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The Galligan Law Firm: The Houston Estate Practice Built Inside a 1912 Victorian House

When Mary Galligan and Tammy Manning founded their partnership in 1997, they chose to house it in a Victorian home built in 1912 near downtown Houston — a space the firm calls “Legacy House,” where client meetings deliberately took place in a living room rather than a conference room, a physical choice meant to make estate planning conversations feel less clinical.

Origin and Background

The Galligan Law Firm is located at 1770 St. James Place, Suite 630, Houston, TX 77056, confirmed through the firm’s own site and State Bar of Texas records. Mary S. Galligan earned her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975 and her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1985, where she served on the Houston Law Review. She holds board certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, independently confirmed through Lawyer Legion’s TBLS-sourced Harris County directory. Galligan began her estate planning career at Butler & Binion, a former major downtown Houston firm, before leaving in 1994 and co-founding the current firm with Tammy Manning in 1997. She has since transitioned to an Of Counsel role, focusing on client-education projects, while other attorneys at the firm handle day-to-day client matters.

Practice Concentration

The firm concentrates on estate planning, probate administration, elder law, and marital and property agreements. Galligan served a six-year term on the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s own Advisory Committee and served on the Texas State Bar Sub-Committee on the Texas Power of Attorney Act legislation from 1990 through 1997. See this Houston Estate Planning & Probate directory for how this multi-decade boutique compares to other Harris County firms in this category.

Notable Work / Track Record

As is typical for an estate planning and probate practice, the firm does not publish a table of case verdicts or settlements, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify one — this practice area centers on drafted plans and completed administrations rather than litigated outcomes. What is independently verifiable is Galligan’s TBLS board certification, her service on the state board’s own advisory committee, and the firm’s nearly three-decade operating history under the same founder.

Client Voice

Client reviews on Avvo are consistently strong, including a client who worked with Galligan across two engagements 20 years apart — an original will and advance directives, then a later update — describing her as knowledgeable, detail-oriented, and having a good “bedside manner.” A separate long-term client praised her personable, reliable expertise in adapting a decades-old will to a growing family and changing tax law. Awesome Attorneys did identify one negative third-party review on TopAttorney.com alleging that “this lawyer” failed to appear for a scheduled deposition after an initial reschedule; Awesome Attorneys could not independently verify the specifics of this complaint or confirm which matter or attorney at the firm it involved, but discloses it here rather than omitting it.

Beyond the Courtroom

Galligan’s clearest public-service credential is regulatory rather than civic: her six-year term on the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s Advisory Committee for her own certified specialty, plus adjunct teaching at South Texas College of Law from 2007 through 2010, where she taught a course on counseling the estate planning client. Awesome Attorneys did not identify separate non-legal civic or nonprofit board service documented for her.

Recognition for This Houston Estate Planning Firm

Galligan has been recognized as a Super Lawyer and received an Attorney of the Year award according to third-party directory sources. Her Board Certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from TBLS, along with her service on that board’s own advisory committee, is independently confirmed through Lawyer Legion’s specialization directory. Awesome Attorneys distinguishes these peer- and state-verified credentials from self-submitted marketing-directory awards.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Elder law and marital agreements — two of the firm’s stated focus areas — often intersect with Texas’s status as a community property state, where most property acquired during marriage is presumptively owned equally by both spouses, which affects both premarital agreement drafting and how much of an estate a surviving spouse can dispose of by will. Texas has no state estate or inheritance tax, though the federal estate tax may still apply to larger estates depending on the exemption in effect in the year of death. Texas Estates Code Chapter 401 governs independent administration, letting a named executor act with minimal ongoing court supervision once appointed. None of this is legal advice; a specific estate, elder law, or marital agreement matter should be evaluated by a licensed Texas attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

The Galligan Law Firm’s clearest differentiator is nearly three decades of continuous operation under a TBLS board-certified founder who also helped shape the state’s own power-of-attorney legislation and served on the licensing board’s advisory committee, paired with repeat-engagement client reviews spanning decades. The honest trade-off is a single unverified negative review alleging a missed deposition, which Awesome Attorneys could not independently confirm or attribute to a specific attorney or matter, and Galligan’s own transition to a client-education-focused Of Counsel role means prospective clients should confirm which attorney would actually handle their matter day to day. For a Houston-area family wanting a firm with a long, board-certified track record and a deliberately unclinical client experience, that combination is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from The Galligan Law Firm’s official website (galligan-law.com), Mary Galligan’s Avvo client review page, Lawyer Legion’s TBLS-sourced Harris County directory, TopAttorney.com’s third-party review aggregation, and State Bar of Texas records.

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 Galligan Law Firm 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.