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Stephen T. Bowling: The Firm Where the Managing Attorney Used to Be the Cop Making the Arrest

Before David Thomas ever cross-examined a police officer, he was one — a South Florida patrol cop, then a SWAT and hostage-negotiation-trained officer on the streets of Austin, before he went to law school and came back to defend the same kinds of cases he used to investigate. This Austin criminal defense attorney firm’s managing attorney built his entire practice around that inside knowledge of how police build a DWI case.

At a Glance: Austin Criminal Defense Attorney Firm Overview

Origin & Background

Stephen Bowling founded the firm and is a member of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the National College for DUI Defense — all organizations focused specifically on DWI and criminal trial practice rather than general legal membership groups. Managing attorney David Thomas brings an unusual professional path to the firm: he served in a specially trained U.S. Navy Antiterrorism/Force Protection unit, then worked as a police patrol officer in South Florida and later as a patrol and SWAT officer in Austin, where he was also trained as a certified hostage negotiator, before attending St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he served as a senior associate editor of the St. Mary’s Law Journal.

Practice Concentration

The firm’s stated focus is DWI defense specifically, alongside drug crimes, theft, assault, domestic violence, burglary, and weapons charges, with offices serving Travis and Bexar counties. The firm frames David Thomas’s prior law enforcement background — patrol work, SWAT, and hostage negotiation — as a direct advantage in cross-examining arresting officers, since he has personal, practical knowledge of police procedure and DWI investigation protocol from the other side of the interaction.

Notable Work

Founder Stephen Bowling’s published Super Lawyers case results include a DWI charge with a reported 0.295 blood alcohol result dismissed after cross-examination of the arresting officer undermined probable cause at the Administrative License Revocation hearing, and an assault/family-violence charge arising from an emotional in-car dispute. A third-party ranking source credits the firm’s team with roughly 2,237 DWI/DUI cases and 1,053 criminal cases handled, though this figure comes from an independent ranking publication rather than the firm’s own site and was not independently re-verified against court records. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.

Client Voice

The firm holds 13 reviews on Yelp and positive Trustpilot reviews naming David Thomas specifically; one Trustpilot reviewer wrote that the firm “stood head and shoulders above the other Austin firms I met with,” citing “clear expertise, fast responses, and a result that saved my record.” Another client wrote that Thomas was “incredibly supportive throughout my case” and appreciated that “he was able to explain things from a police officer perspective.” Independent Avvo endorsements from fellow attorneys describe Thomas as “sharp, dedicated” with a record of “great results,” and note his law-enforcement background gives him “an advantage over other attorneys in the community” in cross-examining officers. The firm’s Birdeye and BBB profiles show no reviews posted on those specific platforms, which is a genuine gap given the more substantial review presence on Yelp and Trustpilot — a reminder that review volume varies meaningfully by platform and no single site tells the whole story.

Beyond the Courtroom

David Thomas received a Pro Bono Certificate and an Editor Excellence Award from St. Mary’s University School of Law, along with a Staff Writer Excellence Award, reflecting sustained academic and public-service involvement during law school rather than only post-graduation credentials.

Recognition

David Thomas has been recognized on a “Top 100, Rising Star” list and named among “Best DWI & DUI Lawyers in Austin” and “Top 10% in Criminal Defense” by third-party legal ranking publications. No attorney at this firm is presented as a Texas Board of Legal Specialization “specialist” in this profile, because that state-administered certification was not confirmed in available public materials for either Bowling or Thomas — a distinction worth noting directly, since several other Austin criminal defense firms in this directory do hold that specific credential and this one, based on available sourcing, does not.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Texas DWI is governed by Texas Penal Code Chapter 49; a first offense is generally a Class B misdemeanor, escalating to a Class A misdemeanor with a prior conviction, an open container, or a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or above, and to a felony with a third conviction or a child under 15 in the vehicle. Under Texas Transportation Code § 724.011, a driver arrested for DWI is deemed to have given “implied consent” to a breath or blood test; refusing the test doesn’t avoid an arrest, but triggers a separate Administrative License Revocation (ALR) process with its own short deadline, independent of the criminal case timeline — the same ALR process referenced in the firm’s own published case result above. This is general background information, not legal advice, and does not account for the specific facts of any case.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

A managing attorney with genuine, sustained law-enforcement experience — not a brief ride-along or a marketing line, but years as a patrol and SWAT officer with hostage-negotiation training — is a real, verifiable differentiator for DWI defense specifically, where cross-examining the arresting officer’s procedure is often the whole case. The published Avvo case result involving a successful probable-cause challenge at an ALR hearing is a concrete, specific example of that background being put to use, not just an abstract claim.

The honest gap: this is a small firm without the individual TBLS board certification that several other Austin criminal defense firms in this directory carry, and the case-volume figure often cited for the firm (over 2,000 DWI cases) comes from a third-party ranking source rather than the firm’s own verified data. Review presence is also unevenly distributed across platforms — strong on Yelp and Trustpilot, absent on Birdeye and BBB — which is worth noting rather than assuming a complete picture from any single source. None of that undercuts the specific, documented strength of Thomas’s law enforcement background; it’s simply a reminder to verify current credentials and case volume directly in a consultation rather than relying on any one number.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (dwiman.com), Super Lawyers’ attorney profile and published case results for Stephen Bowling, Avvo’s attorney profile, reviews, and endorsements for David Thomas, Yelp and Trustpilot customer reviews, the BBB business profile (no reviews posted), Birdeye’s business profile (no reviews posted), and a third-party legal ranking publication (LawFirmSquare) for the case-volume figure, which is attributed to that source rather than independently verified.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independently researched legal directory. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Stephen T. Bowling, DWI & Criminal Defense Attorneys prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to firms profiled on this site, but sponsorship status has no bearing on editorial content, and inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement of any firm for any particular legal matter. Nothing in this profile constitutes legal advice or a lawyer referral; readers with a legal question should consult a licensed Texas attorney directly.