John Darrouzet, J.D.

Current

• Q/A Participant at Question and Answers on LinkedIn (Self-employed)
• Writer at Darrouzet & Leahy
• Special Counsel for Decision-Makers (Self-employed)

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Past

• Attorney & Counselor at Law (Self-employed)
• Vice President & General Counsel at Texas Nameplate Company, Inc.
• Software Engineer at Sprint

• Software Engineer at Sprint Communications - Irving TX
• Writer at Katz & Darrouzet
• General Counsel at St. Paul Medical Center
• Attorney at The University of Texas System
• Assistant General Counsel; Hearing Officer at Texas Health Facilities Commission
• Attorney at Texas Attorney General's Office
• Attorney & Counselor at Law at John L. Darrouzet, Attorney & Counselor at Law (Sole Proprietorship)
• Legal Editor at U.S. House of Representatives
• Executive Director at Law Research Corporation of Texas

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9 more...

Education

• The University of Texas School of Law
• University of Notre Dame
• Jesuit College Preparatory (Dallas)

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Recommended

45 people have recommended John

Connections

200 connections

Industry

Management Consulting

John Darrouzet, J.D.’s Summary

There seems to be a golden thread weaving throughout the diverse experiences in my jobs and careers. It is my love of writing and speaking about what makes people happy and successful. I believe every person has such stories that want to be told --- for the benefit of all of us --- regardless of genre.

As a writer, I have co-authored seven screenplays, including "Hostage" and "The Contract" (directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Morgan Freeman and John Cusack, and released on DVD in 2007). I was the primary author of Texas Nameplate Company's winning 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Application and a related prior book entitled "Take It to the Next Level, A Story of the Quest for Quality and the Malcolm Baldrige Award." In each the stories told led to great success.

Now as I provide special counsel for decision-makers, working with select clients on their approaches, deployment, and results for: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; and process management, I draw out stories of decision-making. The most telling stories are about decisions people make and how they do it.

My practice of law, representing clients in business, education, healthcare, and non-profits, in both public and private sectors, helped me perfect my story-telling approach. For with it and for over 35 years, I have served my clients with value, a better sense of mission, a driving purpose, and a creative vision.

So, do you have a story of leadership that you want to tell? I encourage you to link with those of us in this network who may help you tell it, including me.

John Darrouzet, J.D.’s Specialties:

Special Counsel for leaders who make decisions in business, healthcare, higher education, and non-profit organizations and for films in the entertainment industry.

John Darrouzet, J.D.’s Experience

• Q/A Participant

  Question and Answers on LinkedIn (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Think Tanks industry)

  April 2007 — Present (1 year 7 months)

  See my contributions at:
  
  http://www.linkedin.com/answers?myQuestions=&goback=%2Eahp

• Writer

  Darrouzet & Leahy

  (Partnership; 1-10 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)

  September 2005 — Present (3 years 2 months)

  Rob and I have been working on a serious drama. Based on historical characters, this screenplay will tell the story of a decision made by one of the foremost writers of all time. More later.

• Special Counsel for Decision-Makers

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Management Consulting industry)

  September 1967 — Present (41 years 2 months)

  I have been studying decision-making for 40+ years. One of the reasons I did so is that my clients didn’t seem to have a clue as to what decision making was about. Too often I was effectively being asked to make the decision for them. Nowhere in the curricula of my era of education was decision-making taught. Google on it now and you will find many books on the subject, but none that I have found to present an approach that is complete. So I went back to basics and found a method in the madness. It is more powerful than any others I have studied. Do you want to learn more about it? Just drop me an email.

• Attorney & Counselor at Law

  Self-employed

  (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Law Practice industry)

  August 1971 — October 2007 (36 years 3 months)

  I was a general practitioner of the law, licensed in Texas since 1971. Throughout my legal career, two types of clients attracted me most: (1) those looking for special counsel to improve their business, education, health care or non-profit organizations and (2) those persons who wanted to present their stories of leadership and decision-making in a legal context. Mine was a highly selective practice. What I aimed for was justice for my clients and not just what the law provided.

• Vice President & General Counsel

  Texas Nameplate Company, Inc.

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Printing industry)

  2001 — March 2007 (6 years)

  When I was Vice President & General Counsel at Texas Nameplate Company, we told the company's story first to ourselves before we told it to others. This way I co-led business strategy and change management with the company's president, Dale Crownover, for over six years. In my role as software engineer, I provided Web pages, called "The New Hotrod" for the purpose of transparent leadership on an Intranet basis. The Web pages included automatically charting, real-time dashboards for key measures and production flow; paperless agenda for and minutes of meetings; instant access to financial accounts reconciled with the bank; and personal Web pages for all co-workers to share what inspired them at the workplace while informing them of key links on the Web site.

• Software Engineer

  Sprint

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

  1998 — 2001 (3 years)

  Working at Sprint helped me learn how software engineers write programs for mainframes and for Web sites. Moreover, I became steeped in the Baldrige Criteria through an internal quality improvement program. Got to write my first application and became a member of Toastmasters to become a better speaker, more of an educator and less of a lawyer when I step up to the podium.

• Software Engineer

  Sprint Communications - Irving TX

  (Management Consulting industry)

  1997 — 2001 (4 years)

• Writer

  Katz & Darrouzet

  (Partnership; 1-10 employees; Motion Pictures and Film industry)

  1995 — 1998 (3 years)

  Steve Katz and I wrote four original screenplays together over a period of about three years. Given the odds against us in Hollywood, we were pleasantly surprised and deeply thankful to sell two of them. Changed our lives, that's for sure. Got to stay home and write for three years before the well ran dry. Steve passed away at the young age of 59. He was a committed professional writer, a fine educator, and a loving husband and father. I still hear his voice when I've written myself into a corner. He recognized the real writer in me before I did.

• General Counsel

  St. Paul Medical Center

  (Non-Profit; 1001-5000 employees; Hospital & Health Care industry)

  1989 — 1994 (5 years)

  Front-line health care law. The experience capped off 15 years in this area of legal expertise. St. Paul had it all. When I was first in college, I wanted to be a doctor but couldn't get the hang of chemistry. So,this experience, more than any other, made me appreciate the human aspect, if not the scientific background, of people who face life and death issues every day, not to mention all of the illnesses in between. Take it from one who's been in the health care trenches: when push comes to shove, health care professionals can be incredible leaders.

• Attorney

  The University of Texas System

  (Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Higher Education industry)

  1982 — 1989 (7 years)

  One of the happiest times in my legal career. Working with academic and health care leaders at the higher education and secondary education levels for seven years. Riding the circuit to reach 14 component universities and the court houses they got drawn into. Serving one of the biggest, the best, and the most powerful institutions in Texas, and probably the world. I wrote legal opinions, contracts, legislation, and even a book (the UIL Constitution and Contest Rules). Learned a lot of law from all the members of the UT System "law firm" called the Office of General Counsel. And, undoubtedly the most important thing of all, I met my wife through our work together at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. She not only bought me my first book on writing screenplays, but gave me Steve Katz' course in screenwriting for my birthday following the end of my work with St. Paul Medical Center.

• Assistant General Counsel; Hearing Officer

  Texas Health Facilities Commission

  (Government Agency; 11-50 employees; Government Administration industry)

  1979 — 1982 (3 years)

  Being an assistant general counsel and an administrative law hearing examiner fulfilled some of my deepest dreams for my legal career. The lawyers who practiced before me certainly gave me a thorough education. And I will be forever in their debt for the finer points they made. I learned many lessons from the mistakes I made. But more importantly, it was in this setting that I first became aware of and interested in the differences between making choices, making judgments, and making decisions. Had I not sought better ways of telling myself and others how I came to making decisions, my career path and life would have been very different indeed.

• Attorney

  Texas Attorney General's Office

  (Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Executive Office industry)

  1978 — 1979 (1 year)

  All that I know about the public financing of projects through the issuance of bonds comes from my brief tour of duty with the Attorney General's Office. While I basically had to write only a one page letter for the Texas Attorney General to give his opinion of the legality of the bonds, I would have to read through hundreds of pages of bond transcripts to get there. And, while reading, I had to look not only for the needle in the haystack, but also consider the big picture of each transaction that usually ended up on Wall Street. The chief of our division was a true mentor to me and and a lawyer's lawyer. He taught me the value of institutional competence.

• Attorney & Counselor at Law

  John L. Darrouzet, Attorney & Counselor at Law (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Law Practice industry)

  1974 — 1978 (4 years)

  A very satisfying initial exposure to the general practice of civil and criminal law. I have vivid memories of almost every matter I handled for my clients, so intense were the encounters. If your chosen lawyers haven't been out on their own, they've not only missed character-building experiences, but they also have fewer of the best "war stories" you will ever hear about green-horn lawyers. For example, if you ever run into me, ask me about the time that I almost caused the Austin police department to withdraw a privilege (the "Hobby Rule") extended to all Austin criminal lawyers because of "one small oversight" on my part.

• Legal Editor

  U.S. House of Representatives

  (Government Agency; 1-10 employees; Legislative Office industry)

  1973 — 1974 (1 year)

  Ever since a high school trip to Washington, D.C., I have had a form of Potomac fever. I like the legislative process. When I finally got this opportunity, the Parliamentarian was considering retiring. I officed in the Library of Congress, overlooking the Main Reading Room. As a lifelong reader, I was in heaven there. But the workings of government were grinding to a halt because Nixon was being impeached. It was all a bit disillusioning. After this overexposure to the D.C. power culture, I told myself the only honorable thing to do was to return to Texas and set up a law practice. It got me back to Texas.

• Executive Director

  Law Research Corporation of Texas

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Law Practice industry)

  1972 — 1973 (1 year)

  My first job out of law school. Writing property tax legislation and eventually a complete Property Tax Code. Heavy legal research. A stepping stone, it turned out, to my work with the U.S. House of Representatives and the Parliamentarian.

John Darrouzet, J.D.’s Education

• The University of Texas School of Law

  J.D., Law, 1968 — 1971

  Since I was not your average law student (no pre-law courses in college, not a business major, etc.), to psyche myself up for law school classes and exams, I read novels about famous lawyers and their cases. Otherwise I would find nothing romantic about law school. But I learned to read, think, write, and speak like a lawyer. Given the importance of law in today's American culture, I was well prepared by my professors. Best subjects: Evidence, Procedure, Contracts, and Constitutional Law.

• University of Notre Dame

  B.A. cum laude, English, 1964 — 1968

  When I added up my credits my senior year, the only major I could legitimately claim was an English major. What I really did in school was learn how to read and write in the widest range of disciplines that I could. Given Notre Dame's winters, reading, writing, and making my way to class through the continuing snows was about all this Texas boy could manage at the time. The reading and writing I did in college gave me an excellent foundation for a lifetime of independent study and learning on the job. The impact my professors had on me was profound and I will be eternally grateful. But it was my accountant Uncle whose question about my English major that gave me pause. "What are you going to do with an English major?" "Law school," I replied. I would read law like I had learned to read every other discipline that attracted me.

• Jesuit College Preparatory (Dallas)

  High School Diploma, 1960 — 1964

Additional Information

John Darrouzet, J.D.’s Groups:

Writers' Guild of America west, State Bar of Texas (Inactive)

•    Christian Professionals
•    Software Engineering Institute Virtual SPIN
•    Linking Dallas
•    Industry Grind Business Network
•    Friends of Texas
•    Public Speaking Network