Overview

In his thirty-ninth year of insurance defense litigation, Senior Counsel Dr. R. Scott Fraley, J.D., Ph.D. (Scott) has seen and done just about everything a trial lawyer can do. An experienced and successful trial attorney, the key to Scott’s success is his consistent attention to the client’s needs and intensive preparation. Scott is focused on the critical details at every stage of litigation, from pleadings to negotiations to trial, mediation, arbitration, and appeal. Always keeping the client’s interests paramount, Scott is a master of early case resolution through motion practice, frank discussion with opposing counsel, and only if necessary, going to the jury.

Born in a small town in West Texas, Scott has a down-to-earth way of talking to decision-makers that is both disarming and persuasive. A master of the law when it counts, Scott is as comfortable presenting arguments in an appellate court as he is in front of a rural jury. Over the expanse of his long career, Scott has represented architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and others in construction litigation. He has almost three decades of experience representing healthcare entities and providers, from nursing homes to hospitals to physician groups. Scott’s practice has also encompassed insurance law, bad faith litigation, contract law, transportation claims, premises liability, personal injury, and many other areas.

A 1982 graduate of The University of Texas at Austin Plan II Liberal Arts Honors Program, Scott attended U.T. Law School, graduating with honors in 1985. At U.T. Law, Scott was a member of The Texas Law Review. After working for a prominent litigation firm in Austin for six years, Scott was asked to help open that firm’s Dallas office, where he worked until 1995, when he formed Fraley & Fraley, LLP. Following twenty years of extraordinary success as a medical malpractice attorney, Scott joined the faculty of Baylor Law School as Director of Legal Writing in 2015.

During a subsequent stint practicing in Austin, Scott not only handled multi-million-dollar construction claims but also represented clients on appeal in various Texas courts of appeal and the Texas Supreme Court. A fine brief writer, Dr. Fraley’s success continued in the appellate arena. In 2010, Scott’s lifelong desire to learn led him to enroll in the History of Ideas program at the University of Texas at Dallas. He earned his M.A. in 2013, then entered the Ph.D. program there. Following his dissertation (on decision-making methodology in the U.S. Supreme Court) and defense in August 2021, Scott earned his Ph.D. in Literature that month.

Returning to Dallas in 2022, Scott again was responsible for construction litigation, personal injury claims, truck-auto collision case, wrongful death suits, and premises liability claims. Scott resides in Carrollton. When time permits, he plays golf (poorly) and loves hockey, football, and professional golf. Scott is licensed to practice in the Northern and Western Districts of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.