Dexter Gilford has been licensed to practice law since 1993, and with the exception of 5 years during which he returned to graduate school, has practiced law in Bexar and Travis County for 25 years. Dexter has devoted the entirety of professional career to either the practice or teaching and writing about criminal law and procedure. Although primarily a trial lawyer, Dexter has represented scores of clients in transactional matters, criminal investigations, and administrative proceedings.
Dexter began his career in 1993 as a prosecutor with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, where remained until 1995 when he resigned to go into private practice. Dexter located his office in Austin, Texas, practiced as a solo practitioner from 1995 until 2013, limiting his practice to the defense of criminal cases in both state and federal courts. As a practicing defense attorney, he tried cases involving charges ranging from class A and B misdemeanors to felony capital murder charges carrying the death penalty at a time when local Travis County juries were known to return death verdicts. By trial or plea, none of Dexter’s capital defendants were sentenced to death.
In 2005, Dexter was awarded Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year by the State Bar of Texas after securing the acquittal of a young man he continues to believe was wrongfully accused of capital murder. During this period, Dexter proudly maintained membership in the College of the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of Texas’s Pro Bono College. Dexter was an active member of his local criminal defense bar and served as Director of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Dexter also served as a Director with the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
From 1999-2013, Dexter was a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Board of Trial Advocates. While practicing as a criminal defense lawyer, Dexter maintained Board Certification as a Criminal Law Specialist by the State Bar of Texas’s Board of Legal Specialization and was recognized as a Criminal Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. During this period, Dexter was a frequent presenter at CLE seminars on topics of interest to criminal practitioners both locally and statewide.
In 2012, Dexter took a hiatus from the practice of law and returned to his home of San Antonio, Texas to care for his mother prior to her death, while pursuing a graduate degree at Our Lady of the Lake University. While doing so, he taught criminal law and related courses locally at the community college and university level.
In 2017, Dexter was invited to return to the practice of law and joined the Travis County District Attorney’s Office where he was appointed as the Director of the Office’s newly formed Civil Rights Unit, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of law enforcement cases involving allegations of the unlawful use of force. Dexter has served in this capacity since 2017.
Dexter is the father of four children—Anicet, Talai, Ayo and Kali—ages eight to twenty-nine years of age, and two grandchildren ages 4 months and 22 months.
.png)
