Attorney Profiles

Biography

Kevin McHargue was on the road to becoming a journalist. As an undergraduate student at the University of Texas, Kevin was the Editor in Chief of the campus paper, The Daily Texan, and a staff writer for the Austin Business Journal. Instead, he became a lawyer because this early experience convinced him that only trial lawyers were in a position to fight the abuse of corporate power. “Working in journalism and politics, I learned the only people really capable of standing up to big corporations were trial lawyers,” he says. “And no firm stands up for public health and environmental protection more than Baron & Budd.”

Kevin McHargue is now a shareholder with Baron & Budd and head of the law firm’s appellate and legal issues section, and he is a natural for this role. This section of the firm is devoted to researching and writing about the law and explaining to judges—rather than juries—why they should rule a particular way. Few plaintiffs’ firms have a dedicated group of lawyers to handle these issues, and Baron & Budd is well known and respected by judges and attorneys alike as a credible and authoritative voice on the legal issues in toxic tort cases.

When Kevin came to Baron & Budd in 1998, he already understood a great deal about how to persuade and communicate with all types of people. Kevin was a Briefing Attorney for the Supreme Court of Texas and also served as Communications Director for U.S. Representative Jim Turner.

Kevin's legal acumen is widely recognized in and outside of the courtroom. He has worked with a coalition of law firms in courts throughout the country to defend expert witnesses against a series of attacks orchestrated by defendants in toxic tort cases. Over the last several years, he has helped lead the successful opposition against motions to strike expert testimony about chrysotile asbestos in Texas, culminating in the Supreme Court of Texas's denial of a mandamus petition in 2007. In 2003, Kevin co-authored a brief in the United States Supreme Court for the public interest organization Public Justice, which helped convince the Supreme Court to protect the right of asbestosis victims to recover damages for the fear of developing cancer. As a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Association for Justice and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association’s Amicus Committee, Kevin has the opportunity to speak out for justice in many different types of cases.

Kevin was named a “Texas Rising Star” in 2004 and “Texas Super Lawyer” in 2005 and 2006 by Law & Politics Media and Texas Monthly magazine, and in 2006 was honored by D Magazine in its feature article titled, “Best Lawyers in Dallas under 40.”

Outside of his law practice, Kevin stands up for individual rights through his work with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Kevin is a former Vice President of the ACLU of Texas and serves on the ACLU’s national board of directors. Recently, Kevin was interviewed by television reporters about the ACLU’s position against the “Real ID” legislation—a national identification program that risks the privacy rights of American citizens.