Growing up in Plano, Texas, Deandra Grant never pictured herself as managing partner of a major law firm. “I really wanted to be a vet but didn’t think I could handle seeing animals hurt,” says Grant. Fast forward 30-plus years and she found a way to channel her love for animals into a VP role at Living the Doxie Dream Rescue & Sanctuary in Royse City. At home she has five rescue dogs: Ariel, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Gamora. “I wear a lot of hats: running the law firm, raising money for the dog rescue, pulling dogs out of shelters, taking care of my family. My life is never boring.”
Grant graduated from Plano Senior High School in 1986, earned a business degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, and then returned to Dallas to attend law school at SMU. “My first class in law school was Criminal Law. I was hooked. Made the highest grade in the class. I knew what I wanted to do,” she recalls.
She began her legal career with an internship at the Dallas District Attorney’s Office, which led to a position as an Assistant District Attorney. Grant left the DA’s Office at the end of 1994. “I liked working as a prosecutor, but once I switched to criminal defense there was no going back for me. I knew I’d found my calling.”
In 1994, Grant opened the Law Offices of Deandra M. Grant, a criminal defense firm handling cases throughout the DFW Metroplex. In the mid-2000s, she began focusing on the defense of intoxication-related crimes, traveling the country to study breath and blood alcohol analysis and field sobriety tests. Her courtroom success quickly caught the attention of fellow attorneys. “I was asked to present on breath alcohol testing at a legal seminar in 2007, and that opened up a whole new world for me. Suddenly I was being asked to speak all over the country on DWI law, science, and trial skills.” Before long, she was presenting at an average of 13 legal seminars per year.
In 2011, Grant took on what she calls the biggest challenge of her career: helping rewrite The Texas DWI Manual, which had been out of print for several years. She and attorney Kimberly Griffin Tucker spent three years completely overhauling the book for James Publishing. The first edition was released in 2013, and it is updated annually and is now in its 13th edition. It remains the go-to guide for lawyers defending DWI cases in Texas. That book led to others and Grant now has 17 legal books available on her Amazon author page.
Never content to stop learning, Grant went back to school and in 2016 graduated from the University of Florida with a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Science with a concentration in forensic science and a Graduate Certificate in Forensic Toxicology. She also completed the American Chemical Society’s Forensic Lawyer-Scientist program at Axion Labs in Chicago. She subsequently joined the faculty at Axion as an assistant chromatography instructor, teaching five weeks each year. Today, her tagline is, “The Lawyer Lawyers Call” as she is retained by other attorneys to assist in cases where intoxication is at issue.
The accolades keep coming. Grant has been named to the Best Lawyers in America list, a recognition voted on by peers that reflects the trust and respect of the legal community. But perhaps no recent honor has been more personally meaningful than being selected to receive the Women in American History Award from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. “It is humbling to be recognized in that way,” says Grant. “When you think about the women who came before us and what they fought for, it puts everything in perspective.” She has also been a Texas Super Lawyer since 2011 and holds an AV Preeminent rating which is the highest possible distinction from Martindale-Hubbell.
In 2018, the Law Offices of Deandra M. Grant became Deandra Grant Law, and the growth that followed has been remarkable. By 2023, the firm had expanded from two offices and four staff members to a statewide operation with six offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Waco and Rockwall, and 14 staff members. “That first year was a bit crazy. It was a lot of work to grow a law firm that quickly, but we made it work. We have built an amazing team.”
The Deandra Grant Law team includes partner Douglas Huff, an Army veteran, former Dallas County Public Defender and ACS-Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, and Of Counsel James Lee Bright, who brings more than 25 years of federal trial experience across all four Texas federal districts and beyond. Attorneys Kevin Sheneberger and Jada Fairley round out the criminal division.
The firm defends cases ranging from traffic tickets to Capital Murder, with client communication and well-being at the center of everything. “Being charged with a crime is a scary experience. We work hard to keep our clients informed along the way and to refer them to treatment providers if we see signs that help is needed.”
Beyond the courtroom, Grant remains deeply committed to dog rescue and serves as Vice President of Living the Doxie Dream Rescue and Sanctuary. The firm’s website features a “Furry Friends of the Firm” section. “We are an office full of animal lovers,” she says with a smile.
Grant has been married to Eric Clendenin for more than 20 years and is a proud mom to Keegan and Rowan. With 17 books, six offices, national speaking engagements, awards from the DAR and five rescue dogs at home, life at the Grant household is, as she would say, never boring.
Deandra Grant Law
3300 Oak Lawn, Ste. 700
Dallas, TX 75219
(972) 943-8500
