Client Success Stories

LOBBYING – ‘Jury of View’ Neither Visionary Nor Just, It took Braun & Gresham professionals, and perseverance, to defuse this legal land mine for Texas property owners

CONDEMNATION – Land Condemnation Doesn’t Have to Mean Certain Loss, Braun & Gresham provides neighbors with guidance & gravitas as they negotiate to preserve their property

SALE OF CONSERVATION EASEMENT – Partnering Up to Preserve Texas Land, Protect Water Quality, Braun & Gresham brings together a unique collection of collaborators to produce a five-way conservation win

Experience

Founder of Braun & Gresham, a law firm representing various individuals, families, corporations and developers – who are owners of rural land.

Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Plateau Land & Wildlife Management, an ecological consulting company, employing teams of biologists and property tax consultants, dedicated to helping clients protect and enhance their land through wildlife management planning, services and products.

Founder, Braun Consulting Services (1995-2000) to provide strategic planning, organizational development, marketing training and fundraising consulting to various private, public and not-for-profit institutions.

Texas State Director and International Vice President, The Nature Conservancy (1988-1995), one of the world’s premier land conservation organizations. (See articles from Austin American-Statesman: HERE and HERE.)

Staff attorney, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department on cases involving environmental, water and land use issues. (1987 – 1988)

Field Biologist for the following institutions: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science; The Smithsonian Institute; The American Museum of Natural History

Education

Doctor of Jurisprudence, The University of Texas School of Law, 1987
Bachelor of Arts, Biochemistry, The University of Texas, 1982

Publications

• • • Kingston, S.E., Jernigan, R.W., Fagan, W.F., Braun, D. and Braun, M.J. (2012) Genomic variation in cline shape across a hybrid zone. Ecology & Evolution 2012; 2(11): 2737-2748. doi: 10.1002/ece3.375
    • Strategies for Using Conservation Easements. Braun, David, Probate and Property, The Journal of the Center for American and International Law, Nov/Dec. 2002.
    • Winter Observations of Dendroica chrysoparia in Mexico. Braun, M.J., Braun, David & Terrell, S.H., American Birds. Fall 1986.
    • Molecular Population Genetics of Tufted and Black-Crest Forms of Parus bicolor. Braun, David, Kitto, G.B. & Braun, M.J., The Auk 101:170-173, 1984.

Community Involvement

Current

Advisory Council, The University of Texas College of Natural Sciences Foundation
Member, National Wildlife Federation South Central Regional Advisory Council

Past

Chairman, Texas Teaming With Wildlife Coalition (2005-2011)
Envision Central Texas (until 2006)
Westcave Preserve, Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees (until 1998)
Texas Audubon Society, Board of Trustees (until 1997)
Texans for the Environmental Defense Fund (until 1987)

Personal

David is a native Texan who has been interested in natural sciences, conservation and rural land use policy from an early age. His family was historically involved in ranching and rice farming. Childhood experiences on his grandmother’s farm were instrumental in shaping his understanding of rural land conservation.

His early interests as a naturalist included falconry, snake collecting and butterfly mounting. Another of David’s interests is bird watching. From 1979 to 1986, he was a nature tour guide for two of the first U.S. bird watching tour companies – Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and Field Guides, Inc. – leading various tour groups in the region between Texas and Venezuela. David has lived, worked and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America.

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