About Emily Shackelford
Legal Assistant: Amanda Zimmer | 972-964-3314 | azimmer@thompsonhorton.com
Emily has been profoundly affected by the Texas education system throughout the course of her education and career. She attended Texas public schools from kindergarten through her undergraduate degree, and earned her law degree from a Texas private school. In addition, she worked in the Austin public school system during her undergraduate years. Thanks to her time in Texas schools, she is passionate about providing clients the best possible outcome for their institution and the students they serve.
Emily is an associate in the Dallas office of Thompson & Horton. Prior to joining T&H, Emily was Assistant General Counsel for one of the top 20 largest public school districts in Texas, where her practice was largely focused on employment matters, student and employee grievances, special education matters, contract negotiation and review, managing public information act and FERPA requests, and general daily legal counsel on any number of other legal issues which arose.
During law school, Emily interned with both a judge and a trial consulting firm. Additionally, she served as Executive Managing Editor of The International Lawyer, the world’s most widely distributed U.S. international law review. In her downtime, she enjoys traveling to new places and watching hockey and college football when in season.
Education
- J.D., cum laude, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, 2022
- M.S. in Forensic Psychology, Arizona State University, 2024
- B.A. with Honors in Government, Certificate in Social Studies Education Grades 7-12, University of Texas at Austin, 2019
Licensing & Court Admissions
- Licensed in the state of Texas
Memberships & Recognitions
- State Bar of Texas
- Texas Council of School Attorneys
Selected Client Representations
- Served as lead investigator for employee and student investigations under District Board Policies for a large public school district
- Successfully defended a large public school district in dozens of employee and student grievances on a variety of matters