Jake Gilbreath

Jake Gilbreath

Managing Partner

I wanted to be a lawyer since I was a kid. I’m sure in my mind I was going to argue in front of the US Supreme Court or handle cases with a nationwide impact. I had no idea I’d be doing something more important: representing families across the state of Texas in difficult and emotional divorces and custody cases.

Where did I start to get here? My guess is that it is not where you’d think. I was raised in Waxahachie, Texas, a small town south of Dallas. I was born in Wisconsin, but I came to Texas as soon as I could at age 3; it has been my home ever since. I am one of seven children – five biological and two adopted brothers. Both my parents bleed Aggie maroon (although only one of their children went to A&M). My dad was a veterinarian and owned his practice, and my mom a homemaker taking care of a home with seven (yes – seven!) children and helping my dad run his business. I am the only lawyer in my family.

I attended the University of Texas School of Law after completing my undergraduate degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC. At UT Law, I immediately figured out that I wanted to be in the courtroom, and I wanted to work directly with clients. I never wanted to draft a will or work on a corporate merger. In my third year of law school, I focused on litigation and worked as a student attorney at the University of Texas Domestic Violence Clinic. At the end of my time in law school, I took a job at a boutique, high-end family law litigation firm in Austin, Texas, where I would spend the first five years of my career.

Since getting out of law school, I’ve learned a lot professionally, and I’ve learned a lot personally.

I got married right after law school, and a few years after, my then-wife gave birth to my son Parker. When Parker was just a baby, his mom and I went through a divorce. At the time of my divorce, I had represented hundreds of clients in their divorces, and it was becoming second nature for me. My divorce changed all that. It was hard on me. It was hard on my ex-wife. I’m sure it was hard on our son. But we got through it, and I’m grateful for the lessons that I learned in my divorce and the perspective it gave me to now truly relate to my clients.

My divorce was finalized in 2015. But that wasn’t the hardest thing I would face that year. Just a couple of months after my divorce decree was signed, my father passed away unexpectedly at 60. He died at the veterinarian clinic, where you would always find him if he wasn’t at church or with his family.

Getting that phone call was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through in my life. But it made me a better person, a better lawyer, and a better father to my children.

Professionally, I’ve learned what my father always taught me about running his own business – never work for anyone else and try to do it your way if you can.

Brian and I strive to do things differently. The biggest problem with lawyers? Communication. So, Brian and I built a firm founded on the principle of communication. How do lawyers manage their office? With boxes of paper, fax machines, and phones and computers plugged into the wall. So, Brian and I made a decision to utilize technology in order to be an efficient and effective firm. Is your lawyer afraid to go to court? Brian and I, and the lawyers who work with us, strive to amicably resolve every single case, but when it’s time to go to court, nobody is more ready than us. We have found that being prepared to litigate every case allows to obtain more favorable outcomes for our clients through amicable resolution and empowers our clients to make the best decision for them if litigation is necessary.

We didn’t get here overnight. But we’re proud of where we’re at and we’re always improving.

Today I sit here as a proud business owner, husband and a proud father. Since my divorce, I have remarried the love of my life, Sarah Gilbreath, who is now the CEO of the law firm. Sarah is my best friend, partner, and the most beautiful and amazing woman I’ve ever met in my life. I look at her and my children every day, wondering how I got so lucky. Since getting married, Sarah gave birth to my second child, Harper, and again in 2020, we were blessed with another child, Walker. Walker, Harper, and Parker are the loves of my life. Everything Sarah and I do, we do for them, just like my parents did for me. Sarah and I could not be prouder of our children. We could not be prouder of our family. We could not be prouder of our law firm. We could not be prouder to work with Brian, the best lawyer and business partner I’ve ever known.

I have been Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2015. I am rated 10.0 Superb by Avvo.com and have hundreds of five-star reviews across Google and AVVO. I have been selected as a Rising Star by Texas SuperLawyers every year since 2017, and in 2020 and 2021 I have been named one of the Top 100 Up and Coming by SuperLawyers. I am frequently asked to serve as a guest speaker on various family law and litigation matters, focusing on trial work and jury trials. I try more cases each year to judges, arbitrators, and juries than a vast majority of my peers, and with our team, we do it differently, and we do it better.

Many years ago, I started telling potential new clients during our consultations to text me in the next day or so and see if I text back right away. And I always do. I started doing this before anyone in the legal field leveraged technology the way we do. But the sentiment remains. That is the kind of lawyer I want to be. Accessible and approachable. You can always find me on my cell phone, email, or by reaching out to my amazing team.