Hugh L. Brady

Hugh Brady is the preeminent political law experts in Texas. He has provided trusted counsel on complicated legal issues to candidates, officeholder, and political committees across the political spectrum. His mastery of the legislative process and expertise in campaign finance law is unmatched by any other lawyer in Texas. "Without ever stepping on the House floor, Hugh Brady . . . had a larger impact on the 78th Legislature than many representatives did," reported the Texas Observer in 2003. 

He is the Parliamentarian for the Texas House of Representatives, appointed by Speaker Bonnen in January 2019, and reappointed by Speaker Phelan in 2021. In this office, he serves as the chief legal adviser to the House on matters of constitutional and legislative procedure and privilege. From 2003-2017, he edited Texas House Practice, considered the authoritative text on the Texas House Rules, and Texas Senate Practice, a core material supplementing the Texas Senate Rules. Brady was appointed by President Obama to serve as general counsel for the White House Office of Administration and held that position from 2014-2017. As a senior White House lawyer, he handled a broad legal portfolio including the 2017 Presidential transition, government ethics & records laws, internal investigations, information law (including cybersecurity), security law (including industrial security), and government contracts & appropriations law.

Brady is a Commissioner on Uniform State Laws and is a member of the Texas delegation to the Uniform Law Commission. He is the immediate past chair, and was the primary organizer of, the Legislative and Campaign Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, which is the first section of its kind in the country. As a member of the Section's council, he led efforts to create the Certification in Legislative and Campaign Law at the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, the first specialty certification for lawyers in this practice field; he holds board certification in that specialty and sits on the TBLS exam commission. Brady is the editor of Legislative Lawyer, the Section's report published twice yearly. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions.

He is admitted to the practice of law in Texas and Vermont, and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas. Brady served as a member of the Education Committee of the Institute of Parliamentary and Political Law in Ottawa. In 2011, the UT Student Bar Association named him as one of two Faculty Members of the Year.

Brady was editor-in-chief of the Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, worked for United States Circuit Judge Juan Torruella (who was appointed by President Reagan), and sat for and passed the Texas bar examination while still a third-year law student. Before becoming a lawyer, Brady worked as a reporter, political newsletter publisher, lobbyist, marketing firm executive, and legislative aide. The son of a preacher and a horsewoman, he was raised in Jack, Palo Pinto, and Dallas counties.