Attorney: Terri R. Zimmermann

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Terri R. Zimmermann is board certified in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is certified as a Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. She came to our firm in 1996 and has been a shareholder since 2007.

She is a former prosecutor and chief of the Civil Law and Review sections at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California, for which she was awarded the Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal. A 1992 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., she is licensed to practice law in Texas and Maryland. She graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Zimmermann is admitted to practice in Texas and Maryland, as well as the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Texas and the District of Maryland, and all United States courts-martial.

Ms. Zimmermann is the head of our appellate section.  However, she represents clients at trial, on appeal and in postconviction proceedings, and in administrative matters in state, federal, and military courts. She formerly served as the co-chair of the Military Law Section of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and is the former Chair of the State Bar of Texas Military Law Section. Additionally, she is a member of the American Bar Association; Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association; and Houston Bar Association.

Ms. Zimmermann served as a Marine Corps judge advocate on active duty from 1993-1996. Since then she has remained in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and currently is a Lieutenant Colonel. For approximately ten years, she worked as an appellate defense counsel at the Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity in Washington, D.C. She has returned from a six-month mobilization to Camp Pendleton, California, where she served as the Deputy Counsel to the Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Command and earned a Certificate of Commendation.

Ms. Zimmermann was recognized in 2009 by Law & Politics as a Super Lawyer (an outstanding lawyer who has attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement), and every year from 2004 to 2007 as a Rising Star (one of the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state -- those who are 40 years old or younger, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less), published in Super Lawyers Magazine. Super Lawyers Magazine published a feature article about Ms. Zimmermann in the March 2007 edition. To read the article, click here.

Ms. Zimmermann has handled many interesting cases. Most recently, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces granted relief for her client, reversing the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals on an unlawful command influence issue. If the Air Force declines to retry the case, the charges will be dismissed. She served as lead counsel in a rape case where the military judge granted her motion to suppress the prior testimony of the complaining witness, resulting in all charges being dismissed. He was also found not guilty at an Article 15, UCMJ proceeding (nonjudicial punishment) that followed.  She also served as lead counsel in a DWI case where the judge acquitted the client and dismissed all charges when the state completed its case.

Ms. Zimmermann represented a client in a complex white-collar appeal in which the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the district judge's finding of fact on remand was clearly erroneous. The appellate court reversed the conviction and 20-year sentence and ordered the charges dismissed. Ms. Zimmermann was co-counsel with Kyle Sampson in the acquittal of a truck driver accused of failing to stop and render aid to the driver of a car that cut in front of his truck, resulting in a fatal accident. Ms. Zimmermann was co-counsel with Jack Zimmermann in an indecency with a child case, which resulted in a hung jury at the first trial. On retrial, she cross-examined the complaining witness, and the jury acquitted.

She has also served as co-counsel with Jack B. Zimmermann in three nationally-known cases: the "Border Shooting Case" where an active duty Marine returned fire on the United States-Mexican border, killing the man who had fired at his patrol augmenting the civilian drug interdiction efforts. No charges were filed after three grand jury investigations over a one-year period. She was co-counsel in the "Cheerleader Mom Case," where the client received probation on re-trial after the first trial had resulted in a 15 year prison sentence. She was co-counsel in the "Railcar Killer case," where the issue of mental competence to be executed was litigated.

Ms. Zimmermann was co-counsel with Mr. Zimmermann and Mr. Sampson representing LCpl Stephen Tatum, USMC, who originally was charged with the murder of Iraqi civilians during a counter-attack in response to an ambush in Haditha, Iraq. Click here for a description of the Article 32 Investigation hearing featured in the Texas Lawyer. All charges were dismissed with prejudice on the first day of trial in this case that had drawn international media attention.

Ms. Zimmermann loves to teach and has served on the faculty of Continuing Legal Education seminars nationwide.  She is married and has two children.

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