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1999
DISTINGUISHED
ALUMNUS
Martin W. Dies is a 1974 graduate of the Texas
Tech University School of Law and he holds a B.A.
from the University of Texas at Austin. He began
his legal career as an associate, later becoming a partner, in the law firm of Stephenson,
Thompson & Dies, of Orange, Texas. Since 1984 he has been a partner in the law firm of
Dies & Hile, L.L.P., which has offices in Orange and Austin, Texas.
Martin Dies is a lawyer's lawyer; he tries the most complex and difficult cases heard in the
courts ofthe United States. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme
Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the 5 th and 11 th Circuits and to the United
States District Court in the Eastern and Southern District of Texas as well as the United
States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. His work in complex litigation
has led to his appointment as Chair of the Trustee Advisory Committee for the National
Gypsum Company Trust Facility, to the Board of Directors ofthe Austin Company of
Cleveland, Ohio, and to the Property Damage Advisory Committee of the Celotex Asbestos
Property Damage Trust Facility. He has served as Co-Chair ofthe Official Committee of
Asbestos Claimants of the National Gypsum Company Bankruptcy Proceedings.
Notwithstanding his deep involvement at the national level in major complex litigation, he
has also found time to serve as Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section ofthe State
Bar of Texas and was a Founding Member and Advisory Trustee of the John Gray Institute
of Lamar University. These contributions to the State Bar of Texas and to our state
university system build on Martin Dies' national connections and the experience that comes
with being a primary litigator in many ofthe most important cases of this Century.
Martin Dies specializes in construction and environmental-related class action litigation. He
is a recognized expert in the field of asbestos property damage cost recovery, having filed
the first such case in the country in 1981. In a later case, he filed suit on behalf of a public
university and recovered the first punitive damage award in the history ofthe litigation. He
has represented States Attorney Generals and numerous governmental entities in several
states in similar litigation. He is currently serving as Special Deputy Attorney General for
the States of Hawaii and Utah and is also counsel for the class of Texas political
subdivisions consisting of counties, cities, public school districts and public universities in
similar cases.
Only the best lawyers are selected to work on important cases. When those important cases
are also complex, many great lawyers are involved. To be selected out of this elite group to
serve as a leader surely is the mark of what it means to be a lawyer's lawyer 0 Martin W.
Dies.
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