David Armbrust, Denise Davis, and Thomas R. Phillips have been named the Austin Bar’s 2025 Distinguished Lawyers, and Austin Kaplan has been named the recipient of the David H. Walter Community Excellence Award.
These individuals will be honored at the 2025 Austin Bar Foundation Gala on Jan. 25, 2025. Tickets and sponsorships are now available.
Distinguished Lawyers
David Armbrust
Armbrust & Brown
David Armbrust has practiced law in Austin for approximately 48 years. He has been involved in numerous business, real estate, environmental, and public policy issues in the Central Texas area. He presently serves on the Board of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. He is a former president of the Real Estate Council of Austin, former director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Association of Builders, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Colorado River Foundation.
David has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 1983 and has been recognized by Texas Monthly magazine as a “Super Lawyer.”
He has received the City of Austin’s Distinguished Award for Community Service, been named “Best in Business – Real Estate” by Austin Business Journal, and received the W. Neal Kocurek Commercial Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is a full member of the Urban Land Institute and was actively involved in the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan.
David served as a founding member and then director/president of Hill Country Conservancy, a coalition of environmental and business leaders dedicated to preserving the environment through land conservation. He also served as a director on the Brackenridge Hospital Development Council and Greater Austin Economic Development Corporation.
David was recognized by the Austin Business Journal in 2023 and 2024 as one of the most influential people in Central Texas.
Denise Davis
Davis & Kaufman
Denise Davis is a native Texan with over 20 years of experience working with members of the Texas Legislature. In addition to lobbying, she has extensive experience in developing and implementing legislative strategy, providing procedural and parliamentary advice (House and Senate rules), and in drafting complex legislation, administrative rules, legal memoranda, and briefs for clients in both the public and private sectors.
Before founding Davis Kaufman PLLC with Lisa Kaufman in 2012, Denise served for over two years as chief of staff to Texas House Speaker Joe R. Straus. Prior to that, Denise served several sessions as House parliamentarian and special counsel to the Texas House of Representatives.
Her public service also includes work as general counsel to Lt. Governor William “Bill” Ratliff; director and counsel to the Texas Judicial Council under then-Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips; general counsel to the Senate Jurisprudence Committee under Sen. Rodney Ellis; legislative counsel for the Texas Legislative Council; and assistant public information/press officer for Lt. Governor William P. Hobby.
Denise has extensive experience advising on ethics and on legal and parliamentary matters relating to the Texas House of Representatives, including points of order, House Rules and precedent, and open records. She has also drafted complex floor amendments, litigation, and policies. She has lobbied extensively for several sessions before all of the House and Senate committees who have jurisdiction over public retirement and pension issues.
In addition to her many years in public service, Denise has also worked in private practice, serving as special counsel to the corporate department of Baker Botts, where she provided public policy law and governmental relations services to corporate clients in the energy, financial, and health care industries.
Denise received her Bachelor of Arts in government from The University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from UT Law. While in law school, Denise served as notes editor for the American Journal of Criminal Law.
Denise currently serves on the executive committee of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (chair of the State and Federal Legislative Affairs Committee), the Mission Capital Board of Directors (chair), the KLRU-PBS Board of Directors (chair of the Education Committee), and the Board of Directors of Social Venture Partners. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and The Links, Incorporated.
Thomas R. Phillips
Baker Botts
Tom Phillips was appointed chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court by former Gov. William P. “Bill” Clements in November 1987. Tom was then elected to that position in November 1988 and another three times after that—in 1990, 1996, and 2002.
As chief justice, Tom chaired both the Texas Judicial Council and Texas Judicial Districts Board. He also served as president of the Harvard Law School Association of Texas and on several boards and committees at Baylor University.
Tom is a past president of the National Conference of Chief Justices and past chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts. He is a member of the American Law Institute and serves as an adviser to its Federal Judicial Code project.
From 1989 to 1996, he served on the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He is a director of the American Judicature Society, is a member of both the Philosophical Society of Texas and the Houston Philosophical Society and is on the board of the Southwestern Legal Foundation.
In 1992, Tom received the Texas Chamber of Commerce Award of Excellence in Government. He also has received the Outstanding Texas Leader Award from the John Ben Sheppard Public Leadership Forum, and the Houston Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Houston Young Lawyers Association. In 1997, he was awarded an honorary L.L.D. from Texas Tech University and, in 1998, was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Baylor University. In 1999, he was honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the National Center for State Courts.
In September 2004, Tom retired from the court. In September 2005, Tom joined the Austin office of Baker Botts. His practice concentrates on issues and appeals, with a particular emphasis on matters that are in or headed to the Supreme Court or state courts of appeals.
David H. Walter Community Excellence Award
Austin Kaplan
Kaplan Law Firm
Austin Kaplan is the founder and managing attorney of the Kaplan Law Firm. Austin is an employment law and civil rights attorney and litigator serving clients in Austin, Texas, and surrounding communities. Austin represents individuals in a wide range of employment and civil rights matters, including claims for breach of employment contract, breach of noncompete agreements, discrimination, overtime violations, wage and hour violations, whistleblower retaliation, FMLA violations, and marriage equality matters. Austin spends most of his days litigating cases for the Firm’s clients in state and federal court.
Austin defends people who are sued for misappropriation of trade secrets, violations of non-competes (non-competition, non-solicitation, or no-hire agreements), and other contract matters by their former employers, or by other entities.
Austin regularly provides advice to employees about their employment rights, what their options are at work, and how to negotiate a fair severance.
Austin has been named a 2024 Super Lawyer in employment and labor law. He is a former president of the Austin Young Lawyers Association (AYLA). He is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, co-chair of the Austin Capital Area Plaintiffs Employment Law Association, former chair of the City of Austin’s Ethics and Review Commission, and a member of the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Board of Directors of the Central Texas Anti-Defamation League, the Texas Bar College, and the Anti-Fraud Coalition.
He is admitted to practice in all four U.S. District Courts in Texas, as well as the Northern and Central District Courts in Illinois.
He is a graduate of American University and earned his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was also the recipient of the Rickert Award in Pro Bono Service.