Charles Eskridge

CHARLES ESKRIDGE has litigated complex commercial matters at Susman Godfrey since 1994. A partner since 1996, he represents both plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courts across the country.  Eskridge has obtained damage awards and settlements for plaintiffs in business disputes worth well north of two billion dollars. For defendants, he has won summary judgment, had class actions decertified, and otherwise successfully settled a wide array of cases upon terms which delighted the client. His wide range of litigation experience has included some of the biggest issues of the day, including the financial meltdown of 2008, the 9/11 terrorism attacks, the asbestos bankruptcy crisis, and groundbreaking antitrust action against Microsoft. His experience includes antitrust, patents, aviation disaster, securities fraud, the First Amendment, ERISA, and asbestos bankruptcy litigation, along with state law issues concerning contractual disputes, accounting malpractice, fraud, employment and trade secret issues, and insurance coverage.   Click here for a summary of several of Eskridge's key engagements.

Eskridge is a member of the American Law Institute, and AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell, its highest designation. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Law Center, where he teaches the course on Federal Courts and a class of his own design on Origins of the Federal Constitution. He has also taught his Origins class as the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Pepperdine University School of Law in Fall 2011.

Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn appointed Eskridge in 2008 to their Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, to screen candidates and assist their advice and consent on prospective federal judges and U.S. Attorneys. He also volunteers his time to the Houston community and legal profession, serving on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Greater Houston and for the Museum of Printing History. He is a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the Houston Bar Foundation, and co-chairs the firm's efforts with respect to the United Way.

Texas Law and Politics and Texas Monthly magazines have named Eskridge among the State's “Super Lawyers” since 2005. Those magazines named him a “Rising Star” of the Texas legal profession in 2004. In its 2001 designation of “40 under 40,” Texas Lawyer selected Eskridge as one of those “whose accomplishments distinguish them among their peers … and are already making a mark on our state's legal community.” 

• Pepperdine University (J.D., summa cum laude, valedictorian, 1990)
• Trinity University (B.S., magna cum laude, 1985)

• Law clerk to Hon. Byron R. White, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court (October 1991 Term)
• Law clerk to Hon. Charles Clark, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Special Assistant to Howard M. Holtzmann, U.S. Arbitrator, Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal,The Hague, The Netherlands

• Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, Pepperdine University School of Law (Origins of the Federal Constitution)
• Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center (Federal Courts, Origins of the Federal Constitution)
• American Law Institute, Sustaining Member
• Hutchison / Cornyn Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee

• Board of Visitors, Pepperdine University School of Law
• Alumni Leadership Council, Founding Member, Pepperdine University
• American Inns of Court, Master, Garland R. Walker Chapter
• Named "Texas Super Lawyer" and "Texas Rising Star" by Texas Law and Politics and Texas Monthly (2004-05, 2007-11)
• Included in "40 Under 40" by Texas Lawyer (2001)

• Admitted to bars of the State of Texas, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Eleventh and D.C. Circuits, Southern District of Texas, and various federal district courts
• American Bar Association
• Texas Bar Foundation, Sustaining Life Fellow
• Houston Bar Foundation, Sustaining Life Fellow
• Houston Bar Association
• YMCA of Greater Houston, Board of Directors
• Museum of Printing History, Board of Directors
• United Way of Houston, Chairman's Club
• Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts
• United States Supreme Court Historical Society