M. C. (Rick) Walton

Rick Walton has practiced law in Texas for over 30 years as a commercial and personal injury trial lawyer, corporate counsel and corporate  manager of litigation.  Since leaving Union Pacific Railroad Company in 2004 to return to private practice, he has been engaged in a consulting practice focusing on alternate dispute resolution and management of class actions and other complex toxic tort litigation, and he continues to represent railroads and other clients in matters of that nature.  At Union Pacific, where he held positions as Associate General Counsel and General Solicitor, he managed a regional law office and a wide range of FELA, grade crossing and toxic tort class action and complex personal injury litigation in a territory encompassing the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.  His background also includes positions as Vice President & General Counsel of USPCI, Inc. (Union Pacific’s former environmental services subsidiary) and Associate General Counsel of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., as well as trial practice at law firms in Dallas and Houston, covering a broad range of subject matter including environmental, antitrust, securities and other commercial litigation in addition to defense of personal injury lawsuits. 

Rick holds baccalaureate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. At SMU Law School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1975, he was editor-in-chief of The Journal of Air Law & Commerce and a member of the Moot Court Board, Order of the Coif, Barristers, and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.  His mediation training was completed at the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution at the University of Texas at Austin.  He is an active participant in the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel (which he has served as Regional Vice President and member of the Program Committee and Regional Executive Committee), and served several terms as a member of the State Bar of Texas District 4-F Grievance Committee. He has also been a frequent seminar speaker on topics ranging from environmental law to litigation management, and has been a guest lecturer at two law schools on subjects such as legal ethics, complex litigation and corporate law.  His civic and charitable activities have included service on the boards of directors of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (which he also served as President), St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Young Audiences of Houston, the Texas Council on Economic Education, and the Texas Civil Justice League.

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