Brett Strand joined the law firm of Cornell Smith & Mierl in the fall of 2003 following his completion of a two-year judicial clerkship with the Honorable Andrew W. Austin, United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Texas. During his two years with the Court, Mr. Strand managed a docket with a variety of civil litigation, including multiple employment-related lawsuits.

Mr. Strand is actively involved in the litigation of employment cases as an advocate for the interests of employers and individual managers. He has been annually identified as a "Texas Rising Star" in the field of Labor and Employment Law by Texas Monthly magazine since 2005.

Mr. Strand was valedictorian of his graduating class from The Citadel in 1998 where he received his B.A., summa cum laude. He completed his J.D. in 2001 at the University of Texas School of Law, where he also taught legal research and writing to first-year students.

During his third year of law school, Mr. Strand received a Texas Governor's Fellowship, which he used during the 2001 legislative session to work in the Office of the Governor as an aide in the executive office while also assisting the Governor's public policy staff with legislative analysis.

Mr. Strand is a member of the Austin Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section, the Austin Young Lawyers Association (AYLA), and the Federal Bar Association. He served as the coordinator of the 2005 AYLA Domestic Violence Project, a program in which local attorneys volunteer to represent women and children who are seeking to escape domestic abuse. For his involvement, Mr. Strand received the 2006 Judge Suzanne Covington Pro Bono Service Award. He continues to be involved in pro bono domestic violence work with Volunteer Legal Services, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Advocacy Project, a non-profit organization that provides state-wide services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Mr. Strand is licensed to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.