Texas Injury Attorney Steve Laird Receives Tarrant County Bar Association’s Highest Honor 

Nationally recognized Fort Worth attorney earns prestigious Blackstone Award  

FORT WORTH, Texas – Acclaimed trucking and transportation attorney Steve Laird has been named the recipient of the 2021 Blackstone Award, the Tarrant County Bar Association’s most prestigious honor.

The Blackstone Award is presented annually during the TCBA’s Law Day Celebration to an attorney whose career embodies ethical ideals, courage and service to the legal profession. The award is named after British jurist and judge Sir William Blackstone. His “Commentaries on the Laws of England” is considered the foundation of legal education in England and North America.

Starting his career in 1980 in the San Antonio office of what was then one of the largest firms in the Southwest, Laird litigated and handled appellate arguments in an “extraordinary number of cases for a second-year attorney,” he said. That courtroom experience became the foundation for his career as a trial lawyer now widely considered to be among the nation’s leading truck accident attorneys. Last year, he was one of a select group of attorneys to be among the first in the nation to earn Board Certification in Truck Accident Law from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is also Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board Legal Specialization and as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Laird’s reputation as a client-first, unflinching litigator came into focus early in his career when his work spurred General Motors to lift the veil of corporate secrecy surrounding known fire risks associated with defects in one of its popular truck models. GM had kept the defects out of the public eye through an excessive use of confidential settlements. His fight to open the files helped shed light on the defects, putting pressure on GM to resolve the issue.

Announcement of the Blackstone Award was made during TCBA’s annual Law Day Celebration, held May 3 via Zoom amid ongoing COVID precautions. An in-person presentation will be announced at a later date.