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Christine Borrett at Chamberlain Hrdlicka: The Houston Estate Attorney Who Co-Edited the State’s Own Probate Treatise

Christine Borrett spent five years, from 2014 to 2019, as a Contributing Editor for Texas Probate Systems, 4th Edition — the State Bar of Texas’s own reference treatise on probate practice. Helping write the reference work other Texas probate attorneys consult is a different order of credential than simply practicing under it.

Origin and Background

Christine Borrett is Senior Counsel at Chamberlain Hrdlicka, located at 1200 Smith Street, Suite 1400, Houston, TX 77002, confirmed through the firm’s own site. She holds a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and has been licensed in Texas since 2001. She holds board certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, independently confirmed through the firm’s own biography page and Lawyer Legion’s TBLS-sourced Harris County directory.

Practice Concentration

Borrett concentrates her practice in income, gift, and estate tax planning, working with clients on wills and trusts, marital property agreements, retirement planning, asset preservation, business transition planning, entity formation, real estate transactions involving estates and family limited partnerships, and charitable planning through private foundations and split-interest trusts. She also handles probate and estate administration, including preparing estate and gift tax returns, and provides counsel in contested estate and trust administration matters. She has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center teaching Post Mortem Estate Planning since 2020. See this Houston Estate Planning & Probate directory for how this tax-focused BigLaw practice compares to boutique firms also serving Harris County.

Notable Work / Track Record

As is typical for a trust and estate tax planning 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 instruments and structured plans rather than litigated outcomes. What is independently verifiable is Borrett’s TBLS board certification, her five-year run as Contributing Editor of the State Bar of Texas’s Texas Probate Systems treatise, and her co-authored September 2022 Bloomberg Tax article on continuing a family business’s legacy through advanced planning.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify published, attributed individual-client reviews for Borrett on Avvo, Martindale, or Google as of this writing — not unusual for a senior tax-focused BigLaw practitioner whose client base is built on business and high-net-worth referral relationships rather than general consumer intake. This gap is disclosed rather than papered over.

Beyond the Courtroom

Borrett’s clearest form of public-facing service is professional scholarship and education: her multi-year role editing the State Bar of Texas’s own probate reference treatise, her ongoing adjunct professorship at the University of Houston Law Center, and a documented, multi-decade record of continuing legal education presentations for the Texas Society of CPAs and other professional forums dating back to 2002.

Recognition for This Houston Estate Planning Attorney

Borrett’s Board Certification in Estate Planning and Probate Law from TBLS is independently confirmed through her firm’s biography and Lawyer Legion’s specialization directory. Awesome Attorneys distinguishes this state-administered, examination-based credential, along with her State Bar treatise editorship, from self-submitted marketing-directory badges.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Family limited partnerships and split-interest charitable trusts — both areas of Borrett’s documented practice — are advanced planning tools that can reduce the taxable value of transferred wealth through valuation discounts or partial charitable deductions, but both carry technical IRS scrutiny risks that require careful, well-documented structuring to withstand challenge. 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, business succession, or charitable planning matter should be evaluated by a licensed Texas attorney based on the actual facts involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Christine Borrett’s clearest differentiator is scholarly authority most practitioners in this category don’t have — years spent editing the State Bar of Texas’s own probate treatise and an ongoing law school professorship — layered on top of TBLS board certification and genuine technical depth in family limited partnerships and charitable trust structuring. The honest trade-off is that Awesome Attorneys could not identify individual client reviews to weigh, consistent with a senior tax-focused BigLaw practice built on referral relationships, and a client seeking the lowest-cost simple will may find a boutique solo practice more appropriate. For a Houston-area business owner or high-net-worth family with sophisticated tax, charitable, or business-succession planning needs, an attorney who helped write the state’s own reference material on the subject is a reasonable basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s official website (chamberlainlaw.com), Christine Borrett’s published Bloomberg Tax article, State Bar of Texas records, and Lawyer Legion’s TBLS-sourced Harris County 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 Chamberlain Hrdlicka 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.