Russ Brown represents businesses and executives, with a focus on labor and employment law. He is an adept team builder and leader, quarterbacking customized Brown Fox legal teams designed to serve clients’ unique needs in a wide range of business-oriented practice areas.

Mr. Brown understands that business on the ground cannot be governed by detached legal theory. He applies strong legal counseling to clients’ real-world challenges and opportunities to achieve the best possible results for his clients. He relishes the role of running point for clients’ needs, acting as legal advisor, problem-solver, and wise counsel. Mr. Brown is regularly recognized for his legal acumen, with numerous honors as a Super Lawyer and Rising Star, and other business leadership awards from Dallas Business Journal and D Magazine.

Mr. Brown is active in the community, and currently serves on various non-profit boards and leads the Dallas Justice legal ministry. He has trained judges and lawyers on three continents, chaired fundraisers for local and international ministries, and written as a guest columnist for the Dallas Morning News on charitable endeavors.

‘Character matters’ isn’t just a hollow tagline – it’s the way Russ and the Brown Fox team live and work. That’s why I hire Brown Fox personally and refer my friends to them for all different sorts of legal matters.

- Managing partner of private equity group

When you hire counsel, you care about the results – and Russ Brown and Brown Fox work hard to achieve those. It also matters how they achieve those results. And honoring you or your company’s values, vision, reputation, and character matter too. The trust, integrity, and insight they exhibit will last well beyond a single matter and you will find Russ and his team an extension of yours.

- Client, former colleague and community leader

Russ’s law firm is the best we’ve ever worked with. They’re reliable and trustworthy, and the counsel they give has been instrumental to the success of our business. We look forward to continuing to work with them for years to come.

- Founder and CEO of digital media company
Practice Focus & Experience

Mr. Brown represents clients ranging from small Dallas-based companies to international, publicly-traded companies.

Mr. Brown also has distinguished himself in representing executives in professional employment negotiations or disputes. His executive representation includes Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of private and publicly traded companies, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), General Counsel (GCs), professors, private school administrators and headmasters, physicians, business partners, highly-paid sales executives, pastors, city attorneys, engineers, and inventors.

Employment Litigation
  • Discrimination claims based upon age, disability, gender, national origin, race, and religion;
  • Workplace harassment;
  • Wrongful discharge;
  • Retaliation;
  • Whistleblower claims;
  • Restrictive covenants, including non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, confidentiality agreements and misappropriation of trade secrets;
  • Commissions and bonus disputes;
  • Trade secret litigation;
  • Breach of employment agreements;
  • Family Medical Leave Act;
  • Unemployment claims; and
  • Employment torts.
Labor and Employment Counseling
  • Human resource documentation issues;
  • Personnel decisions, including employee discipline and discharge determinations;
  • Employment agreement negotiations;
  • Wage and hour compliance;
  • I-9 issues;
  • Employment policy audits;
  • Workplace investigations including acting as independent investigator;
  • Development of practical and cost-effective employment policies and handbooks; and
  • Analysis and preparation of various employment and independent contractor agreements.
C-Suite, Executives and Professionals

Mr. Brown has represented executives ranging from Fortune 50 CEOs to highly paid salespersons, and numerous executives in leadership positions, including CFOs, CMOs, general counsel, pastors, school headmasters and principals (public and private), professors, physicians, business partners, CPAs, city attorneys, and inventors. His experience includes:

  • Restrictive covenant litigation, including matters involving noncompete agreements, non-solicitation agreements, and non-recruitment agreements;
  • Breach of contract;
  • Disputes regarding trade secrets and confidential information;
  • Disputes regarding payment of commissions, incentives, and bonuses;
  • Employment negotiations;
  • Negotiations regarding compensation, including salaries, benefits, equity, and stock; and
  • Wrongful discharge.
Labor Litigation
  • Wage and hour disputes
  • Wage and hour compliance
  • Contractor and employment counseling and litigation
Investigations
  • Corporations also regularly hire Mr. Brown to perform independent investigations of employment disputes.
Outside General Counsel

While Mr. Brown’s practice is focused on labor and employment matters, he also counsels clients in matters involving business and commercial litigation and beyond, acting as quarterback for carefully curated legal teams designed to meet clients’ legal needs. With experience spanning from preventative counseling to bet-the-company litigation, Mr. Brown is positioned to effectively confront and resolve his clients’ legal issues.

Admissions
  • Texas (2002)
  • Supreme Court (2007)
  • Northern District of Texas (2002)
  • Western District of Texas (2004)
  • Southern District of Texas (2004)
  • Eastern District of Texas (2004)
Affiliations
  • State Bar of Texas
  • Dallas Bar Association
  • Defense Research Institute (DRI)
    • Employment Law Committee
Education

Mr. Brown earned his B.A. from the University of Arizona while playing baseball for the Wildcats. He coached a year of high school baseball at his alma mater before returning to Texas to attend law school.

At St. Mary’s, Mr. Brown was a member of Phi Delta Phi legal honors fraternity and a recipient of the Dean’s Leadership Award. Mr. Brown served as a staff writer and later as a member of the Editorial Board of the St. Mary’s Law Journal.  Mr. Brown also served as a judicial intern for Justice Alma Lopez of the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio and studied abroad at the University of Innsbruck in Austria (which included studying under the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist).

  • St. Mary’s University School of Law, J.D. (2002)
    • Editorial Board,  St. Mary’s Law Journal
    • Author, Class Dismissed: The Conservative Class Action Revolution of the Texas Supreme Court, 32 St. Mary’s L.J. 449 (2001)
    • Dean’s Leadership Award
    • Phi Delta Phi (Legal Honors Fraternity)
  • University of Arizona, B.A. (1998)
    • Baseball Letterman and outfielder for the University of Arizona Baseball Team
Honors
  • City Changer, Generation Justice (2019)
  • Super Lawyer, Texas Monthly & Super Lawyers (2014 – 2023)
  • 40 Under 40, Dallas Business Journal (2015) – View Article (PDF)
  • Rising Star, Texas Monthly & Super Lawyers (2006 – 2009; 2011 – 2014)
  • Best Lawyers Under 40, D Magazine (2006)
Community

Mr. Brown’s passion for zealously representing his clients also is demonstrated in his work on local and global justice issues and ministry, and local charitable needs. His pro bono practice is dedicated to local and international justice matters, (e.g., access to counsel; combatting corruption, bribery, and bonded slavery). He has trained attorneys in the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Kenya on matters such as professional and community leadership and conflict resolution.

Learning that I could use my time, treasure, and talents as a lawyer to help tackle dark injustices in the world was truly a game changer for me. Working alongside IJM changed my heart, worldview, and career focus.

Baseball taught me about hard work, grit, success and failure. My playing days are far in the rearview mirror, but the joy that comes from coaching my boys in a game that was once such a big part of my life couldn’t be more alive.

Fly fishing requires focus, finesse, attention to detail, adaptability, and a lot of patience. The challenges are many, but the reward of landing a beautiful trout in a mountain river is hard to beat.


More About Russ Brown

A Lubbock native raised in Tucson, Arizona, Russ calls the Dallas area home and lives in Highland Park with his wife, Renée, three children, and family dog. He enjoys fly fishing, coaching his children’s various sports teams, and ministry work with Dallas Justice. He’s an avid fan of the Arizona Wildcats, Texas Rangers, and Dallas Cowboys. Russ and his wife are members of Watermark Community Church.

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