Our Team

Troy McKinney graduated magna cum laude from South Texas College of Law and having been a briefing attorney at the First Court of Appeals. He is a Board Certified Specialist in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization as well as in DWI Defense Law by the National College for DUI Defense (the only lawyer in Texas to have all three of these Board Certifications). He is the Dean of the National College for DUI Defense, a past President of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association and past Board member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Project

Troy McKinney, a shareholder in Schneider & McKinney, P.C., has been licensed for over 25 years. He graduated summa cum laude from South Texas College of Law and was a briefing attorney at the First Court of Appeals. He is a Board Certified Specialist in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization as well as in DWI Defense Law by the National College for DUI Defense (the only lawyer in Texas to have all three of these Board Certifications). He is a member of the Board of Regents of the National College for DUI Defense and is a past President of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association and past Board member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Project. He is a Fellow of the College of the State Bar of Texas and of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Educational Institute. McKinney is co-author of Texas Drunk Driving Law (Lexis 4th Ed) and has authored a variety of articles that have been published in the Champion, Defender, and Voice for the Defense. He is a frequent speaker throughout the country (25 states) and internationally (5 foreign countries) on DWI and other criminal law issues. He has spoken and taught at over 140 CLE courses. The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association has twice named him the Outstanding Member of the Year. He has repeatedly been named a “Texas Super Lawyer, a Thomson Reuters Service” in Criminal Law (2004-2011) and in DWI Defense (2005-2011), a “Top Lawyer for the People” by H Texas Magazine (2005-2011) and one of “America’s Best Lawyers” (2007-2011) by America’s Best Lawyers.

W. Troy McKinney received his Bachelor of Science degree from Houston Baptist University in 1981 with a double major in Political Science and Speech. He attended law school at South Texas College of Law, graduating number one in his class — summa cum laude — in 1986. While in law school, Mr. McKinney was a member of the Justice Court, the Order of the Barristers, and the Order of the Lytae. He was awarded several American Jurisprudence Awards and also won awards in various moot court competitions. From 1986 through 1987, Mr. McKinney was a briefing attorney for the Honorable Murry Cohen at the First Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas. Mr. McKinney was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1986, and has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas.

Mr. McKinney is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and in DWI Defense Law by the National College for DUI Defense: this specialization program has been approved by the American Bar Association and accredited by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is Assistant Dean, a member of the Board of Regents, and a sustaining member of the National College for DUI Defense, a member of the American Bar Association, the Houston Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas (Criminal and Appellate Law Sections), the College of the State Bar of Texas (Fellow), the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (Vice President 2000-2001, President Elect 2001-2002, President 2002-2003), the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (Board of Directors 2004 – 2007, Executive Committee 2004-2007, DWI Committee Co-Chair 2006-2007), the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and has been on the Board of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Project (2002-2005, 2007). McKinney is a member of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization Criminal Law Exam Committee.

Mr. McKinney is co-author of Texas Drunk Driving Law (Lexis, 4th Ed.), and a frequent speaker throughout the country (25 states) and internationally (5 foreign countries) on DWI and other criminal law issues. He has spoken and taught at over 140 C.L.E. courses. He has authored articles related to criminal defense and DWI defense that have been published in The Champion, The Voice for the Defense, and The Defender. He is frequently consulted and quoted in a variety of media publications, which have included Time Magazine, Texas Lawyer, the National Law Journal, and the Houston Chronicle. He has appeared on Donahue, Larry King, A&E, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, TNN, Current Affairs, as well all major networks and a variety of local news programs. Two movies have been made (ABC and HBO) about cases defended by Mr. McKinney. In June 2001 and again in May 2007, the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association named Mr. McKinney the Outstanding Member of the Year. Mr. McKinney has been named a “Texas Super Lawyer, a Thomson Reuters Service” in Criminal Law (2004-2011) and in DWI Defense (2005-2011), a “Top Lawyer for the People” by H Texas Magazine (2005-2011) and one of “America’s Best Lawyers” (2007-2011) by America’s Best Lawyers. Mr. McKinney is trained as a practitioner and instructor in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Standardized Field Sobriety Tests — the roadside exercises that officers ask citizens to perform — and is a DOT trained Intoxilyzer 5000 operator and maintenance technician. Mr McKinney owns an Intoxilyzer 5000 EN, the breath test machine used throughout Texas. He is an associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a member of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists International, and a member of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.