First Court of Appeals

Chief Justice Terry Adams was elected to the First Court of Appeals in 2022.  Before that, he was appointed by Governor Abbott in 2020 to be a Justice on the Court--and he served the rest of that term. Prior to joining the First Court of Appeals, Chief Justice Adams was an accomplished appellate attorney in Houston with his own appellate boutique.  Before that, he was an appellate partner at Akerman LLP in the Houston office and chair of the firm’s appellate practice group in Texas. Chief Justice Adams is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by Texas Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America as a leading appellate attorney in Texas.

Chief Justice Adams is a member of the Court Rules Committee for the State Bar of Texas and is Past Immediate Chair, and now Vice Chair, of its Appellate Subcommittee.  He is also a member of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Houston Bar Foundation, the Garland Walker American Inn of Court, and the Council of Chief Judges of State Courts of Appeals.  

Chief Justice Adams earned his undergraduate degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, majoring in political science and economics.  He then earned his law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston, where he was Editor-in-Chief of The South Texas Law Review.  He also served as an intern during law school for the Fourteenth Court of Appeals.  After law school, Chief Justice Adams was selected to be a briefing attorney for Justice Raul A. Gonzalez (Ret.) at the Supreme Court of Texas.

Chief Justice Adams and his wife, Anne, have been married for more than forty years. They have a son and two daughters and four amazing grandkids--with a fifth on the way.

His current term ends December 31, 2028.