About Rick Harrison Law

A Family Tradition

Rick Harrison was born and raised in Dallas. His father, Richard Harrison, was a well-known criminal and divorce attorney in Dallas and a former Special Agent with the FBI. His mother was a flight attendant with American Airlines.

Rick went to Lake Highlands High School in Dallas. He played football with the Wildcats and was a member of the National Honors Society. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and then attended South Texas College of Law in Houston. After graduating from law school, he moved back to Dallas.

Fast Track to Success

Mr. Harrison became a prosecutor with Dallas County District Attorney’s Office in March of 1990 and worked there for almost five years.

He quickly rose through the ranks as a felony prosecutor and drug prosecutor in the Organized section of the DA’s office.

He tried over 130 jury trials, ranging from DWI to Capital Murder, before he left to go into private practice.

Private Practice

While in private practice for twelve years, Mr. Harrison tried over 70 jury trials, many of them high-profile cases and six Capital Murder-Death Penalty trials.

He developed a reputation as a gifted trial lawyer who got results.

He is a past president of the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (2003), elected by the criminal lawyers of Dallas. He and his late father Richard are the only father/son Past Presidents of DCDLA at this time.

He has tried 50 capital murder and murder jury trials as a prosecutor and defense lawyer.

The Road to Kaufman

In 2005, Mr. Harrison was approached by judges, lawyers, and law enforcement to move to Kaufman County and run for District Attorney to fix some problems in that office. He agreed to run and was elected in 2006 and revamped and dramatically improved the Kaufman County DA’s office from 2007-2010.

He personally tried high-profile cases of capital murder, murder, aggravated sexual assaults, and aggravated kidnapping. All juries returned life sentence verdicts.

He taught his prosecutors how to analyze and try cases. The results speak for themselves: his felony section never lost a jury trial in four years and his misdemeanor section improved their jury trial conviction rate from 40% to 80%.

In 2008, he and then Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes started the Kaufman County Children’s Advocacy Center. The KCCAC partners with law enforcement agencies in the county to investigate and prosecute cases where children are sexually or physically abused. Shannon Gardner was hired as the Director. Conviction rates on sex offenders increased almost 80% after the KCCAC was established. In December 2023, the Center celebrated it’s 15 Year Anniversary.

He has now returned to private practice, bringing even more insight and experience to his craft. His renowned trial skills and gift for legal analysis make him an attorney who is respected by both prosecutors and judges.