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Chris Perri Law: The Former Appellate Clerk Who Mentors Law Students on Getting Records Expunged

Christopher Perri didn’t start in a courtroom — he started clerking on appeals, learning how cases actually get overturned rather than just tried. This Austin criminal defense attorney now teaches that same appellate and expunction knowledge to University of Texas law students through the school’s Expunction Project, while holding Avvo’s highest possible rating for his own practice.

At a Glance: Austin Criminal Defense Attorney Overview

Origin & Background

Christopher Perri built his early career in appellate law, serving as an Appellate Law Clerk at Nate Stark, where he worked on cases involving expunction and federal constitutional issues before moving into direct criminal defense practice. He has now practiced law in Austin and the surrounding area for more than 15 years, handling everything from DWI and drug charges to white-collar crimes, violent offenses, and appeals.

Practice Concentration

Perri’s practice spans DWI and drug crime defense, violent crime charges, white-collar offenses including money laundering and embezzlement, sexual assault and homicide defense, and criminal appeals — a broader range than many DWI-focused boutiques, backed by a documented appellate-law foundation that most general criminal defense attorneys don’t have. He handles cases from inception through final disposition rather than referring appellate work elsewhere.

Notable Work

Perri’s published case results include overturned convictions, jury and bench acquittals, charge dismissals, and negotiated plea agreements across DWI, domestic violence, theft, burglary, drug, and white-collar matters. One Avvo endorsement specifically praised his “publicly available writ percentage” in Texas appellate courts — a technical, verifiable metric rather than a vague claim of success. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case, and case outcomes described here are as reported by the attorney and by client and peer reviewers rather than independently re-verified against court dockets.

Client Voice

Perri holds a 10.0 “Superb” peer-review rating on Avvo, the platform’s highest possible score. Client testimonials describe him as consistently responsive and clear: one client wrote that he “battled getting my record expunged for over 5 years with a budget attorney before giving up. Should have called Chris from day one,” adding that Perri “responded to my emails within 24 hours and gave clear-cut advice.” Another client facing a DWI case wrote that Perri “handled my case wonderfully and was really responsive throughout the process,” while a third described him as “thorough, compassionate,” someone who “updated me constantly throughout the process.” No negative reviews of substance were located during this research.

Beyond the Courtroom

Perri mentors and supervises University of Texas law students through the school’s Expunction Project, a hands-on legal clinic helping clients clear eligible criminal records — direct, sustained public-service teaching rather than a one-time guest lecture. He has authored numerous published articles on criminal defense topics for outlets including the Austin Chronicle, the Austin American-Statesman, JURIST News, and the Daily Texan, and served on the Board of Directors of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association from 2014 to 2019. He is also a member of Texas NORML, reflecting a documented focus on drug-policy and marijuana-law issues specifically.

Recognition

No Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification for Perri was confirmed in available public materials, and this profile does not use “specialist” language for him as a result. He has been named to the National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 and selected as a Top Attorney by Austin Monthly Magazine, and holds Avvo’s 10.0 Superb peer-review rating. These are peer-review and publication-based recognitions rather than state board certification.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Texas DWI is governed by Texas Penal Code Chapter 49; a first offense is generally a Class B misdemeanor, escalating to a Class A misdemeanor with a prior conviction, an open container, or a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or above, and to a felony with a third conviction or a child under 15 in the vehicle. Texas expunction — a particular area of Perri’s practice and teaching — is governed by Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55, and eligibility varies significantly depending on whether a charge resulted in dismissal, acquittal, or deferred adjudication, with different waiting periods for each outcome. This is general background information, not legal advice, and does not account for the specific facts of any case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

An attorney with a documented appellate-law foundation, a specific teaching role in a law school expunction clinic, and a perfect Avvo peer-review score presents an unusually well-rounded credibility case: not just trial results, but sustained public writing, institutional teaching involvement, and board service with the local defense bar. The specificity of client praise — clear response times, technical appellate metrics, expunction cases other attorneys had given up on — reads as more substantive than generic five-star praise.

The honest gap: Perri does not hold Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification, which several other Austin criminal defense and DWI attorneys in this directory do carry, so his credibility case rests on peer review, publication record, and teaching involvement rather than a state board credential — legitimate, but a different kind of proof, and worth understanding as such when comparing attorneys side by side.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the attorney’s own website (chrisperrilaw.com), including its published reviews and testimonials page, Super Lawyers’ attorney profile, Avvo’s attorney profile, reviews, and endorsements, Forbes Advisor’s independently compiled “Best DUI Lawyers Austin, TX” listing, and ZoomInfo’s professional biography summary.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independently researched legal directory. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Chris Perri Law prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to firms profiled on this site, but sponsorship status has no bearing on editorial content, and inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement of any firm for any particular legal matter. Nothing in this profile constitutes legal advice or a lawyer referral; readers with a legal question should consult a licensed Texas attorney directly.