Page 14 - Dallas Vol 5 No 3
P. 14

Mastering the skills of bareback bronc riding may at  rst seem to have little to do with riding a wave of success as a criminal defense attorney, but for George R. Milner, III landing on
his feet led to landing a career in law.  e pathway proved to be a twisting one and, considering the life-changing rodeo experience, a sometimes bumpy path.
When Milner was in high school, he participated in bareback bronc riding for three years. He did well enough that he rode all the way to the Texas State Rodeo  nals in 1983. He also rode bulls for one year. A er a bull nearly killed him during a rodeo, he had a revelation. “I thought, there’s no reason to do this. You’re going to get seriously hurt at some point. I began to think the same thing about bronc riding.”  e incident led to de nite and immediate action.
In the last go-round of the bareback bronc rid- ing competition in the state  nals, Milner landed on his feet a er about six seconds of riding. (Eight seconds is required to qualify). Instead of walking away a er the failure, he waved his cowboy hat at the grandstand as if he’d just broken a bronc riding record. He says the crowd was confused, but they cheered. “ ey seemed to be thinking, ‘Does that guy know he bucked o ?  at he just lost? He’s act- ing like he’s won the whole show. Maybe he didn’t hear that buzzer that went o  about two seconds a er he bucked o .’” Milner says the reason for the bravado was his deciding that he had just ridden his last bareback bronc. “More important, I did not get hurt. I knew I’d never do that again. I was just happy and that’s why I was waving my hat.”
In the long run the loss proved to be a win. Milner pursued other avenues, and eventually co-founded Milner & Finn, a criminal defense  rm that has ob- tained hundreds of jury trial acquittals, more than 100 felony no-bills, and countless dismissals. Milner himself has tried more than 250 criminal cases. Cre- ating his own  rm was, however, not in his original career plans.
THE MARKET FALLS; AN ATTORNEY
RISES
Milner is the son of George Milner, Jr., a legend- ary Texas attorney. He grew up watching his father experience  rst-hand the struggles and challenges an attorney faces to be successful. “I never wanted to be a lawyer as a result of what I saw my dad go through. I didn’t know anything about the work other than I knew what he did for a living. I didn’t participate in it in any way and it truly did not seem appealing to me.”
His career sights were set on becoming either a commercial real estate professional or a stock bro- ker. But when Milner graduated SMU, the nation’s economic situation created the need and the option for a career in another direction – the law.
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