A space where future advocates will sharpen their skills.
Founded in 1966 in Daingerfield, Texas, by Harold Nix, Nix Patterson has grown into an Austin-based national contingency fee firm with a record of recovering more than $25 billion for over one million clients in commercial litigation and personal injury matters.
In 2025, the firm’s Cy Pres funds established the Texas Law Mineral Rights Initiative and made possible the renovation of our teaching courtroom—a space where future advocates will sharpen their skills and carry forward the firm’s legacy.
“Any time my dad could take me to the courtroom to watch a hearing, he did,” reflects Nix. “By junior high, I saw how good lawyers could—and did—make a difference.”
The Nix Patterson Teaching Courtroom was unveiled with a reception and mock voir dire on Sept. 5, 2025. The event featured members of the Nix Patterson Firm, Texas Law mock trial team, and the UT undergraduate mock trial team. View photos from the event.
The State of Texas v. The American Tobacco Company et al.
According to the World Health Organization, the tobacco epidemic is “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing over 8 million people a year around the world.” Perhaps even more shockingly, the American Cancer Society reports that “Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the US, accounting for about 1 in 5 deaths each year.”
Despite these facts and more than 800 lawsuits filed against the tobacco industry over almost half a century, Big Tobacco was undefeated in these 800 lawsuits and never paid a single penny to any plaintiff to settle a lawsuit.
That was before Big Tobacco came to Texas. In 1995, the State of Texas selected Nix Patterson and four other law firms to prosecute the State’s claims against the tobacco industry. Specifically, the lawsuit sought to recoup money the State of Texas had paid to treat smoking-related illnesses. The Texas Tobacco team combined their resources, career experiences and successes, and a relentless prosecution of this case on behalf of the State of Texas. The result—a settlement in excess of $17 billion. This settlement was not only one for the record books –the largest single civil litigation settlement in history at that time—but also proof that through hard work, perseverance, and sheer will a small group of lawyers can bring about social change against even the most powerful corporations. Indeed, the work of Nix Patterson and the entire Texas Tobacco team ultimately paved the way for a national Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco industry valued at over $206 billion.
State of Oklahoma v. Johnson & Johnson et al.
More recently, the opioid epidemic has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States and continues to strain public healthcare systems across the nation. The economic burden of the opioid epidemic on state and local government health care systems, as well as lost productivity and tax revenue, now ranges into the trillions of dollars. A 2022 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Joint Economic Committee “estimates the opioid epidemic cost the United States nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020 alone—up 37% from 2017, when the CDC last measured the cost.”
Nix Patterson has been at the forefront of seeking to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for the suffering caused by opioids. In 2019, Nix Patterson’s attorneys tried the nation’s first-ever opioid trial, State of Oklahoma v. Johnson & Johnson et al. After a bench trial, the trial court awarded the State of Oklahoma $572,102,028 to be placed into a fund to remedy the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic. Brad Beckworth, a partner at Nix Patterson and one of the lead trial lawyers for the State, said of the judgment: “We could not be more satisfied with this result for the State of Oklahoma and its citizens. We have seen firsthand how J&J’s false marketing of opioids as non-addictive and safe for everyday pain ravaged lives and destroyed families in Oklahoma. Judge Balkman’s decision requiring J&J to fund the State’s abatement plan means Oklahomans can get the treatment they need and new cases of opioid addiction can be prevented.” The funds for the State’s abatement plan, which was developed by Oklahoma State Commissioner of Mental Health Terri White, will provide essential, life-saving services to help reverse the devastating opioid crisis in Oklahoma. Between 2000 and 2019, more than 6,000 Oklahomans have lost their lives due to unintentional prescription-opioid overdose. Between 1994 and 2006, unintentional opioid overdose rates increased seven-fold in Oklahoma. From 2011 to 2019, more people have died from unintentional opioid overdose in Oklahoma than from motor vehicle accidents. There were approximately 10,999 non-fatal hospitalizations from 2000 to 2015 because of prescription opioid overdose. And nearly 500 babies born to SoonerCare members had a diagnosis of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in 2017 alone. The State’s abatement plan— presented at trial—is aimed at reducing these appalling statistics.
The State of Florida v. British Petroleum
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. Four million barrels of oil flowed from the damaged Macondo well in the Gulf over an 87-day period, before it was finally capped on July 15, 2010
In 2015, Nix Patterson obtained an historic settlement for the State of Florida against British Petroleum arising out of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Nix Patterson represented Florida in its effort to recover economic losses because of this disaster. Ultimately, the firm recovered $2 billion for the state of Florida.
In addition, Nix Patterson represented more than 20 other governmental entities in litigation against BP, and more than 1,000 businesses, ranging from small restaurants to publicly traded corporations, in their claims against BP related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. To date, the total settlements obtained by Nix Patterson in the BP matter exceed $3 billion.