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Crews Law Firm, P.C.: Seventeen Straight Years on the Super Lawyers List

Joe K. Crews has been named a Texas Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters every year from 2009 through 2025 — seventeen consecutive years, an unusually long run for any attorney in this category. His firm’s practice splits between personal injury and employment law, a combination less common among the pure-play employment boutiques elsewhere in this batch.

At a Glance: Austin Employment Lawyer Firm Overview

I. A 1989 Firm That Splits Between Injury and Employment Work

Joe Crews founded the firm in 1989 after graduating from the University of Texas School of Law in 1976 and working as an associate at other Austin firms. Awesome Attorneys notes that the firm previously listed a second name attorney, Robert Schmidt, in materials dated through roughly 2020–2023; the firm’s current website (as of this profile’s research) lists only Joe Crews as its attorney, and a separately operating Robert W. Schmidt Law Firm now appears as its own distinct Austin practice. Readers researching “Schmidt” in connection with this firm should be aware the two are, at present, separate practices.

II. A Personal Injury Board Certification, Not an Employment One

Texas Bar rules prohibit any attorney from advertising as a “specialist” unless board certified in that specialty by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS) or an accredited certifying organization. Joe Crews has held TBLS board certification in Personal Injury Trial Law since December 1988 — a real, long-held credential, but specifically in personal injury litigation, not labor and employment law. Awesome Attorneys is stating this distinction directly because the firm’s marketing sometimes presents the two practice areas together without specifying which credential applies to which.

III. Practice Concentration: What This Austin Employment Attorney Firm Handles

On the employment side, the firm handles wrongful termination, sexual harassment, severance pay negotiation, discrimination, overtime and wage disputes, FMLA claims, employment contracts, and disability discrimination under the ADA. The firm’s own materials state it “occasionally” represents small businesses in counseling and business litigation matters, distinct from its primary individual-client employment and injury practice — a limited but real mixed-representation note worth disclosing directly.

IV. Track Record

Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Employment settlements are frequently confidential, which limits what any firm can publish about individual case values.

Awesome Attorneys did not identify itemized public case results specific to the firm’s employment practice (settlement figures, verdicts, or case citations). The firm’s public-facing materials emphasize its attorneys’ long tenure and peer ratings rather than published individual case outcomes for employment matters specifically.

V. Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify any posted client reviews for Joe Crews on Avvo at the time of writing — his Avvo profile is explicitly marked “Not yet reviewed.” A search of Yelp similarly did not surface visible review content for the firm. This is a genuine gap in the public record for a firm with a long operating history, and is disclosed here directly rather than substituted with firm marketing language.

VI. Beyond the Courtroom

Crews is a former Board Member/Officer of the Texas Appleseed Foundation, a nonprofit public-interest law organization, and received the Scott Ozmun Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association in 2017. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an invitation-based association for attorneys who have won significant verdicts or settlements, and belongs to the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice.

VII. Recognition

Peer-reviewed and independently conferred credentials: TBLS board certification in Personal Injury Trial Law (since 1988); seventeen consecutive years of Texas Super Lawyer selection (Thomson Reuters, 2009–2025) via a peer-review process; AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest peer-rating tier that service offers; the 2017 Scott Ozmun Trial Lawyer of the Year Award.

No employment-law-specific board certification or marketing-program awards were identified beyond those listed above.

VIII. The Texas Legal Backdrop

Texas is an at-will employment state, with discrimination and retaliation claims running through Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA federally and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Texas Labor Code Chapter 21) at the state level, requiring a Texas Workforce Commission charge within 180 days. FMLA claims for eligible employees at covered employers generally carry a two-year limitations period. Wage claims run through the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Texas Payday Act, Texas Labor Code Chapter 61. Separately, for the firm’s personal injury practice, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 sets a two-year statute of limitations for most personal injury claims.

IX. Awesome Attorneys Assessment: Weighing This Austin Employment Lawyer

This firm’s clearest strength is Joe Crews’s genuinely long, peer-recognized track record: seventeen straight years of Super Lawyers selection and an AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell rating reflect sustained professional standing rather than a single good year. His board certification, however, is in personal injury trial law rather than employment law specifically, a distinction prospective employment clients should weigh directly.

The fair caveat: Awesome Attorneys could not locate published client reviews or itemized employment case results to independently verify day-to-day client experience or specific outcomes, which is a real gap for a firm with more than three decades of operating history. The apparent departure of former co-attorney Robert Schmidt also means the firm’s current single-attorney structure is smaller than some older directory listings suggest.

X. Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (crewsfirm.com), including its Firm Overview and Joe K. Crews attorney biography pages; Martindale-Hubbell’s peer-rating and directory listing; BCG Search’s law firm profile; Avvo’s attorney profile (noting the absence of reviews); and Yelp’s business listing. Case narratives and credentials are the firm’s own published claims unless independently sourced and attributed as such. Statutory citations were checked against the Texas Labor Code and Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

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