Eric R. Hilton is a criminal defense attorney in the Dallas office of Dunham & Jones. He defends people charged with misdemeanors and felonies, and he came to the firm after prosecuting cases for the City of Dallas.
From 2025 to 2026, Mr. Hilton was an Assistant City Attorney in the Criminal Prosecution Division of the Dallas City Attorney's Office. He prosecuted misdemeanor offenses, tried cases to juries and to the bench, argued pretrial motions, evaluated evidence and negotiated case dispositions. He has tried jury cases to verdict as first chair and has handled at least 100 cases. From 2023 to 2024 he clerked for the Eleventh Judicial District Court, drafting orders, judgments and jury instructions in criminal, civil, juvenile and family matters.
He earned his Juris Doctor cum laude from Southern University Law Center in 2021. There he was a junior and then senior editor of the Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty, which published his case notes on Riley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting warrantless cellphone searches, and Torres v. Madrid, on the Fourth Amendment and police use of deadly force. He received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for the highest grade in Trial Advocacy and in Criminal Procedure. As a law student he interned in the Misdemeanor Unit of the Dallas County Public Defender's Office, arguing for bail for indigent clients under a Texas student bar card. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Mr. Hilton knows a criminal charge can leave a person in a vulnerable place, so he starts by learning what the case puts at stake in the client's life. He then works through the law, the evidence and the circumstances to find the strengths and weaknesses of the case and to anticipate the State's arguments before he decides how to fight it.
Eric R. Hilton
Criminal Defense Attorney - Dunham & Jones
Southern University Law Center | University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Former Assistant City Attorney, Dallas City Attorney's Office
Eric R. Hilton, Attorney at Law
From 2025 to 2026, Mr. Hilton was an Assistant City Attorney in the Criminal Prosecution Division of the Dallas City Attorney's Office. He prosecuted misdemeanor offenses, tried cases to juries and to the bench, argued pretrial motions, evaluated evidence and negotiated case dispositions. He has tried jury cases to verdict as first chair and has handled at least 100 cases. From 2023 to 2024 he clerked for the Eleventh Judicial District Court, drafting orders, judgments and jury instructions in criminal, civil, juvenile and family matters.
He earned his Juris Doctor cum laude from Southern University Law Center in 2021. There he was a junior and then senior editor of the Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty, which published his case notes on Riley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting warrantless cellphone searches, and Torres v. Madrid, on the Fourth Amendment and police use of deadly force. He received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for the highest grade in Trial Advocacy and in Criminal Procedure. As a law student he interned in the Misdemeanor Unit of the Dallas County Public Defender's Office, arguing for bail for indigent clients under a Texas student bar card. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Mr. Hilton knows a criminal charge can leave a person in a vulnerable place, so he starts by learning what the case puts at stake in the client's life. He then works through the law, the evidence and the circumstances to find the strengths and weaknesses of the case and to anticipate the State's arguments before he decides how to fight it.
Eric R. Hilton
Criminal Defense Attorney - Dunham & Jones
Southern University Law Center | University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Former Assistant City Attorney, Dallas City Attorney's Office
Eric R. Hilton, Attorney at Law
Dunham & Jones, Attorneys at Law, P.C.
6060 N Central Expy #888
Dallas, TX 75206
Dallas, TX 75206
214-888-8888
Bar Admissions
Memberships, Honors, and Awards
- Cum Laude, Southern University Law Center (2021)
- Junior Editor and Senior Editor, Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty, Southern University Law Center
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Trial Advocacy, Southern University Law Center
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Criminal Procedure, Southern University Law Center
- Author, "Riley v. California: Limiting Warrantless Cellphone Searches to Protect Privacy," Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty
- Author, "Torres v. Madrid: Completing the Fourth Amendment Framework for Deadly Force," Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty
- Criminal Law Clinic, Southern University Law Center
- Research Assistant, Criminal Procedure, Southern University Law Center
Past Employment
- Assistant City Attorney I, Criminal Prosecution Division, Dallas City Attorney's Office, 2025 to 2026
- Contracts Manager, Human Potential Consultants, 2024 to 2025
- Law Clerk, Eleventh Judicial District Court, 2023 to 2024
- Land Retention Legal Fellow, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, 2022 to 2023
- Judicial Intern, Criminal Division, Nineteenth Judicial District Court, 2021 to 2022
- Legal Intern, Misdemeanor Unit, Dallas County Public Defender's Office, 2021
- Legal Extern, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, 2019 to 2020
- Public Policy Intern, United Way of Southern Nevada, 2017
- Project Coordinator, Human Potential Consultants, 2014 to 2018