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The Law Offices of Ned Barnett: A Founding Member of the National College for DUI Defense

Ned Barnett is a founding member of both the National College for DUI Defense and the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys — national organizations he helped establish rather than simply joined — and has practiced criminal and DWI defense in Houston since founding his own firm in 1994, following earlier work as a state and federal prosecutor.

At a Glance

Origin and Background

Ned Barnett earned his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1987. Before founding his own practice in 1994, he served as an assistant district attorney in Galveston, prosecuting DWI cases alongside serious felonies including rape, robbery, and murder, and later worked as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office focused on international narcotics trafficking cases. He is licensed before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in addition to Texas state courts.

Practice Concentration

The firm concentrates on DWI defense across the full range — first offense through felony repeat offenses, intoxication manslaughter, and license suspension defense — alongside broader criminal defense and sex crimes cases. See this Houston DWI/DWI Defense directory for how this prosecutor-founded practice compares to other Harris County defense firms. Barnett holds specific training certifications in DWI field sobriety testing, breath test machine operation, and gas chromatography — the scientific method used to analyze blood-alcohol samples — giving him direct technical grounding to challenge the state’s chemical evidence rather than relying solely on general trial advocacy.

Track Record

Super Lawyers’ independent profile of Barnett states he has secured numerous acquittals, dismissals, and reduced charges for clients across DWI, drug trafficking, sexual assault, and murder cases over his career. This is a third-party peer-review-organization characterization rather than an itemized case list, and has not been independently re-verified against specific court dockets by this profile; past results do not guarantee similar outcomes, and every case depends on its own specific facts.

Client Voice

Barnett holds a 4.7-star average across 16 reviews on the Martindale-Avvo Legal Network, with 81% five-star and 13% four-star ratings and no one- or two-star reviews recorded. A peer review on Martindale describes him as obtaining “great results … including trial results” among Houston criminal defense attorneys. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a pattern of negative or unresolved reviews warranting disclosure.

Beyond the Courtroom

Barnett’s founding involvement in both the National College for DUI Defense and the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys reflects a role in building the field’s own specialist training infrastructure, distinct from individual case practice. His prior federal prosecutorial work on international narcotics trafficking cases also reflects direct government-side experience with complex criminal investigations.

Recognition

Barnett’s Board Certification in Criminal Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization is the state’s official specialty credential, distinct from his AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is a peer-review reputation rating rather than a state certification. His Super Lawyers selection, held continuously since 2015, is likewise a peer-nomination-based distinction rather than a paid marketing placement. Awesome Attorneys did not identify TBLS certification specifically in DWI or DUI law for Barnett and notes his primary board certification covers criminal law generally.

Texas Legal Backdrop

A Texas DWI arrest triggers two separate proceedings: the criminal case, and a civil Administrative License Revocation (ALR) case against the driver’s license, with only 15 days from the date of notice to request the ALR hearing before an automatic suspension takes effect — 90 days for a failed chemical test, 180 days for a refusal. Texas does not permit sobriety checkpoints, following the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ 1994 ruling in Holt v. State. Since a 2017 change in state law, some single, lower-BAC DWI convictions can become eligible for a non-disclosure order after a waiting period, though DWI records could not be sealed at all under Texas law before that change. None of this is legal advice; anyone facing a DWI charge should consult a licensed Texas attorney about the specific facts of their case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

The Law Offices of Ned Barnett’s clearest, most checkable differentiator is Barnett’s role helping found two national DWI-defense specialist organizations, paired with specific technical certifications in the science behind breath and blood testing and nearly three decades of practice since 1994. The honest trade-off: Awesome Attorneys did not identify a TBLS certification specific to DWI or DUI law for Barnett, only the general criminal law certification, and as with any solo-attorney practice, prospective clients should confirm directly whether Barnett personally handles the case day-to-day. For a Harris County client who wants an attorney with both prosecutorial background and hands-on chemical-testing expertise, that combination is a genuine, checkable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from The Law Offices of Ned Barnett’s official website (nedbarnett.com), his Super Lawyers profile, his Martindale.com attorney profile and peer/client review data, and the National College for DUI Defense’s member directory.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by The Law Offices of Ned Barnett prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.