Probate Court Issues

Brenda Hull Thompson is the Presiding Judge of The Probate Court of Dallas County, Texas, a/k/a, Probate Court Number One. She was elected in 2010 as the first African American statutory judge in the State of Texas. She serves as the Presiding Judge for all of the Dallas County Probate Courts and the Local Administrative Judge for Probate Courts.

Judge Thompson is the President Elect of the National College of Probate Judges and she has been an author and editor on nine editions of O'Connor's Texas Estates Code. Recently, she has edited the Probate Section of the Texas Bench Book for Judges.

Judge Thompson received her J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law School, Washington, D.C., her M. A. degree from Boston University, and her B.S. degree from the University of Maryland. She has served as an adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan Law School, which is now Texas A & M Law School. Before moving to Texas, she was a senior attorney in the Office of General Counsel for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C.

She serves on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Dallas and has served on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Dallas Foundation. She is a member of the Texas Bar Foundation and licensed to practice in Texas state courts, the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (inactive) and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (inactive).