Criminal Defense Attorneys in Dallas, Texas

(214) 468-8100

Brett Ordiway’s practice is devoted solely to representing the wrongfully convicted and sentenced. One of just 126 Texas attorneys board certified in criminal-appellate law, Brett has represented countless people in direct appeals and applications for writs of habeas corpus in the state and federal courts, winning relief for a long list of clients.

From the beginning, Brett has focused his practice on post-conviction criminal work. Even before graduating from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Brett worked in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office’s appellate division, learning how the state responds to direct appeals and applications for writs of habeas corpus. After graduating, Brett served two terms as the law clerk for Judge Paul Womack of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’s highest criminal appellate court. There, Brett learned how courts evaluate direct appeals and applications for writs of habeas corpus.

A Dallas native, Brett joined Udashen Anton in 2013. In addition to earning his board certification in criminal-appellate law in 2019, Brett has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Texas Rising Star and top-rated appellate attorney. In 2022, Brett was appointed to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s Criminal Appellate Law Exam Commission, the committee that drafts the certification exam. In 2024, Brett co-chaired the Center for American and International Law’s Criminal Writs seminar.

Honors and Awards

  • Board Certified in Criminal-Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2019
  • Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Thomson Reuters, 2016-2021

Associations

  • Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s Criminal Appellate Law Exam Commission
  • Dallas Bar Association
  • Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
  • Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
  • Patrick E. Higginbotham Inn of Court

Past Employment

  • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Research Attorney, 2011 - 2013
  • Travis County District Attorney, Appellate Law Clerk, 2009 - 2011

Results

  • Working with the Innocence Project of Texas, Gary A. Udashen and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a capital murder conviction and life sentence based on false testimony.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a more than decade-old drug conviction, saving their client from deportation.

  • Gary Udashen and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a capital murder conviction and life sentence based on false testimony.

  • Brett Ordiway and Bruce Anton won the reversal of a conviction for tampering with evidence, persuading the court of appeals that the evidence at trial showed only a lesser offense.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a guilty plea to possessing, manufacturing, transporting, or repairing a prohibited weapon, persuading the trial court that their client’s previous attorney provided ineffective assistance and, as result, that the client’s guilty plea was involuntary.

  • Brett Ordiway and Bruce Anton persuaded Texas’s Sixth Court of Appeals that their client’s direct-appeal attorney provided ineffective assistance, winning their client a new appeal.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a conviction for possession of fraudulent identifying information and nine-year prison sentence, persuading Texas’s highest criminal court that their client’s guilty plea was involuntary and his right to due process was violated.

  • Brett Ordiway and Bruce Anton won the reversal of a conviction for criminally negligent homicide and the rendering of a judgment of acquittal in a case in which the state prosecuted a grieving parent for tragically forgetting his child in a car on a summer day.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a 16-year-old guilty plea to tampering with a governmental record on the basis that, at the time of the plea, the client was not aware of possible defenses to the charge. 

  • Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a 70-year murder sentence because of an error in the court's instructions to the jury.

  • Gary Udashen, Katherine Reed and Brett Ordiway obtained a dismissal of a case against a physician who was charged in federal Court with improperly prescribing opioids.

  • Brett Ordiway and Katherine Reed won the reversal of two 24-year aggravated-robbery sentences on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. Though Brett and Katherine's client pleaded guilty to both charges, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that he was entitled to relief because his attorney failed to investigate and present favorable evidence at sentencing.

  • Brett Ordiway and Bruce Anton won the reversal of a guilty plea to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, persuading Texas’s highest criminal court that their client’s guilty plea was involuntary because the police made material misrepresentations in offense reports.

  • Gary Udashen, Brett Ordiway, and Tiffany Talamantez won the reversal of a doctor’s conviction and 78-month sentence for distributing controlled substances.

  • Robert Udashen and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a life sentence for sexual assault of a child, persuading Texas’s highest criminal court that the defendant’s sentence improperly was enhanced by a prior conviction.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a 15-year-old guilty plea to possessing marijuana that threatened their client with deportation. Bruce and Brett persuaded the court that their client’s plea was involuntary because he did not understand its immigration consequences.

  • Bruce Anton and Brett Ordiway won the reversal of a conviction for forgery of a financial instrument, persuading the trial court that their client’s guilty plea was involuntary, and his right to due process was violated.

  • Brett Ordiway and Bruce Anton won the reversal of a conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, persuading Texas’s highest criminal court that their client was innocent.

Appearances & Articles