About Brent

Brent Evan Newton has appeared as lead counsel at all levels of the federal court system, from jury trials to Supreme Court litigation.

He has represented hundreds of clients at federal sentencing hearings, handled over 100 federal appeals in four different federal circuit courts, and handled several dozens of federal post-conviction matters (including § 2241 petitions, § 2255 motions, and “compassionate release” motions).  He argued a case before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2008 and serves as co-counsel in a case in which the Supreme Court granted certiorari in October 2025.  He also regularly represents noncitizens facing removal orders or seeking asylum.

  • Brent received a B.A. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Phi Beta Kappa and highest honors) and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (where he was a Kent Scholar and senior editor of Columbia Law Review).  After law school, Brent served as a law clerk for Judge Carolyn King of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where he was first exposed to federal criminal cases.  Brent then represented several dozens of death row inmates in Texas and Florida on direct appeal and in habeas corpus proceedings.  From June 1996 to May 2009, he was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Houston, Texas, eventually serving as the head of the office’s trial court division.  Thereafter, Brent served as the Deputy Staff Director of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in Washington, D.C. – where he worked on sentencing guideline amendments and reports to Congress on federal sentencing issues and also supervised the Commission’s staff.  Since February 2019, Brent has been in private practice and has represented many federal defendants around the country at sentencings, on appeal, and in post-conviction matters.  He also regularly teaches continuing legal education courses around the country.

    Brent also has taught over 100 law and pre-law courses at several universities – including the University of Houston Law Center, American University’s Washington College of Law, Georgetown Law Center, the University of Maryland, and Penn State-Dickinson Law.  His courses have included criminal procedure, advanced criminal procedure, professional responsibility/legal ethics, a seminar on federal sentencing, and a seminar on the death penalty.  He also has published three books with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy on criminal procedure, sentencing, and post-conviction issues and dozens of law review articles and book chapters on criminal law and procedure issues.

    In 2010, in recognition of his accomplishments as a practitioner, professor, and legal scholar, Brent was elected to membership in the American Law Institute.  

  • State Courts: 
    District of Columbia
    Florida
    Maryland
    Texas

    Federal Courts: 
    D. Md. 
    E.D. Tex. 
    N.D. Tex. 
    S.D. Tex. 

    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit  
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit  
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit  
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit  
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit  
    Supreme Court of the United States

    Also Authorized to Practice in Immigration Matters by
    Executive Office for Immigration Review