A passionate lawyer dedicated to suicide prevention
With a legal background ranging from duties as a U.S. Air Force Courts Martial Judge to services as Texas' top drug traffic prosecutor, Skip Simpson is a lawyer who has covered a wide range of intriguing matters, both civil and criminal. At the Law Offices of Skip Simpson, he now focuses primarily on psychiatric and psychological malpractice, although he rules no case out.
Nationally recognized for his expertise in suicide, he has also successfully defended clients in commercial litigation and toxic torts lawsuits. A natural curiosity and an obsession with gathering background research have given him opportunities to handle cases in groundbreaking fields of the law.
Profiled in The Wall Street Journal in 1997 for his pioneering work in suicide litigation, Simpson has been most active in cases where psychiatry and mental health questions have arisen. But his personal background reveals a varied career with stints as a military prosecutor, defense lawyer and general courts martial judge; a state and federal criminal prosecutor; an in-house trial lawyer for Southwestern Bell, and, a privately practicing civil litigator.
A commitment to public service
Officially named Texas's top narcotics prosecutor in 1985, he launched his legal career from a position in the U.S. Air Force, which put him through law school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. After earning his law degree in 1974 - five years after joining the Air Force - Simpson became a military prosecutor and handled numerous criminal cases of recruit abuse by training instructors at Lackland Air Force Base. Later, he served as a military defense counsel and handled numerous insanity cases, which stimulated his curiosity in the mental health legal arena.
Although Simpson left active duty in 1981 to join the Dallas County District Attorney's office, the U.S. Justice and Defense departments teamed up one year later to recall Major Simpson for service as a special prosecutor investigating public integrity issues in the military. Highlights of that tenure included the conviction of the highest ranking civilian in the military in Texas.
Moving to the U.S. Attorney's office in Dallas, he won recognition in 1985 from the Texas Narcotics Officers Association and Texas businessman H. Ross Perot as the state's most effective narcotics prosecutor that year. He left the U.S. Attorney's office to accept a position as a trial lawyer for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1985. He launched his own law firm in 1987.
A leading expert in legal issues related to psychological problems
With an interest in psychology, he's become one of the nation's leading experts on the legal aspects of psychological problems, handling numerous cases that deal with everything from use of false memories and multiple personalities to satanic cult worship and suicide. Simpson settled the first case ever brought by a sexual abuse "retractor" against her therapist based on repressed memory issues.
He also won a $3 million jury verdict against a neurologist accused of causing a suicide through the prescription of depression-invoking medications and negligent follow-up to the patient's complaints. In 1996, he scored a $40 million verdict in an intellectual property and breach of contract dispute largely by preventing a key psychologist from testifying against a corporate client. Again in 1997, he scored a $5.9 million verdict in another mental health case. Skip Simpson's legal career abounds with such successful verdicts for his clients.
Simpson does not take credit for the large verdicts. The facts of the cases cause the large verdicts. Juries fully understand they are the collective conscience of the community ... not simply twelve individual opinions. Juries understand their verdicts help to keep their communities safe by requiring psychiatric hospitals and clinicians to practice safely.
Passing his knowledge down to students
In recognition as a leader in the mental health field, Mr. Simpson received an academic appointment in 2003 as a Research Associate of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.
On January 1, 2004, he was appointed as a Clinical Instructor at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. As Clinical Instructor, Mr. Simpson taught medical residents subjects focusing on psychiatry and the law. In 2006 Mr. Simpson was promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor. In 2005 Mr. Simpson was named to the board of directors for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Collin County where he served for several years.
Educational background
Mr. Simpson received his Bachelor of Arts in psychology, with minors in government and sociology, from Texas A&M University, Kingsville, Texas, in 1969.
He received his Juris Doctor from St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas, in 1975.
Legal licenses
- United States Court of Appeal - Fifth Circuit (1982 - present)
- United States Court of Military Appeals (1975 - present)
- United States District Court - Northern District of Texas (1982 - present)
- Eastern District of Texas (1992 - present)
- Southern District of Texas; (1995 - present)
- The Supreme Court of the State of Texas (1975 - present)
Principal responsibilities and professional activities
- 1987-present: Private Practice
- 1986-1987: Assistant General Counsel; Trial Counsel, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Dallas, Texas
- 1983-1989: General Counsel's office advisor, Army and Air Force Exchange Service
- 1983-1985: Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Texas
- 1981-1982: Dallas County Assistant District Attorney
- 1969-1981: United States Air Force Regular Officer
- Missile Combat Crew Officer
- General's Aide-de-Camp
- Judge Advocate
- Air Force Circuit Trial Counsel
- Air Force Circuit General Courts-Martial Judge
Academic appointments
- 2019: Faculty – National Suicidology Training Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 2006-2016: Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas.
- 2004-2005: Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas.
Honors and awards
- National Top Trial Lawyers, Top 100, Civil Litigation, 2022 - Present
- AVVO Rating: 10.0 Superb Lawyer
- Multi-Million Dollar Advocate Forum: 2011-2020
- AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell (Highest Possible Rating in Both Legal Ability & Ethical Standards): 2011-2017
- Biltmore Who's Who among Executives and Professionals, 2011 Edition
- Life member of National Registry of Who's Who published in 2000 Edition
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum: 1997
- Who's Who in American Law: 1988
- Who's Who in Texas: 1985 - from the Who's Who Historical Society
- Dallas Police Department: Certificate of Merit - 1985
- Drug Enforcement Administration Certificate of Appreciation: 1985
- Top Narcotics Prosecutor for Texas - 1985; Presented by Ross Perot and The Texas War Drugs Committee
- Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge Award for authoring Freedom Has a Price, 1973
Professional memberships/associations
- American Association for Justice, Member
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Member
- The Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism
- Dallas Bar Association, 1994-2019
- San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association
- San Antonio Bar Association, 2020-present
- The QPR Institute, Inc., board member
- The QPR Institute, Inc., faculty member, 2019-present
- American Association of Suicidology, member
- American Association of Suicidology, Board Member, 2015-July 30, 2021
- Special Projects:
- Various consulting duties for Suicide Prevention Resource Center and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
- Consensus Guide for Emergency Departments
- Recommended Standard Care for Propel with Suicide risk: Making Health Care Suicide Safe
- COVID Guidance: Screening for Suicide Risk During Telehealth Visits.
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
- International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL)
- National Suicidology Training Center (NSTC) – Faculty, 2019-present
Publications
- Simpson, S: The Plaintiff’s Perspective: Avoiding the Malpractice Snare. “Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry,” (Ash, Frierson, Friedman) Springer Publications, 2022, Chapter 7.
- Reid, WH, Simpson SL, The Right Way to Avoid Malpractice Lawsuits, “Psychiatric Times,” September 2020
- Simpson SL, Reid WH. Clinician testimony in suicide litigation: A cause to be uneasy. “Behavioral Sciences and the Law,” June 2019
- Stanley, I. H., Simpson, S., Wortzel, H. S., & Joiner, T. E. Documenting suicide risk assessments and proportionate clinical actions to improve patient safety and mitigate legal risk. “Behavioral Sciences & the Law.”
- Joiner, TE, Simpson S, et al. Whether Called Acute Suicidal Affective Disturbance or Suicide Crisis Syndrome, a Suicide-specific Diagnosis Would Enhance Clinical Care, Increase Patient Safety, and Mitigate Clinician Liability. 2018 “Journal of Psychiatric Practice”; 24:274-278
- Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2015). “Caring for adult patients with suicide risk: A consensus guide for emergency departments.” Waltham, MA: Education Development Center, Inc. Acknowledged as contributing his time and expertise to the development of this resource.
- Chapter 13: “A Lawyer’s Perspective on Forensic Mental Health Experts” in Reid WH, Developing a Forensic Practice: Operations and Ethics for Experts. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). 2013
- How Lawyers View Psychiatric Experts, “Journal of Psychiatric Practice,” 2012; 18:444-447, Reid, WH and Simpson, SL
- TLAP News, Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program, Preventing Suicide: A Challenge to the Legal Profession, Fall 2009
- Preventing Suicide: A Challenge to the Legal Profession, "GPSolo," a publication of the American Bar Association, Simpson S, Quinnett P, Vol 25, number 7, October/November, p. 60, 2008
- Attorneys' Requests For Complete Tax Records From Opposing Expert Witnesses: Some Approaches to the Problem, Gutheil TG, Simon RI, Simpson S, "American Academy of Psychiatry and Law," Vol. 34, p. 518, 2006
- Mental Treatment Issues and Suicide ATLA Professional Negligence Section, Vol. 11, No. 3, Spring 2004
- Avoiding the Malpractice Snare: Documenting Suicide Risk Assessment, "Journal of Psychiatric Practice," Vol. 10 No. 3, May 2004
- Shrink Rap: An Introduction to Mental Health Malpractice (co-authored with Jerry Meek) "South Carolina Lawyer," 2001
- Preventing Suicide through Improved Training in Suicide Risk Assessment and Care: An American Association of Suicidology Task Force Report Addressing Serious Gaps in U.S. Mental Health Training." American Association of Suicidology Task Force Member. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 42, Issue 3, pp. 292-304
- Causes of Action Against Health Care Providers by Retractors of Abuse Allegations "Shepard's Expert and Scientific Evidence Quarterly" (Fall 1994) (co-authored with Julie Kay Baker)
