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David M. Curtis & Associates, PC: A Management-Side Career That Super Lawyers Also Rates for Plaintiffs

David Curtis spent decades on union avoidance and management-side labor counsel before opening his own Dallas firm. That background matters for anyone evaluating him through this Dallas employment lawyer directory: while Super Lawyers lists him under both Employer and Employee classifications, his own professional history and self-description are overwhelmingly oriented toward representing businesses, not individual workers pursuing claims.

At a Glance: This Dallas Labor and Employment Attorney’s Credentials

I. From Army JAG to Big Law Union-Avoidance Counsel

David Curtis served as Chief Prosecuting Attorney (Trial Counsel) for the 101st Airborne Division before entering private practice. He holds a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and an LL.M. in Labor Law from Southern Methodist University, earned in 1988 after he had already moved into big-firm practice in Dallas. He describes leading “numerous hard-fought union campaigns” during his big-firm career before leaving roughly twenty years later to start his own practice. He is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and an elected member of the American Law Institute.

II. A Practice Built Around Employer Risk Management

Curtis’s own marketing materials describe his work in explicitly management-side terms: “union avoidance, labor & employment law and human resources management,” guiding “small and large firms through regulatory landscapes,” and ensuring “business clients are advantaged.” His SPHR certification — a human-resources credential, not a legal one — further signals an employer-facing practice. Super Lawyers’ independent classification lists Employment & Labor: Employer first among his practice tags, followed by Employee, Employment Litigation: Plaintiff, Employment Litigation: Defense, and Business Litigation — suggesting some individual-side work exists within a practice still centered on employer counsel.

III. Practice Concentration

Curtis’s stated areas include union-avoidance counseling, labor and employment risk management, discrimination and civil rights matters, and complex employment litigation in state and federal courts across Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. He has published over 250 articles on workplace law and human resources management and has spoken to hundreds of business and HR groups nationally.

IV. Track Record

Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a published, itemized results table on the firm’s site.

The firm does not publish a table of verdicts or settlements. Awesome Attorneys was unable to independently verify specific case outcomes and discloses that gap directly. Given the firm’s stated management-side and risk-management orientation, much of Curtis’s work likely involves preventive counseling and internal HR guidance rather than public litigation, which would not generate the kind of results table more litigation-heavy plaintiff firms publish.

V. Client Voice

Avvo reviews describe Curtis as patient and skilled at using relatable stories to explain complex legal concepts, with one reviewer specifically praising his approach to making a challenging employment process feel more manageable. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a large aggregated review base; the visible reviews are consistent with a long-tenured solo/small-firm practice rather than a high-volume consumer practice.

VI. Beyond the Courtroom

Curtis previously served as a City Councilman, City Attorney, and District Attorney earlier in his career, in addition to his private labor and employment practice. He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and an elected member of the American Law Institute — both genuinely selective, peer-nominated bodies within the legal profession.

VII. Recognition

Peer-reviewed and independently conferred credentials: Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; elected membership, American Law Institute; Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer rating; and Super Lawyers selection (2007–2022). Awesome Attorneys notes that the SPHR credential, while a genuine examination-based certification, is a human-resources industry credential conferred by the Society for Human Resource Management, not a legal board certification, and should not be read as equivalent to Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification.

VIII. The Texas Legal Backdrop

Because Curtis’s practice has historically centered on employer-side union avoidance and HR risk management, the relevant statutory framework spans the National Labor Relations Act (federal, governing union organizing and unfair labor practices) alongside Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA for discrimination matters, each generally requiring an EEOC charge before suit. Texas’s parallel state anti-discrimination law, the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Texas Labor Code Chapter 21), requires a charge with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Civil Rights Division within 180 days of the alleged act.

IX. Awesome Attorneys Assessment: This Dallas Employment Lawyer’s Strengths and Limits

Curtis’s more than five decades in labor and employment law, his LL.M. in Labor Law, and his selective peer credentials (College of Labor and Employment Lawyers Fellow, American Law Institute membership) reflect genuine, sustained authority in the field, particularly on the employer-counseling and union-avoidance side of the practice.

The honest limitation for readers of this directory is fit: nearly every marketing signal from this firm — the SPHR certification, the “union avoidance” language, the explicit framing around “business clients” — points toward management-side counseling as the practice’s center of gravity, even though Super Lawyers’ independent classification includes plaintiff and employee categories. A worker considering Curtis for an individual claim against an employer should ask directly about the balance of his current caseload between employer counseling and employee representation, since his public-facing materials emphasize the former far more heavily than the latter.

X. Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own websites (laborassociates.com and attorneyatlaw.com’s firm listing); Super Lawyers’ attorney profile; Avvo’s attorney profile and reviews; Martindale-Hubbell’s firm listing; and LinkedIn’s attorney profile. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; where independent verification of case outcomes was unavailable, that gap is disclosed rather than filled.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by David M. Curtis & Associates, PC 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 David M. Curtis & Associates, PC or Awesome Attorneys.