Senior Criminal Defense Attorney
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Overview
Job Description
You are the reason this firm exists. Lance Kennedy Law defends people charged with crimes across Texas, from offices in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, and everything here is built to put a trial attorney in front of the client and in front of the jury.
We are hiring a senior criminal defense attorney in Austin to own a docket of criminal cases, in state and federal court, from first setting through dismissal, plea or verdict. The firm was founded by Lance Kennedy, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Texas prosecutor and a Major in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, so the people you work for have stood where you are going to stand.
Every senior trial attorney here is a former prosecutor, and most have capital murder experience. We hire from the top 5% of applicants. Lance Kennedy was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2025 and 2026.
What you get to do
- Try cases. Paralegals, intake staff, a sales team and AI tools handle the paperwork and the follow-up, so your time goes to court and to clients in person.
- Use the support staff and the AI agents to the fullest. The firm staffs two support team members and AI agents for every attorney, and we expect you to lean on them.
- Own your cases, your clients and your results.
- Become a Forensic Lawyer-Scientist. Axion Analytical Labs in Chicago teaches defense lawyers forensic chemistry, and its courses lead to the American Chemical Society's Forensic Lawyer-Scientist designation; the firm sends you and pays the full tuition.
- Grow with the firm. We are expanding beyond Texas, and there are paths into leadership and mentoring.
- Learn the firm's systems from your first day, in writing.
- Work a hybrid schedule: the office and home.
Every application is read. Conversations are confidential.
Lance Kennedy Law is an equal opportunity employer.
Requirements
Required:
- 7 or more years of criminal defense experience
- Licensed in Texas and in good standing
- Someone who wants to own the case, the client and the result
Preferred (we look at these first):
- Federal criminal trial experience
- Board certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
- A current or former prosecutor who has tried cases, and a lot of them
Benefits
- $160,000 to $180,000 a year, plus a share of a year-end bonus pool
- Medical and dental insurance
- Unlimited time off
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Annual raises
- Bar dues and CLEs paid
- Mileage reimbursement
- Forensic Lawyer-Scientist designation through Axion Analytical Labs, with the firm paying the full tuition for the courses
- A $5,000 referral bonus when an attorney you refer is hired
- 30 percent of the fee the firm receives on any client you refer
- Hybrid work
- Written training on the firm's systems from your first day
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