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Austin Hagee Law Firm: A San Antonio Native Who Prosecuted Felonies Before Defending Them

A San Antonio criminal defense attorney with genuine prosecutorial roots is Austin M. Hagee, a San Antonio native who worked as a Bexar County Felony Assistant District Attorney before founding his own defense practice — and he states he has gone to trial every year of his career, first as a prosecutor and now as defense counsel, a claim this profile could not independently verify but which is consistent with his stated trial-focused positioning. This profile is part of Awesome Attorneys’ coverage of San Antonio criminal lawyer options.

At a Glance

Origin & Background

Hagee earned his undergraduate degree in finance from UT San Antonio’s Honors College in 2013 and his J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law with honors in 2016. He began his career as a Bexar County Felony Assistant District Attorney, prosecuting DWI, family violence, burglary, theft, and weapons cases, before moving to a civil defense litigation firm representing Fortune 500 clients in business and insurance defense matters — an unusual career path for a criminal defense founder that gave him civil litigation experience alongside his prosecutorial background. He founded his own practice afterward, positioning it around trial-readiness specifically.

San Antonio Criminal Defense Attorney Practice Concentration

As a San Antonio criminal defense attorney practice, the firm handles assault, DWI/DUI, drug charges, domestic violence, sex crimes, homicide, white collar crime, and military criminal defense matters. Hagee’s stated approach draws directly on his prosecutorial background: he describes evaluating each case for whether a factual or evidentiary weakness favors trial versus whether exculpatory evidence is better used to negotiate a pretrial dismissal.

Track Record

The firm states Hagee has secured “many dismissals and not guilty verdicts” without a specific aggregate count or percentage attached in the sources reviewed. Individual case outcomes are not independently itemized here; criminal case results depend heavily on the specific facts, evidence, and charges involved, and past outcomes do not predict or guarantee a result in any future case.

Client Voice

The firm’s Birdeye profile shows a 5.0 rating across 269 reviews. One reviewer described calling Hagee on a Sunday and receiving a same-day callback on his day off, with staff members Kyra and Ruby credited by name for helping secure a dismissal for the client’s 17-year-old son. No pattern of negative reviews or bar complaints was found in the sources reviewed for this profile.

Beyond the Courtroom

An Avvo endorsement from a self-identified board-certified immigration attorney describes referring multiple clients to Hagee directly, citing his payment flexibility and client service as differentiators after those clients had consulted with several other attorneys first — a peer referral pattern worth noting as a signal distinct from paid marketing.

Recognition

Board certification disclosure: this profile did not confirm Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Criminal Law for Austin Hagee in the sources reviewed, and does not apply “specialist” language as a result. His recognitions instead run through peer-nomination and readers’-choice programs: National Trial Lawyers Top 100 (2023–2024), San Antonio Magazine’s Top DWI Lawyer designation (2023), a #3 readers’-choice finish in San Antonio Current’s Best DUI Attorney/Firm poll (2025), and Expertise.com’s Best DWI/DUI Lawyers list (2025–2026) — all of which this directory treats as marketing-adjacent recognition rather than a state licensing credential.

Texas Legal Backdrop

A first-offense DWI in Texas is a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 180 days in jail and fines up to $2,000, with penalties escalating for repeat offenses, high blood-alcohol readings, or a child passenger in the vehicle — all charge variations the Bexar County DA’s office prosecutes through a dedicated DWI unit. A DWI arrest also triggers a separate Administrative License Revocation proceeding with Texas DPS, and a driver has only 15 days from arrest to request an ALR hearing or the license suspension becomes automatic, independent of how the criminal case resolves. Family violence charges in Bexar County are prosecuted under a no-drop policy, meaning cases proceed even if the complaining witness later declines to cooperate, using officer testimony and other evidence to carry the case forward.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Austin Hagee Law Firm’s clearest differentiator is Hagee’s specific prosecutorial background — Bexar County Felony Assistant DA experience directly informing his current defense strategy — combined with an unusual added layer of Fortune 500 civil litigation experience that most solo criminal defense founders don’t carry, and a strong, high-volume client review record.

The honest trade-off is that board certification was not confirmed in the sources reviewed, so clients weighing this firm against a TBLS-certified competitor should factor that in alongside Hagee’s practical prosecutorial and trial experience, which are real credentials but distinct from a formal specialty certification.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from Austin Hagee Law Firm’s own website (austinhageelaw.com), Austin Hagee’s Super Lawyers and Avvo attorney profiles, the firm’s HG.org directory listing, its Better Business Bureau file, and its Birdeye review aggregation page. Board certification status was checked against available public attorney biography and directory pages; none was confirmed. Statutory references were checked against Texas DWI penalty classifications, Administrative License Revocation hearing deadlines, and Bexar County family violence prosecution policy as generally published. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; the client statement and peer endorsement referenced above are drawn from the firm’s public Birdeye and Avvo review pages.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Austin Hagee Law Firm 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 Austin Hagee Law Firm or Awesome Attorneys.