Brown Fox Recruits Jeff Ward to Serve as Firm’s First Chief Operating Officer

August 5, 2024 by Brown Fox

Brown Fox is pleased to announce the addition of Jeff Ward as the firm’s first Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Ward brings diverse legal experience, operational leadership, and strategic vision that uniquely positions him to lead operations at a dynamic and growing Texas law firm. In his role as COO, Ward will act as the integrator for the entire enterprise and will manage the day-to-day oversight of operations, administration, finance, marketing, and work in the community (service/philanthropy).

Managing Partner, Russ Brown shared, “Exceeding our clients’ expectations, investing in our culture and people, and using our time, talents, and treasure to serve our community are essential as we grow. This focus is what took us from a Great Recession start-up to a fifteen-year law firm serving an incredible portfolio of clients. We needed a special leader to step in operationally to help us grow wisely while keeping an eye on these critical focal points. Jeff Ward is that leader.” Ward said, “I’m honored to serve as the new COO of Brown Fox. I’m looking forward to supporting the firm’s ‘character matters’ mission and contributing to its continued success by focusing on operational excellence, a culture of collaboration, innovation, and impact across our city.”

Ward and several of the Brown Fox attorneys have a long history. Adam Fox, Tom Burton, and Brown were colleagues with Ward at Strasburger & Price, LLP (later acquired by Clark Hill) in the early 2000s. “The first official anything I did as a summer clerk at Strasburger was attend a deposition taken by Jeff,” shared Brown. Ward and Brown gained a deeper connection through legal ministry work. Brown explained, “Jeff was in a small group of special lawyers I was observing and emulating 16-17 years ago, including Brian Robison, Van Beckwith, Mary (Birdlebough) Smith, Rick Howard, Reid Porter, Chad Pinson, and several others. The work these busy, gifted lawyers were doing to serve their community locally and internationally blew me away. I wanted to be part of it. Their work was really the early start of Dallas Justice, and frankly the start of my love for serving through the law.” As part of the firm’s community focus, Ward and Brown plan to reignite the great work Dallas Justice was doing up through 2021. Brown added, “As a law student, I admired Jeff’s talent at that deposition, and as a Managing Partner, I continue to greatly respect the combination of leadership and service he brings to the table.”

With Ward’s arrival, Brown will continue serving as Brown Fox’s Managing Partner, but he will narrow focus to client care and development, vision-casting and leadership, and team growth and culture. The firm’s Executive Director, Kristin Bowen, is elevating to the position of Director of Administration and Finance, focusing on finance, human resources, software, and IT.

About Jeff Ward:

A lawyer for close to thirty years, Ward most recently served as the Director of External Focus and in-house counsel of Watermark Community Church. During his time as Director of External Focus, he led a large staff of talent engaging both locally and internationally. Ward also served on the Business Advisory Team and Dallas Leadership Team.

In the past decade Ward co-founded a health care organization that operates multiple urgent care medical clinics serving over 9,000 patients annually in the DFW area and a community development corporation focused on job creation, financial literacy, business acceleration and more for at-risk men and women. Ward actively serves on the boards of both entities today. He has taught leadership and conflict resolution skills in over a dozen countries and co-authored a book focused on leadership for corporate leaders. Ward has served as an adjunct professor or guest lecturer at Dallas Baptist University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and in the Dallas County Community College District.

Prior to Watermark, Ward co-founded the Dallas-based law firm, Juneau, Boll & Ward, focused on high-stakes litigation. He began his career as a defense attorney at Strasburger & Price (now Clark Hill).

Ward graduated from Oklahoma State with Honors and earned many awards in the classroom and moot court during his college years. He later earned his law degree at the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated with Highest Honors and Order of Coif.

Click here to learn more about Jeff Ward.