About Justice Bob Pemberton
Justice Bob Pemberton has served on the Third Court of Appeals since 2003. After being appointed to fill the vacancy created by Lee Yeakel’s elevation to the federal bench, Pemberton won election to Yeakel’s unexpired term in 2004. He was subsequently re-elected to a full six-year term in 2006.
Justice Pemberton has been voted Best Qualified for his position in every State Bar of Texas Judicial Preference Poll since taking office. During each of the last two court terms, Pemberton has ranked in the top five appellate judges statewide in the numbers of both total opinions and opinions of the merits of cases he has authored; he was #1 statewide in opinions on the merits during the 2005-06 term.
Justice Pemberton serves on the Supreme Court of Texas Rules Advisory Committee, and is a frequent legal author and speaker. He has also served as a visiting judge on the Supreme Court of Texas.
Before taking the bench, Justice Pemberton practiced trial and appellate law for several years with Baker Botts and later Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; served as Deputy General Counsel to the Governor; was Rules Attorney to the Texas Supreme Court, where he played a pivotal role in the 1999 civil discovery rules reforms; clerked for Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips; taught advanced civil trial and appellate law at the University of Texas School of Law, and published numerous legal articles.
Justice Pemberton graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he made the Harvard Law Review; he graduated at the top of his undergraduate class at Baylor.
Justice Pemberton has served on the board of directors of Big-Brothers-Big Sisters of Central Texas and the Advisory Council to the ACC Center for Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations. He is also a past president of the Austin Young Lawyers Association. Pemberton’s efforts to serve at-risk youth and nonprofit organizations have been recognized at the local, state and national levels.
A native of Temple, Justice Pemberton’s family roots run six generations deep in the 24-county district he serves. He is also a second-generation judge: father Stan served on the Bell County district bench for many years, while mother Jo Ann, a former Temple Educator of the Year, taught Temple fifth-graders.
Justice Pemberton is married to Becky Yates Pemberton, Senior Corporate Counsel at Dell and an alumna of Leadership Texas. They are parents of Ella, born in 2004, and Harris, born in 2006.