Michael Haygood Schneider

SCHNEIDER, MICHAEL HAYGOOD (1943~) Michael Haygood Schneider, Sr., state and federal judge, was born in San Antonio, Texas on January 6, 1943. He grew up in East Texas and attended high school in Lufkin and graduated from Garrison High School in Nacogdoches County. He attended Lon Morris College, Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Houston, College of Law, and the University of Virginia School of Law.

During college and law school, Schneider held numerous jobs, that included working for an oil company, managing apartments, driving an ambulance, operating a school bus for disabled children, working at a funeral home, teaching government and American history at Ball High School in Galveston, delivering milk, clerking for a law firm, managing a cafeteria, serving as a waiter, bell hopping at a hotel, and serving as an intern at the U. S. Attorney's Office.

Schneider began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney for Harris County. After that, he practiced law as a civil trial, corporate, and international transactions lawyer, where he represented clients all over the world.

Prior to becoming a state judge, Schneider served 12 years as a municipal judge in the City of West University Place, while still maintaining a full-time practice. In 1990, he was elected Judge of the 157th Civil District Court in Harris County. He held that position for 5 years, until 1996, when Governor George W. Bush appointed him Chief Justice of the First Court of Appeals. Later that year, he was elected to fill his predecessor's un-expired term and was elected to a term of his own in 1998.

In September 2002, Governor Rick Perry appointed Chief Justice Schneider to the Supreme Court of Texas, where he served for nearly two years. On May 17, 2004, President George W. Bush nominated Justice Schneider to fill a vacant seat on the U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas. After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 7, 2004, he received his commission on September 10, 2004.

Justice Schneider is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, Houston Bar Foundation, Texas Bar Foundation, and the American Bar Association. He is also a past recipient of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists Trial Judge of the Year award and Appellate Judge of the Year award. He was also the first recipient of the Sandy Kempner Memorial Award for an outstanding teacher at Ball High School.

Justice Schneider is married to the former Mary Fite.

Information taken from Justice Schneider's profile from the Supreme Court of Texas website and the Federal Judicial Center website, http://air.fjc.gov/.