Ruth Piller

Ruth PillerBiography:

In her 20+ years of practicing law, Ruthie Piller has represented insurance companies, homeowners’ associations, commercial companies of all sizes, and individuals at the trial and appellate levels. She has worked on hundreds of insurance defense cases and also has significant experience in insurance coverage issues, bankruptcy litigation, mass tort litigation, environmental litigation and medical malpractice cases, among others. Ms. Piller has extensive legal research and writing experience and has written and argued briefs and motions on a myriad of subjects in Texas’ state and federal courts.

Ms. Piller taught legal research and writing at the University of Houston Law Center and the Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas College of Law).  She has been an active member of the Houston Bar Association, having been editor in chief of The Houston Lawyer, co-chair of HBA’s Fee Dispute Committee, and two-time co-chair of its Law and the Media Committee. She has written for and edited numerous legal publications since becoming licensed and is a former editorial board member of the Texas Bar Journal.

Education:

Ms. Piller graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism.  She earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas College of Law) in 1995 and her Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) from the University of Houston Law Center in 1999.  During law school, Ms. Piller was associate note and comment editor of the South Texas Law Review and editor in chief of the student newspaper, Annotations.

Licenses and Certifications:

Licensed to practice in Texas since 1995
Licensed to practice in Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Licensed to practice in the Southern, Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas
Licensed to practice in the United States Supreme Court

Honors and Awards:

Houston Bar Association President’s Award for Outstanding Service (two-time recipient)
Order of the Lytae
American Jurisprudence Award, Legal Research and Writing
Outstanding Student for Legal Journalism Award

Personal:

Before and during law school, Ms. Piller was a Houston Chronicle city desk reporter. She wrote more than 1,000 bylined stories at the Chronicle, where she covered the civil courts and higher education beats as well as general assignments. Ms. Piller lives a sitcom-ready existence with her two teenage children, two big dogs and one moody cat.