Thomas John Ward (born April 17, 1943) is a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is best known for the large number of patent infringement cases brought before his court in Marshall, Texas.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 7/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 14/year
Texas Eastern District Court · 1999–2011
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Texas1968–1999
- Texas Legislative CouncilLegislative draftsperson · 1967–1968
- Lubbock County, TexasAssistant county attorney · 1968
Appointments
1999–2011 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)Term ended: Retirement
Education
- Baylor University School of LawLL.B. · 1967
- Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University)B.A. · 1964