Scott D Powers

Practice Areas

Scott Powers is a partner in Baker Botts’ Austin office, where he represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation matters, including cases involving securities, intellectual property, contract, fraud/fiduciary duty, insurance, and energy issues. Over twenty-five years of practice, he has represented clients in jury trials, bench trials, and appeals at every level of the federal and state court systems.

Career

Scott's experience representing plaintiffs in complex, high-stakes litigation is exemplified by his work on behalf of the court-appointed receiver in the Stanford International Bank Ponzi scheme—a $7 billion fraud that harmed tens of thousands of investors worldwide. The Baker Botts team on which Scott serves has recovered more than $2.8 billion for Stanford's victims, a historic result in Ponzi scheme recoveries. Scott helped lead the team that pursued claims against five commercial banks, which in 2023 yielded total settlements exceeding $1.6 billion. Scott also served as lead trial counsel in a breach of fiduciary duty case that resulted in a $50 million jury verdict—one of the “Top 100 Verdicts of 2015” according to The National Law Journal—and Scott’s recognition as “Litigator of the Week” by Texas Lawyer.

Scott has also successfully defended leading technology, financial services, pharmaceutical, and energy companies in high-stakes commercial disputes in federal and state courts across the country. His defense practice includes both trial and appellate work and spans the full range of complex commercial matters, including contract, fraud, fiduciary duty, securities law, intellectual property, and energy law disputes.

Before entering private practice, Scott served as a law clerk to the Honorable William Wayne Justice, Senior United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas.

Professional Memberships

Scott is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Austin Bar Association, and he is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas.

Personal

Scott earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2000, where he served as Executive Editor for Outside Authors of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He holds dual undergraduate degrees from The University of Texas at Austin — a B.A. in Plan II and a B.S. in Mathematics, both earned with honors in 1997.

Scott is a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Austin Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Sustainability Society of Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas and the Tocqueville Society of United Way for Greater Austin.