This guide profiles 10 law firms that represent people hurt in car, truck and rideshare crashes in Austin and the surrounding Travis County area. Each firm was evaluated on the same criteria: how long its lead attorneys have been licensed in Texas and whether any hold board certification from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, how much of the practice is devoted to motor vehicle and trucking claims, whether the firm practices personal injury exclusively or treats it as one area among several, and whether it keeps a staffed office inside Austin city limits.
When comparing firms, three questions are worth asking directly. Does the attorney regularly file and try injury cases in Travis County courts, or does the firm settle nearly everything before suit? Has anyone on the team worked on the insurance or defense side, and do they understand how adjusters value soft-tissue, spinal and brain injuries? And will the firm handle the parallel insurance issues, such as personal injury protection (PIP), uninsured/underinsured motorist claims and property damage, alongside the injury claim? This list is not ranked and not sponsored. Firm details come from each firm’s own website, attorney directories (Super Lawyers, Avvo and Martindale-Hubbell) and Google Business listings.
1. The Stewart Law Firm, PLLC
- Attorney/Key Figure: Stephen W. Stewart, Founder
- Headquarters: 4303 Russell Dr, Austin, TX 78704
- Phone: (512) 326-3200
- Website: thestewartlawfirm.net
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents, Wrongful Death, Catastrophic Injuries, Boating and Airplane Accidents, Product Liability, Premises Liability, Workplace Injuries, Dog Bites, Injuries to Children
- Firm Size: Boutique personal injury firm led by Stephen Stewart with a team of associates; licensed in Texas since 1997
- Practice Area Page: Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Avvo, Super Lawyers
Stephen Stewart has been licensed in Texas since 1997 and practiced at Clark, Thomas & Winters from 2000 to 2006 before opening The Stewart Law Firm in 2006. His practice is plaintiff-side personal injury only, with a focus on motor vehicle crashes, trucking collisions, vehicle defects, brain injuries and wrongful death. He has been selected to Texas Super Lawyers every year from 2011 through 2026, holds a 10.0 Avvo rating, and is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
His work with drunk-driving victims stands out for Austin crash cases. Stewart chaired the advisory board of MADD Central Texas and received outstanding service awards from MADD and Crime Victims First, experience that carries directly into claims against impaired drivers. The firm takes calls 24 hours a day, offers consultations in English and Spanish, and handles car accident cases on a contingency basis, so clients pay nothing unless the firm recovers for them.
2. Jon Michael Smith, Attorney
- Attorney/Key Figure: Jon Michael Smith, Founder
- Headquarters: 3301 Northland Dr, Suite 215, Austin, TX 78731
- Phone: (512) 371-1006
- Website: jonmichaelsmith.com
- Practice Areas: Auto Accidents, Trucking Accidents, Wrongful Death, Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Litigation, Consumer and Commercial Law (Breach of Contract, Deceptive Trade Practices Act Claims), Civil Appeals
- Firm Size: Solo-led practice; licensed in Texas since 1991 and Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization
- Social Profiles: Super Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell
Jon Michael Smith has been licensed in Texas since earning his law degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 1991 and has been board certified in Consumer and Commercial Law since 2001. Insurance coverage disputes make up about half of his practice, and he has spent more than two decades representing people whose insurance claims were wrongfully denied. That background matters in a car accident case, where the outcome often turns on how an at-fault driver’s carrier, or the injured person’s own policy, values and pays the claim.
Smith holds an AV Preeminent peer rating from Martindale-Hubbell, has been named to Texas Super Lawyers every year since 2019, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is admitted to four federal district courts in Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which allows him to carry a crash or bad-faith case from the trial court through appeal without handing it off to another firm.
3. McMinn Law Firm
- Attorney/Key Figure: Jason McMinn and Justin McMinn, Partners
- Headquarters: 502 W 14th St, Austin, TX 78701 (additional office in Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Phone: (512) 474-0222
- Website: mcminnlaw.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Rideshare Accidents, Drunk Driving Crashes, Motorcycle Accidents, Wrongful Death, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique to mid-size personal injury firm; handling injury cases since 2005, with more than 50 years of combined attorney experience
- Practice Area Page: Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube
McMinn Law Firm has represented injury victims in Austin since 2005 from its office near the Texas Capitol in downtown Austin. The firm says its team includes former insurance defense attorneys, giving it inside knowledge of how carriers evaluate and try to reduce crash claims. Justin McMinn was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2013 to 2021.
The firm’s published results lean heavily toward commercial and catastrophic crashes, including a $9.8 million result in a company vehicle collision, $4.1 million in a rideshare accident and $3 million in a dump truck crash. It has been named to the Trucking Trial Lawyers’ Top 10 list. The team speaks Spanish. As a trade-off, its second office in Utah means attorney time is split between two states.
4. Zinda Law Group
- Attorney/Key Figure: Jack Zinda, Founder and CEO
- Headquarters: 7801 N Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78731 (offices across Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Florida)
- Phone: (512) 601-4349
- Website: zdfirm.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Commercial Vehicle and Truck Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Dog Bites, Wrongful Death, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Large multi-state firm with more than 100 team members
- Practice Area Page: Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Instagram, YouTube
Jack Zinda founded the firm and leads it as CEO, and it has grown into one of the largest plaintiff injury practices with an Austin office. He was named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 and selected as a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star across multiple years, and he is a lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. The firm’s published results include a $15.4 million commercial vehicle verdict and several seven-figure trucking and motor vehicle collision outcomes.
The firm is open 24 hours a day, has Spanish-speaking staff, and can arrange lien-based medical care for clients who lack health insurance after a crash. The trade-off of a firm this size is that day-to-day contact is often with a case manager or one of many associate attorneys rather than the named founder.
5. Byrd Davis Alden & Henrichson, LLP
- Attorney/Key Figure: Robert Alden and Kevin Henrichson, Partners
- Headquarters: 8911 N Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite 3150, Austin, TX 78759
- Phone: (512) 454-3751
- Website: byrddavis.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Bus Accidents, Wrongful Death, Fire and Burn Injuries, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique trial firm with four attorneys; founded in Austin in 1959
- Practice Area Page: Car Accidents
- Social Profiles: X
Byrd Davis bills itself as Austin’s oldest personal injury firm, and it has practiced plaintiff-side injury law in the city since 1959. Both named partners, Robert Alden and Kevin Henrichson, are Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Alden has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2005 to 2025 and was named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year for Austin.
What sets the firm apart is how often it actually tries cases. Its published results include a jury verdict for a dentist injured in a rear-end collision and a bus crash case involving a three-year-old in which a jury apportioned fault between the drivers, and Alden is credited with the top personal injury jury verdict in Travis County in 2025. The trade-off is size: with four attorneys, the firm takes on fewer cases than the high-volume practices on this list.
6. Lorenz & Lorenz
- Attorney/Key Figure: Ted R. Lorenz, Founder
- Headquarters: 1515 S Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite 500, Austin, TX 78746
- Phone: (512) 477-7333
- Website: lorenzandlorenz.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Wrongful Death, Premises Liability, Dog Bites
- Firm Size: Mid-size, high-volume personal injury firm representing several thousand clients a year
- Practice Area Page: Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Instagram
Ted Lorenz has practiced only personal injury law, on a contingency basis, since finishing law school in 2000. He founded Lorenz & Lorenz as a two-person office and has grown it into a firm that represents several thousand people each year. He served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association from 2005 to 2007, was a Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2006 to 2010, and is a member of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys.
The firm is set up for accessibility, with 24/7 availability and free consultations. The trade-off of a high-volume model is that most files are handled by the firm’s associate attorneys and case managers rather than by Lorenz personally.
7. Slingshot Law Injury Attorneys (Gibbs & Crivelli)
- Attorney/Key Figure: Drew Gibbs and Scott Crivelli, Partners
- Headquarters: 1802 Lavaca St, Austin, TX 78701
- Phone: (800) 488-7840
- Website: slingshotlaw.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Drunk Driving Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique personal injury firm
- Social Profiles: Super Lawyers, Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell
Drew Gibbs has been licensed in Texas since 2004 and is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Before turning to plaintiff work he served as an Assistant County Attorney in Henderson County and then as an associate at an insurance defense firm, which gives him a working knowledge of how carriers build their side of a crash case. He has been selected to Super Lawyers every year since 2020 and is a lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
His practice is 100 percent plaintiff-side personal injury, with a focus on motor vehicle, trucking and DUI crashes. He has taken rear-end collision cases to verdict, including a 2018 jury award for a client hit from behind. The trade-off is bench depth: a small firm has fewer attorneys to cover several trials at once.
8. Ramos James Law, PLLC
- Attorney/Key Figure: Laura Ramos James, Lead Attorney
- Headquarters: 2800 S I-35 Frontage Rd, Suite 265, Austin, TX 78704
- Phone: (512) 881-8260
- Website: ramosjames.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Drunk Driving and Dram Shop Claims, Wrongful Death, Slip and Fall, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Boutique personal injury firm
- Social Profiles: Super Lawyers, Avvo
Laura Ramos James has been licensed in Texas since 2011 and practices plaintiff-side personal injury only, with a focus on motor vehicle accidents, trucking crashes and dram shop claims against bars that overserve drivers. She has been named to Super Lawyers from 2024 to 2026 after several years as a Rising Star, and has been listed among the Trucking Trial Lawyers Top 10.
Her reported results include a $2.75 million wrongful death settlement arising from an auto crash and settlements in company vehicle, 18-wheeler and drunk-driving collisions. She speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese. The trade-off is that the firm is younger and smaller than the decades-old practices on this list.
9. The Carlson Law Firm
- Attorney/Key Figure: Craig W. Carlson, Managing Partner
- Headquarters: 11606 N Interstate Hwy 35, Austin, TX 78753 (South Austin office at 135 W Slaughter Ln, Suite A; principal office in Killeen; about 20 offices in Texas, California and Florida)
- Phone: (512) 346-5688
- Website: carlsonattorneys.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Driver Claims, Motorcycle, Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents, Truck Accidents, Wrongful Death, Other Personal Injury, Family Law
- Firm Size: Large firm with more than 200 attorneys and staff; practicing since 1976
- Practice Area Page: North Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube
The Carlson Law Firm was founded in Killeen in 1976 and is led by Managing Partner Craig Carlson, a former U.S. Army JAG officer. The firm has represented car accident victims for nearly 50 years and now keeps two Austin offices, in North Austin off I-35 and in South Austin on Slaughter Lane. Its team includes attorney Paul Murphy, who is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law.
Carlson’s Austin offices are open 24/7, and its attorneys will make hospital visits for clients who cannot travel after a crash. The firm handles hit-and-run and uninsured driver claims through clients’ own uninsured motorist and PIP coverage. The trade-off is that the firm’s center of gravity is Central Texas outside Austin, and it also practices family law, so car accident work is one part of a broad practice.
10. Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C.
- Attorney/Key Figure: Gregory H. Herrman and David E. Herrman, Attorneys
- Headquarters: 1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 820, Austin, TX 78744 (offices in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, McAllen and Brownsville, plus Monterrey, Mexico)
- Phone: (737) 209-7277
- Website: herrmanandherrman.com
- Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Truck Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Wrongful Death, Premises Liability, Product Liability, Other Personal Injury
- Firm Size: Large statewide firm; more than 20,000 cases handled in South Texas
- Practice Area Page: Austin Car Accident Lawyer
- Social Profiles: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube
Herrman & Herrman built its reputation in Corpus Christi and South Texas, where it has handled more than 20,000 injury cases, and it now serves Austin from an office on Directors Boulevard in southeast Austin. Its Austin practice covers car, truck and motorcycle crashes along with other plaintiff-side injury claims.
The firm offers services in Spanish and has offices in most major Texas cities, which helps when a crash involves a driver or commercial carrier based elsewhere in the state. The trade-off is that its leadership and history are rooted in South Texas, so clients who want a firm whose name partners practice day to day in Travis County may prefer one of the Austin-born firms above.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Texas?
Texas generally gives injured people two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003. Shorter deadlines apply when a government vehicle or road condition is involved. The City of Austin, for example, requires written notice of a claim within 45 days of the incident, and the Texas Tort Claims Act generally requires notice to other government bodies within six months. A crash involving a city truck or a Capital Metro bus can therefore need action within weeks.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for the crash?
Yes, as long as your share of fault is not more than 50 percent. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code: your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, and if you are found 51 percent or more responsible you recover nothing. Insurance adjusters know this threshold well, which is why fault arguments often decide the value of Austin crash claims involving lane changes on I-35 or left turns on busy arterials.
What insurance does a Texas driver have to carry?
Texas is an at-fault state, and every driver must carry at least $30,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $60,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage. Insurers must also offer personal injury protection (PIP) and uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, and a driver who does not want them has to reject them in writing. If you never signed a written rejection, those coverages may be available to you even if you do not remember buying them, which matters in a crash with a driver carrying only minimum limits.
How do I get a copy of my Austin crash report?
When the Austin Police Department or another agency investigates a crash, the officer files a Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (Form CR-3). You can buy it through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System for $6, or $8 for a certified copy, and it is delivered by email. Drivers, owners, their attorneys and insurers receive the full report, while others receive a redacted copy. The report lists the drivers’ insurers, witnesses and the officer’s contributing-factor codes, so it is one of the first documents an attorney will review.
How much does an Austin car accident lawyer cost?
Most Austin car accident attorneys work on a contingency fee, meaning the fee is a percentage of the recovery and the client pays nothing up front. The Stewart Law Firm, Zinda Law Group and The Carlson Law Firm all state that clients pay no fee unless the firm recovers money. Ask how case expenses, such as medical records, expert reports and filing fees, are handled if the case does not succeed, and whether the percentage rises if the case goes to trial.
Should I choose a large firm or a small boutique?
It depends on the case. A large firm such as Herrman & Herrman or Lorenz & Lorenz has the staff to move many cases quickly and can absorb the cost of experts in a complex trucking claim. A smaller trial practice such as Byrd Davis Alden & Henrichson or Slingshot Law offers more direct contact with a senior, board-certified attorney. For a serious injury, ask who will actually handle your file day to day and how many of the attorney’s recent cases went to trial.
This article summarizes Texas law on car accident claims in Austin and Travis County, Texas, including the two-year filing deadline, government notice periods, modified comparative fault, minimum insurance requirements and crash report access, in general terms only. It is not a complete statement of the law for any one case. The outcome of a car accident claim can change significantly depending on the available insurance limits, how fault is divided among the drivers, the medical documentation of your injuries, and whether a government vehicle or commercial carrier was involved. Nothing here is a substitute for advice from a licensed Texas attorney about your own situation.
