Harriet Smith O'Neill (born April 20, 1957) is a retired associate justice of the

Supreme Court of Texas The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of ...

. A Republican, O'Neill represented Place 3 of the nine positions on the court. O'Neill's term was to expire on December 31, 2010, and she declined to seek re-election to a third full six-year term. In the April 13

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

, Judge

Debra Lehrmann Debra Ann H. Lehrmann (born November 16, 1956) is a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the court of last resort for civil and juvenile matters located in the capital city of Austin in the U.S. state of Texas. She is a former 360th Judicial Dis ...

, a family court judge from

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, won the Republican primary to succeed O'Neill. O'Neill subsequently decided to leave the court early and vacated the seat on June 20, 2010. Lehrmann was appointed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

to fill out O'Neill's term.

Judicial experience

O'Neill was first elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1998. Previously, O'Neill had been a justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas since 1995, when then-Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

appointed her. Prior to that, O'Neill had been a trial judge for the 152nd District Court, located in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, to which she was elected in 1992.

Education and career

O'Neill completed her undergraduate studies at Converse College and she received her J.D. from the

University of South Carolina School of Law The University of South Carolina School of Law, also known as South Carolina Law School, is a professional school within the University of South Carolina. The school of law was founded in 1867, and remains the only public and non-profit law schoo ...

in 1982. Prior to joining the bench, O'Neill was in private practice in Houston. She practiced law with the firms of Porter & Clements, Morris & Campbell, and then opened her own practice. Throughout those ten years, O'Neill practiced mostly complex business and commercial litigation.

References

Law Office of Harriet O'Neill

External links

Law Office of Harriet O'Neill

Justice O'Neill's profile online at the Texas Supreme Court website
Justices of the Texas Supreme Court University of South Carolina alumni Living people Lawyers from Houston Lawyers from Austin, Texas 1957 births Texas Republicans 20th-century American women judges 20th-century American judges 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American judges {{Texas-state-judge-stub