FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 15, 2004

SFA alum to take oath as federal judge Friday

Many graduates of Stephen F. Austin State University like to return to campus occasionally and walk through the halls where they earned their college degree. Judge Michael Schneider will do that on Friday, and he’ll have several high-ranking friends with him.

Schneider will officially take his seat as the U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas at an investiture ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the UC Grand Ballroom.

“This is a special event for SFA because Judge Schneider is an alum and because he requested this ceremony be held here,” said Dr. Baker Pattillo, vice president for university affairs. “He wants to make sure the students, faculty, staff and community know that they are welcome to attend.”

SFA is also centrally located in the 43-county Eastern District of Texas. The Eastern District runs from the Oklahoma border along the Louisiana line to the Gulf Coast, skirting around Houston and Dallas on the west.

U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield, chief judge of the Eastern District of Texas, will administer the oath of office, which will be part of a formal federal court proceeding. Schneider’s uncle, the Rev. Hooper Haygood, will offer the invocation at the investiture ceremony.

“There will be a number of federal judges and federal magistrates in attendance,” Pattillo said. “We are also expecting a number of state and federal officials. This is a very prestigious event, and it’s such an honor for SFA to be able to host the court.”

Schneider attended high school in Lufkin and graduated from Garrison High School. After graduating from SFA in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Schneider taught government and American history for several years at Ball High School in Galveston. After his first year at Ball, he became the first recipient of the school’s Sandy Kempner Memorial Award for outstanding teaching.

Schneider received a law degree from the University of Houston in 1971 and a Master’s of Law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law. Before entering his legal practice, however, Schneider held a variety of jobs. In addition to teaching, he conducted title searches for an oil company, managed apartments, drove ambulances, delivered milk, worked at a funeral home, waited tables, served as a hotel bellhop, interned at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and operated a school bus for disabled children.

Those jobs were as much of an education as any formal schooling, Schneider said.

“It makes you appreciate, I think, the value of every job and that people can be - and are - good people at every level, and smart people at every position,” he said.    

Schneider began his legal career as an assistant district attorney for Harris County and went into private practice in 1976. As an international transactions lawyer, he represented clients in most of North America, and in South and Central America, Canada, East and West Africa, Western Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia and other Pacific Rim countries. He was one of the first attorneys to negotiate a service contract in the Republic of China before diplomatic relations were established with the United States.

Schneider first became a judge in 1978, when he was asked to be a part-time municipal judge in West University Place. He handled traffic court at night for 12 years while maintaining a full-time law practice. In 1990, Schneider ran for and was elected judge of the 157th Civil District Court in Harris County. He was appointed to the First Court of Appeals by Gov. George W. Bush in 1996, elected later that year and elected again in 1998. Schneider served five years as a district judge before becoming chief justice.

Schneider was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas in September 2002 by Gov. Rick Perry. He was elected later that year for a six-year term, but was selected by President George W. Bush to succeed U.S. District Judge John H. Hannah Jr., who died unexpectedly in December 2003. Schneider was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September.

The new judge will office in Tyler and also will be responsible for a portion of the Sherman Division docket, traveling there for court when necessary.

Schneider said he is looking forward to return to a trial court because it will afford him closer contact with litigants and issues again.

“This is welcome for a lot of reasons,” he explained. “I look forward to getting back and getting a little closer to the ground. You’re closer to the facts. You have a better picture of what really happened, rather than just reading about it,” Schneider said. The Eastern District also has developed something of a reputation with patent cases, and Schneider said, “I find that to be a real challenge. I like that.”

Schneider believes his experience as an appellate judge will be a valuable asset at the trial level.

“I think it makes it easier for me to see the importance of a record,” Schneider said, adding it is not actually what happened at a trial that gets tested at the appellate level, it is the record of what happened.

“Hopefully that will make me be a better judge,” Schneider said.
Schneider and wife Mary have four children: Michael Schneider Jr., an attorney in Houston; Heidi Schneider, a doctor in San Antonio; Shelly Toomey, a student at the University of Colorado; and Christine Toomey, a student at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.

SFA musicians will provide music for the ceremony, and members of SFA’s award-winning ROTC program will present the colors during the flag ceremony. Members of Omicron Delta Kappa, an SFA leadership honor society, will serve as ushers.

Although no cameras or recording devices will be allowed during the investiture, photography will be allowed during a reception following the ceremony. Standard dress for court proceedings is formal business attire.

For more information about the ceremony, call (936) 468-2605.