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Goldstein & Orr: The Firm That Secured Texas’s First Confession of Error in a Death Penalty Case

Overturning a wrongful capital conviction is rare. Getting the State of Texas to formally admit it made a mistake in a death penalty case is rarer still. This San Antonio criminal defense attorney firm did both, and both of its two name partners hold the same elite dual credential from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

At a Glance: San Antonio Criminal Defense Attorney Firm Overview

Origin & Background: A San Antonio Criminal Defense Attorney Firm With National Reach

Cynthia Eva Hujar Orr received her license to practice law in Texas in 1988 after studying at St. Mary’s University School of Law, and has since been admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal circuit courts. She is a founding member and inaugural president of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and has served as president of both the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (2003) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2009–2010) — leadership of the nation’s largest and most respected criminal defense bar organization. She was elected Chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section in 2014. Her partner, Gerald Goldstein, shares her dual board certification and has built an equally national reputation in criminal defense.

Practice Concentration

The firm handles felony charges, federal crimes, and white collar crime cases in state, federal, and appellate courts across Texas and the United States. Orr’s own practice has extensive depth in federal and white collar criminal matters specifically. The firm has worked alongside the Innocence Project on wrongful conviction cases and, according to its own materials, secured the first Confession of Error by the State of Texas in a death penalty case — a formal acknowledgment by state prosecutors that a capital conviction was wrongly obtained, an outcome that is exceptionally rare in any jurisdiction.

Notable Work

The firm’s reported case history includes the first Confession of Error by the State of Texas in a death penalty case, work on wrongful conviction matters in partnership with the Innocence Project, and a broad range of state and federal cases spanning white collar fraud, sex offenses, marijuana crimes, and felony drug offenses. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case, and these outcomes are as reported by the firm; this profile did not independently re-verify each case against court dockets.

Client Voice

Peer testimonials describe the firm in unusually strong terms for the legal community: one attorney wrote that “GGH has no equal in Texas or elsewhere,” adding that “Cynthia Orr and Gerry Goldstein don’t just defend their clients, they make law.” A former client facing a federal false-statement charge, who pled guilty to avoid a lengthy federal sentence, wrote that Orr and her partner Goldstein guided him through the process — a specific, detailed account rather than generic praise. Independent public review volume beyond peer testimonials is limited, consistent with a firm whose work centers on complex federal and white-collar matters rather than high-volume consumer-facing cases — a gap worth naming directly.

Beyond the Courtroom

Cynthia Orr serves on the Texas Board of Law Examiners and the Texas State Bar District 10 Grievance Committee — both positions of institutional trust within the state’s legal regulatory system, distinct from her advocacy work. She currently serves as President of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, leading international scholarship and conferences on criminal law reform.

Recognition

Gerald Goldstein and Cynthia Orr are both individually dual Board Certified in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization — the only “specialist” designation used in this profile, because it is independently state-administered, and this firm’s dual-certified, two-name-partner concentration of that credential is genuinely rare. Orr holds Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent rating, consistent recognition from Best Lawyers in America, and a Top 100 Trial Lawyer designation from the National Trial Lawyers. These are peer-review and state-board recognitions rather than firm self-description.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Federal criminal cases, a significant part of this firm’s practice, proceed under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and are litigated in U.S. District Court rather than Texas state courts, with sentencing generally governed by the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Texas capital murder cases specifically are governed by Texas Penal Code § 19.03, with post-conviction relief and habeas corpus proceedings following separate, specialized appellate procedures distinct from an ordinary criminal appeal. This is general background information, not legal advice, and does not account for the specific facts of any case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

As a San Antonio criminal defense attorney firm, Goldstein & Orr’s two name partners both holding the same dual board certification — Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law — combined with Orr’s presidencies of both the state and national criminal defense bar associations, represent an unusually concentrated leadership and credentialing profile even among elite criminal defense firms. The reported Confession of Error in a death penalty case is a specific, rare outcome that most firms in this space never achieve, let alone document.

The honest gap: this firm’s public consumer review presence is thin relative to its national reputation, consistent with a practice weighted toward complex federal and white-collar matters rather than routine criminal defense — a genuine limitation for a prospective client trying to evaluate the firm through typical review platforms. This firm’s profile and fee structure suggest a practice suited to serious felony, federal, and white-collar matters specifically, rather than routine misdemeanor or first-offense representation, and prospective clients should confirm fit and cost directly in a consultation.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (goldsteinhilley.com), including its attorney biography and testimonials pages, Best Lawyers’ firm profile, Super Lawyers’ attorney profile for Cynthia Orr, Avvo’s attorney profile and client review, Lawyer Legion’s independent attorney directory, and Distinguished Counsel’s member profile.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independently researched legal directory. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Goldstein, Goldstein, Hilley & Orr 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.