WHO WE ARE & WHY WE SHOULD REPRESENT YOU
Nobody wants to be in trouble, but when you are suddenly accused of a crime and in need of an attorney, how do you know who to choose?
There is a difference between most attorneys and the outstanding team of attorneys at Sumpter & González, L.L.P.

What's the difference? The difference is us.
A different attitude, approach, mindset, motivation, perspective, background, representation and work-ethic means a different experience for you, and for us.

We are highly educated and experienced. We are results driven negotiators; great trial attorneys when we have to be, but looking to dismiss and mitigate cases whenever possible. Above all else, we are good people working to protect and represent the good in others.

We have four talented trial lawyers, dedicated legal assistants, and a full-time social worker who work together to achieve the best possible case results. We are devoted to clients of all economic and racial backgrounds, and reserve at least 50% of our possible client load for court appointed and Pro Bono cases benefiting the poor. Our attorneys are innovative and persistent in the court room, and pursue the best interests of their clients with a singleness of purpose.

Our clients are people empowered to make informed decisions by our relentless research and investigation. They are happy people who appreciate individualized attention and the value of their freedom. Our office operates on a crucial condition: ultimate loyalty to the client. Call us at (512) 381-9955 and we will set you up with an appointment to meet with one of our attorneys.
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Benefits to choosing Sumpter & Gonzalez, L.L.P.
Managing Partners David and Corinne founded Sumpter & González, L.L.P. in part because they are positive-minded, socially-conscious people.

“We want to argue and defend for the good in people,”

says David González. “If you’re a prosecutor, you’re always trying to point out the negative things about a defendant. On the flip side, as an advocate I get to spend all day showing the court all of the good things my clients have done. I get to learn about them as people, as parents, as hard-workers and motivated citizens. I get to bring families back together, help substance abusers find the rehabilitative services they need, and get troubled youths back on an upward track.”

When asked what the best part of her job is, the normally effusive and analytical Corinne gives an immediate, one-word answer: “the clients.”

Come on, Corinne, there has to be more to the story?!

“Well, I like being the person in the courtroom who is the optimist, the believer in the goodness in humanity and the ability of people to change and move past mistakes. I love the challenge of being the only one in the courtroom who is willing to give my client a chance, and then working to persuade prosecutors, judges, jurors – even clerks and deputies and court coordinators – that they should too. I get to find the good qualities in people – no matter what they are accused of. I feel lucky for that. It’s a great job – sometimes difficult, often sad, but always important.”

Our clients are generally happy people who appreciate individualized attention and know the value of their freedom. It is always especially rewarding to learn and benefit from the unique talents our clients have to offer, such as one who donated several paintings for our walls and another who helped build and repair several of the homes of our employees. We once helped a single mother move into a new home after work, and Danny and Tim have sweated it out under the Texas sun doing landscaping with another. When a client hires an attorney here, he or she is really hiring the whole family.

We count on and appreciate our former clients recommending their friends and family who may need legal services to our Firm. If you know anyone who might need our help, please e-mail or call our office.

We Speak Spanish
At Sumpter & González, L.L.P., we are fortunate to have a staff that includes several Spanish speakers. Both Kristin Etter and David González have spent considerable time traveling in Mexico, and Kristin worked for two years at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Laredo, Texas. In addition, Carlos Garcia is another attorney who shares office space with the Firm and deals with mostly Spanish-speaking clients.

We Value Education
Our attorneys have attended prestigious law schools including Stanford Law School, The University of Montana, and The University of Texas Law School.
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Firm History
Sumpter & González, LLP began as “The González Firm” in 1999. David González, fresh out of law school, went off to Mexico to brush up on his Spanish skills and search his soul; he came back to the States, passed up several offers at prestigious large law firms in California and Texas, and went about the business of “hanging a shingle” in Austin.

David practiced solo for two years, handling his first cases out of the room he rented in a friend’s house with a hand-me-down, out-dated fax machine that took up half the room, the computer he used in law school, a handful of law books, and undaunted energy, commitment and passion. Within a few months, after a couple of successful outcomes in race and employment discrimination cases, he was renting an office in downtown Austin, the caseload was larger and the fax machine was smaller.

With frequent trips to the East Coast, where his girlfriend and law school classmate was practicing criminal and juvenile defense law in Washington, D.C., David’s interest began gravitating toward criminal law. Pretty soon, his caseload was predominantly criminal, and, in 2001, his classmate-now-bride (the “Sumpter” in Sumpter & González) moved to Austin, and a partnership was formed.

Corinne brought from D.C. her training in criminal and juvenile law from the Prettyman Fellowship at Georgetown University Law Center and her commitment to representing the indigent accused. The practice became increasingly focused on criminal and juvenile law and the Firm began to grow. With the addition of associate attorney Kristin Etter, a former Assistant Federal Public Defender out in Laredo, the practice has expanded further into the federal courtroom; an association with the highly-respected criminal attorney Carlos Garcia (Of Counsel to the Firm) has brought our experience into the challenging arena of death penalty practice. Joined by a team of highly educated, high-energy assistants, we have been able to serve hundreds of clients and handle complicated, sometimes high-stakes cases.

Sumpter & González, LLP takes a holistic approach to the practice of law. We believe that there are many situations and conflicts that end up in the legal system because of the breakdown of other systems or of relationships; therefore, we make it our job to look for creative solutions to clients’ problems, even where those solutions lie outside of the courtroom. Inside the courtroom, we are tireless advocates and litigators, dedicated to obtaining the best resolutions for our clients. We have been called, on many occasions, “true believers” – by judges, court staff and other attorneys. Though this is sometimes said with sarcasm or irritation, we are proud of this reputation. It is what we strive for: it means we believe in the goodness of our clients, we believe that they deserve the best representation, we believe that fighting for them is an honor.

To find out more about Sumpter & González, LLP, browse through our personal biographies, check out some of the accomplishments we have had and awards we have received, and make use of our Legal Links portal. Most importantly, we would love to meet you in person. Call us at (512) 381-9955 to speak with Iliana, or e-mail her at Iliana@sg-llp.com, and she can set you up for a meeting with one of our attorneys. We look forward to talking with you.
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Representing the Good
I have filled all the trashcans in our office with my crumpled paper attempts to define exactly what Sumpter & Gonzalez stands for. But after one recent story from Attorney González of a particularly intense meeting with a client, the true essence of our firm finally made sense.

The client was arrested on a murder charge,
and was a poster-child of neglect and relationship inadequacy.

When David González, an attorney and partner, and Jon Frodema, a social worker, went to visit this client in jail, they had a hard time getting any information from him. The client was quite standoff-ish toward both David and Jon. He figured that these guys were here because it was their job, and they didn't care what happened to him in the end. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

After hours of getting nowhere, David stopped the conversation. He said, "Look, you are our client and we don't care if you are guilty or innocent, just understand that we are going to be here for you and defend you NO MATTER WHAT." After a few moments David's statement soaked in. The client put his head in his hands and the wall came crashing down.

After a lifetime of having no one to turn to and depend on but himself, and in maybe the darkest time of his life, our client found what he had been missing:

Loyalty.
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Our Practice
As criminal defense attorneys, we are prepared to assume the role of advocate, counselor, social worker, mediator, researcher and negotiator for our clients.

Advocacy
As zealous advocates for our clients, we strive to find the good in people. We believe that individuals should not be judged on their worst act, and that nobody is above making poor choices or mistakes in jugement.

Trial skills
First and foremost, we are trial lawyers. We do not take cases assuming they will be pleas. Trials are like surgery: so many different things are going on at once that a tremendous amount of preparation is required to gain control. We are excellent public speakers. We practice our arguments, our cross-examinations, and our jury selection with other attorneys in the firm. We have experience trying high-pressure cases.

We know when to take a case to trial versus when to recommend setting the cases by agreement. Funny things happens happen in trail sometimes: witneses are caught in inconsistencies, the State thinks it had a better case, or a random juror disbelieves a police officer.

Knowledge of the law and appellate work
With regular Continuing Legal Education courses and a database of current legal journals, we are able to keep up with changing developments in the law.

Diplomacy
Lawyering is a repeat player game. We deal with the same elected judges, the same District Attorneys, and the same probation officers on a day to day basis. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and each court and DA has their own way of negotiating cases. Being a criminal defense firm, we often represent clients who are accused of acts which are difficult to defend. Our knowledge of, familiarity and continuing working relationship with such DA's and judges helps us better defend our clients.

Creativity
Innovation in our trial preparation, our arguments before the court, and our problem solving is a founding principal of Sumpter & Gonzalez, L.L.P.

Humility
Lawyering, like life, is a learning process.
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Our Attorneys


David M. González
Attorney/Partner
Stanford University - J.D.
Dartmouth College - B.A. in Government and Education


Corinne Sumpter-González
Attorney/Partner
Georgetown University Law Center [L.L.M. candidate
Stanford Law School, J.D.
U.C.L.A., B.A.


Kristin Etter
Attorney
University of Montana, J.D., B.A.


Dal Ruggles
Attorney
University of Texas at Austin, J.D.
University of Texas at San Antonio, B.A. in Psychology