Distinguished Alumni
Chris Tritico
Awarded 2024
Houston, Texas
No matter the circumstance, Christopher L. Tritico knows that everyone is entitled to a defense attorney that will pursue their best interests. As a graduate of Sam Houston State University (’83) and the South Texas College of Law, Tritico has approached his cases with unwavering kindness.
Tritico got his start working under renowned Texas attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, learning the tricks of the trade with one of the best and setting himself up for an illustrious career. He left Haynes’ firm in 1994 and during his time away was able to author submissions to law journals and magazines such as The Houston Lawyer and Voice for the Defense.
He has shared his knowledge through television appearances on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Night Line, CBS Evening News, Meet the Press, Dateline NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and other shows across the globe. Tritico was also the assistant producer for the Oxygen series, “In Defense Of,” and is the host of Fox26Law on Fox 26 KRIV, where he also works as the legal analyst.
His work in the courtroom has seen him represent clients such as Moses Malone, former Houston Rocket, all-star third baseman Gary Sheffield and Julio Lugo, a former Houston Astro. Since 1988, Tritico has also represented professional educators and the organizations that support them such as the Houston Federation of Teachers, Lone Star AFT, Cy-Fair AFT, Northeast Houston AFT, Aldine AFT and Fort Bend AFT. In 1997, he was part of the defense team for Timothy McVeigh during the trial for the Oklahoma City bombing.
The McVeigh case was not the only one that saw Tritico defending those who would seem indefensible. In December of 2020, his daughter Maria was struck and killed by a stray bullet while she watched her fiancé play frisbee on a beach in Miami. The man who fired that bullet was represented by a court appointed lawyer who was not doing his job until Tritico requested to replace him, ensuring the man had a proper defense despite the harm he caused to the Tritico family.
In response to the tragedy, he and his wife launched the Maria Tritico Project to support issues that were important to their daughter. He has served on the board of the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for over 20 years. Tritico also served SHSU as board president of the Alumni Association and currently serves on the advisory board for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The Distinguished Alumni award will be the latest of many accolades that Tritico has received over the years, including another SHSU recognition on the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Wall of Honor. Outside of the university, he has been named a Texas Super Lawyer from 2003-2017 by Texas Monthly, one of the Top Lawyers for the People by H Texas Magazine from 2005-2017, one of 2012’s Texas Top Rated Lawyers and was among The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers from 2012-2017.