Wasoff & Cowart, PLLC Attorneys at Law Harry K. Wasoff, Jr. • Thomas B. Cowart

Tom Cowart is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from high school at the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Tom claims to be a naturalized Texan by virtue of his economics undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. He earned his law degree at another Texas public university, the University of Houston, graduating cum laude in 1993. While at the University of Houston, he also earned a Master of Arts in Economics. A glutton for punishment, he is currently about half way through the MBA program at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Tom began his legal career on the staff of the Texas Court of Appeals for the Tenth Court of Appeals District, which sits in Waco. All total, Tom spent four years on the staff of the Waco Court of Appeals. In 2000, he moved to Dallas to take the Turley Law Firm’s appellate and litigation support associate position. In that position, Tom handled all of the Turley Law Firm’s appellate docket, assisted the firm’s trial lawyers with their significant motions practice, and generally served as a consultant and resource for the firm’s lawyers in positioning their cases to obtain the greatest recovery possible for their client and to limit or defeat any legal defenses asserted against those claims.

Tom is Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He first earned this certification in 1998 and was re-certified in 2003 and 2008. During his private practice career, he has been the lead attorney in over 70 appellate matters, including both state and federal appeals and state and federal mandamus proceedings. He has argued before the Texas Supreme Court on two occasions, multiple times in the Fifth Circuit, and many, many times before various Texas intermediate courts of appeals.

Tom has also been actively involved in handling cases at the trial court level as well.  In his position with the Turley Law Firm, Tom was  responsible for much of the Firm's commercial litigation docket, including handling litigation over a fractional lease of a private jet aircraft, a suit involving defective repair and cosmetic work on a large office building along Central Expressway in Dallas, and many other breach of contract claims.  Since August 2007, Tom has been in the courtroom for four different civil jury trials, including a three day breach of contract action tried in Tarrant County, a five day employment discrimination suit tried in Rusk County in east Texas, a three day personal injury suit tried in Dallas County, and a one day commercial lease eviction matter also tried to a jury in Dallas County.  Over the last twelve months, Tom has represented numerous individuals in disputes over contracts and other commercial matters in the Texas court system.

Tom is active in a variety of professional capacities. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas District 6A Grievance Committee, serving as committee chairman in the 2006-2007 bar year and again in the 2009-2010 bar year. He served for two years as Treasurer of the Collin County Bar Association and is the President of the Association for the 2009-2010 bar year. He is currently serving as the Vice-Chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Section. He is also on the editorial board of The Advocate, the quarterly report of the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section, the largest of the State Bar’s sections.

Tom is a veteran of the United States Army. On active duty he served as a 107 mm mortar crewman with the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas. After being discharged from active duty, he served as a communications equipment repairman in the Army Reserves with the 420th Engineer Brigade in Bryan, Texas.