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Richard Orsinger has practiced family law for 50 years, holds dual Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in both Family Law and Civil Appellate Law, and literally wrote a 900-page treatise on Texas civil appellate procedure. He co-founded Orsinger, Nelson, Downing & Anderson on the premise that family law and appellate law are inseparable — that a divorce case handled without appellate-level rigor from day one is a case built on a weaker foundation. This profile is part of Awesome Attorneys’ coverage of Dallas family law attorney options.
At a Glance
| Firm | Orsinger, Nelson, Downing & Anderson, LLP (ONDA Family Law) |
|---|---|
| Name Partners | Richard R. Orsinger; Keith M. Nelson; R. Scott Downing; Jeffrey O. Anderson |
| Dallas Office | 5950 Sherry Lane, Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75225 |
| Phone | (214) 273-2400 |
| Firm Founded | 30+ years ago; Orsinger’s individual career spans 50 years |
| Orsinger’s Board Certifications | Family Law AND Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization (dual certification, rare) |
| Firm-Wide Certification | Every partner is TBLS Board Certified in Family Law |
| Recognition | State Bar of Texas Family Law Hall of Legends (Orsinger, 2021); 17 attorneys on Best Lawyers in America (2027); U.S. News Best Law Firms, Tier 1 Family Law, Dallas-Fort Worth |
| Other Offices | Frisco, San Antonio |
| Core Practice Area Reviewed Here | Family Law & Divorce |
Origin & Background
Richard Orsinger marked 50 years in legal practice in 2025 and was inducted into the State Bar of Texas Family Law Hall of Legends in 2021 — an honor reserved for attorneys with a minimum of 40 years in practice who have had a significant impact on Texas family law. He holds dual TBLS board certification in Family Law and Civil Appellate Law, a genuinely uncommon combination, and authored an authoritative 900-page treatise on Texas civil appellate procedure along with more than 275 continuing-legal-education presentations. He founded the Texas Family Law Foundation and has twice won the Franklin Jones Best Continuing Legal Education Article Award from the College of the State Bar of Texas. Every partner at ONDA — Orsinger, Keith Nelson, Scott Downing, and Jeffrey Anderson — is individually TBLS Board Certified in Family Law, and each is a member of the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists.
Dallas Family Law Attorney Practice Concentration
ONDA practices exclusively in family law: divorce, child custody, property division, marital agreements, enforcement, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law, and — distinctively — a dedicated appellate practice specifically for family law cases. That appellate specialization is the firm’s clearest point of differentiation: most family law firms refer appeals to outside appellate counsel, while ONDA has built its identity around handling both trial and appeal in-house for complex, high-conflict, and high-net-worth divorces.
Track Record
| Recognition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Best Lawyers in America (2027) | 17 ONDA attorneys listed |
| U.S. News Best Law Firms | 14th consecutive year on the list; Tier 1, Family Law, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio; national ranking for Appellate practice |
| Texas Super Lawyers Top 100 (statewide) | 2018 and 2019: more ONDA attorneys in the Top 100 than any other Texas law firm, including Big Law firms |
| Texas Lawyer’s Best of 2022 | Best Family Law Firm in Dallas |
As a family law firm, ONDA does not publish individual case settlement or verdict figures given the private nature of divorce proceedings. These recognitions are peer-nomination and publication-based rather than case-outcome-based; past recognition does not guarantee future results.
Client Voice
ONDA’s public materials center on institutional and peer recognition; this profile does not quote client reviews for the firm.
Beyond the Courtroom
Orsinger chairs and serves on multiple Texas Supreme Court advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Rules of Procedure, Rules of Appellate Procedure, and Rules of Evidence — meaning he has had a direct hand in shaping the procedural rules Texas courts operate under, not just practicing within them. He was chief editor of the State Bar of Texas’s Texas Supreme Court Practice Manual and a two-volume work on expert witnesses in family law litigation, and received the Dan Rugeley Price Memorial Award from the Texas Bar Foundation and the Sam Emison Award from the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists.
Recognition
Orsinger’s dual Board Certification (Family Law and Civil Appellate Law) is a genuinely rare combination and the credential this profile treats as most substantive; the firm-wide requirement that every partner hold TBLS Family Law certification is itself an unusually strict internal standard. The Family Law Hall of Legends induction is a career-capstone peer honor from the State Bar of Texas itself, distinct from commercial publication rankings. Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and U.S. News rankings are legitimate, sustained peer-nomination recognitions but operate on a different, less formally rigorous standard than board certification or Hall of Legends induction.
Texas Legal Backdrop
Texas is a community property state under Texas Family Code § 3.002, and a divorce cannot be finalized until at least 60 days after filing under Family Code § 6.702, absent family violence. Appeals of family law trial court rulings — ONDA’s specific area of additional depth — proceed under the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, and generally must be initiated within 30 days of a final judgment (or 90 days if a timely post-judgment motion is filed), a strict deadline where missing the window forfeits appellate review regardless of the underlying merits. Child custody follows the conservatorship framework in Family Code Chapter 153, which presumes joint managing conservatorship serves a child’s best interest absent evidence of family violence or similar disqualifying conduct.
Awesome Attorneys Assessment
ONDA’s institutional depth is genuinely exceptional: a name partner with a Family Law Hall of Legends induction and dual board certification, an entire partnership required to hold TBLS Family Law certification, and 14 consecutive years on U.S. News’s Best Law Firms list with a specifically-ranked national appellate practice. For a family law matter where an appeal is a realistic possibility — a complex property characterization dispute, a contested custody ruling, a significant marital-estate valuation fight — having trial and appellate strategy unified under one roof from the outset is a genuine structural advantage most family law firms cannot offer.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (ondafamilylaw.com, including its attorney bios, News & Blog, and firm-recognition press releases), Richard Orsinger’s individual attorney bio page, Best Lawyers’ and Best Law Firms’ firm profiles, and multiple wire-service press releases (BusinessWire, Morningstar) covering Orsinger’s 50-year practice milestone and Hall of Legends induction. Statutory citations were checked against the Texas Family Code and Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; all recognitions and honors are attributed to their original source.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Orsinger, Nelson, Downing & Anderson, LLP prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placements clearly labeled as such, but no payment of any kind determines inclusion in, or the content of, this editorial profile. This article is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and ONDA Family Law or Awesome Attorneys.
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