Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was presented the A. Sherman Christensen Award at the annual American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence, held at the U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2002. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist hosted this year’s events.
Given in the name of the late Federal District Court Judge A. Sherman Christensen of Salt Lake City, Utah, the founder of the first American Inn of Court, the award is bestowed upon a member of an American Inn of Court who, at the local, state, or national level has provided distinguished, exceptional, and significant leadership to the American Inns of Court movement.
Judge Higginbotham attended the University of Texas at Arlington and Austin and received his B.A. (1960) and LL.B. (1961) from the University of Alabama. He attended law school with the aid of an athletic scholarship, playing varsity tennis and serving as the team captain. Following graduation from law school he served for three years as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force.
In 1964 he went into private practice with the Dallas, Texas firm of Coke & Coke, where his work was focused upon trials and appeals, with one stint as a special prosecutor. In 1975 President Gerald Ford appointed him to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, making him the youngest sitting federal judge in the United States. In 1982 he was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan, and continues to serve on that court.
Judge Higginbotham has been a tireless mentor and leader as well as a highly sought instructor, lecturer and writer on a variety of legal topics. He served for many years as a faculty member of the Federal Judicial Center and as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the SMU Dedman School of Law. He also taught Federal Jurisdiction at Texas Tech University School of Law and has delivered lectures at numerous universities including the Universities of Alabama, Chicago, Texas, Texas Tech, Columbia, Duke, and Penn, as well as Case Western, Northwestern, Utah, Loyola, Hofstra, the National Science Foundation, The American College of Trial Lawyers and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.