He graduated from UT Law in 1989 and began his legal career in the Civil Rights Division of the Office of the Texas Attorney General, prosecuting civil rights violations on behalf of the Texas Commission on Human Rights and defending state agencies in employment and civil rights lawsuits. Before joining Lone Star Legal Aid in 2009, he maintained a private practice in Nacogdoches, focusing on federal employment lawsuits and police misconduct civil rights cases. As an undergraduate at The University of Texas at Austin, he worked for Lloyd Doggett in his Texas Senate office and in his law office, and did advance work in his U.S. Senate campaign.