C. Dean Davis
1932-2020
Few personalities in the legal profession have left such an indelible imprint on any segment of Texas life as C. Dean Davis has etched into the state’s healthcare industry.
As founder of the pioneer Austin-based Davis & Davis firm, Davis has become the acknowledged wise man of the Texas healthcare community over a stellar career of over a half-century of counsel and litigation.
His first assignment out of the University of Texas’ School of Law in 1958 was appointment as Assistant Attorney General of Texas under Attorney General Will Wilson, where he served for three years. A short time later, after he entered private practice in 1961, he laid the foundation for the healthcare expertise and credibility that would serve him for a lifetime when he helped write the first legislation to authorize the newly created Medicaid program in Texas.
Davis was the founder, managing shareholder and senior counsel of Davis & Davis for more than 55 years. Under his leadership, the firm retained a number of clients for more than four decades. He was long-time counsel to the Texas Hospital Association (THA), Texas Pharmacy Association (TPA), Texas Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (TAIFA) and the Texas Hospital Insurance Exchange (THIE), one of the largest writers of malpractice insurance, by number of hospitals, in Texas. He established that company for the hospitals of Texas at a time when insurance companies were leaving the state because of a malpractice crisis.
He was a founding author of the THA Hospital Legal and Consent Manual and is well known to healthcare personnel as a frequent author of medical-legal articles for hospital, medical, nursing and pharmacy publications. He also has been guest lecturer and speaker on medical-legal-pharmacy subjects at numerous conventions and conferences at both the state and national levels. He is one of the founders of the Health Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and has served as its chairman. Beyond his broad healthcare practice, Davis serves a clientele which include banking, corporate, insurance and securities businesses.
Long before gaining his professional renown, Davis was an honors graduate of North Texas State University earning a Bachelor of Arts in government and economics in 1953. He was appointed to the Board of Regents of his alma mater by then-Gov. John Connally and was the youngest man to hold that position. He was reappointed by Gov. Mark White and later served as chairman of the Board of Regents for both the University of North Texas and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 1981, the university honored him with its highest award, the Distinguished Alumnus.
Davis has continued to help his colleagues carry on the legacy of service to the health care community that they helped him build. “I want to make sure that we serve our clients with the same level of expertise, passion and personal commitment for another five decades,” he said. As of 2017, Dean is retired.
Born in Abilene, Texas, September 12, 1932; admitted to bar, 1958, Texas; 1965, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas; 1967, U.S. District Court, Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas; 1968, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.
Education:
North Texas State University (B.A., cum laude, 1953); University of Texas (LL.B., 1958). Phi Alpha Delta. Recipient, Award of Merit, American Bar Association, 1962. Contributing Author, Trustee Bulletin, Texas Association of Hospital Governing Boards. 1989-. Adjunct Professor: Hospital Law, Trinity University, 1972-; Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas, School of Pharmacy, 1974; Member, Board of Regents, North Texas State University, 1967-1972. Chairman, Board of Regents: University of North Texas, 1987-1989; Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, 1987-1989. Assistant Attorney General of Texas, 1958-1961.
Member:
Travis County and American Bar Associations; State Bar of Texas (Chairman, Health Law Section, 1981); American Society of Hospital Attorneys; Texas Association of Defense Counsel; Defense Research Institute. [U.S. Army, 1954-1956].
Reported Cases:
Steakley v. Braden, 322 S.W.2d 363 (Tex.Civ.App.–Austin 1959; writ ref’d n.r.e.);Bloom v. Texas State Board of Pharmacy, 390 S.W.2d 252 (Tex. 1965); Sosa v. Board of Managers of the Val Verde Memorial Hospital, 437 F.2d 173 (5th Cir. 1971); Texas State Board of Pharmacy v. Walgreen Texas Co., 520 S.W.2d 845 (Tex.Civ.App.–Austin 1975, writ ref’d n.r.e); Texas State Board of Pharmacy v. Gibson Discount Center, 541 S.W.2d 884 (Tex. App.– Corpus Christi 1982, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Valdez v. Lyman – Roberts Hospital, Inc., 638 S.W.2d 111 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 1982, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Brownsville Medical Center v. Garcia, 704 S.W.2d 68 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 1985, writ ref’d n.r.e.); Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas, Inc. v. Baber, 672 S.W.2d 296 (Tex. App.–Beaumont 1984, orig. proceeding), writ ref’d n.r.e 714 S.W.2d 310 (Tex. 1986); Seeley v. Texas State Board of Pharmacy, 764 S.W.2d 806 (Tex. App.–Austin 1988, writ denied); Kramer v. Lewisville Memorial Hospital, 831 S.W.2d 46 (Tex. App.–Fort Worth 1992, aff’d, 858 S.W.2d 397 (Tex. 1993); Texas Hospital Association et al v. Texas Worker’s Compensation Commission, 911 S.W.2d 884 (Tex. App.–1995, writ ref’d); Trevino v. Edinburg Hospital Authority, 40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J 313 (February 6, 1997); Texas Pharmacy Association v. Prudential Insurance, 105 F.3d 1035 (5th Cir. 1997); United States v. NBC Bank Rockdale, 7 F.3d 63 (5th Cir. 1993).
Practice Areas:
Civil Litigation; Insurance Defense; Administrative Law; Health Care Law; Professional Malpractice Defense.
