraley is the Gerald Reading Powell Chair in Advocacy at Baylor Law, teaching Practice Court III. This mandatory course focuses on trial and post-trial procedure, summary judgments, and jury selection. During this course, students plead, discover, and try a lawsuit from start to finish before a jury. Additionally, she teaches trial advocacy skills, including witness examination, opening statements, and closing arguments. She is the Co-Director of Baylor Law’s Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management Program where she teaches Proving and Attacking Damages, Business Processes, and Technology courses. She serves on the faculty of Baylor Law’s Academy of the Advocate in St Andrews, Scotland.

While serving full-time at Baylor Law, Professor Fraley also maintains a trial practice and actively tries cases. Periodically, her students have the opportunity to observe her in trial and are able to watch the techniques taught in her classroom put into practice in the courtroom.

Professor Fraley graduated from Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1985 before attending Baylor Law. While at Baylor Law, she was a member of the Baylor Law Review and active in national moot court and mock trial teams. Following graduation, she joined Scott, Douglass & Luton (now Scott, Douglass & McConnico) in Austin, becoming a partner in three years. Professor Fraley then opened Fraley & Fraley, LLP (now the Fraley Firm, PLLC) in Dallas in 1995 where she served as managing partner. The firm and Professor Fraley hold an AV Preeminent rating of 5.0/5.0 with Martindale Hubbell. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts of Texas. Her practice focuses on litigation and mediating medical malpractice claims, professional licensing claims, and business and commercial disputes. She has tried nearly 100 civil jury trials to verdict. She is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education events both nationally and in Texas. She teaches evidence to the state’s judges through the Texas Center for the Judiciary.

Professor Fraley is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has served on the Masters in Trial team. She is the immediate past president of the Waco ABOTA Chapter and a Board Member of the National ABOTA organization. She also serves on the editorial board of ABOTA’s national magazine, Voir Dire, ABOTA’s diversity committee, and its Defending the Judiciary Committee. Professor Fraley runs the Teachers’ Law School each summer, providing civics education for local high school and middle school teachers. She is a member of the Abner V. McCall Inn of Court where she serves as a Master. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly annually since 2004 and has been named a Best Lawyer in Dallas by D Magazine annually since 2011. She is the author of the updated version of Texas Courtroom Evidence and co-author of Fundamentals of Lawyer Leadership, Texas Commercial Causes of Action as well various law review articles.

Professor Fraley is a member of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, where she serves on the vestry. She is a half-marathon runner, a traveler, and the proud mother of three children, twins Zach and Alex, and Katie.