Retired Texas trial judge Jay Karahan became affiliated with The Jed Silverman Law Firm on January 1, 2019 after retiring as Presiding Judge of Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law Number 8 after 16 years of continuous judicial service. He presided over 500+ serious misdemeanor criminal jury trials and managed the disposition of nearly 100,000 misdemeanor cases. Jay was consistently rated in the top 5 of all Harris County criminal judges polled in the Houston Bar Association’s Judicial Qualification and Evaluation polls every two years with votes from practicing Harris County criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors. In 2008 Jay was one of five county criminal court judges who established SOBER Courts (Saving Ourselves By Education and Rehabilitation) to manage restorative probation sentences offered to eligible second-offense DWI defendants. Harris County SOBER Courts are now considered the benchmark for restorative DWI courts throughout the United States.

Before Jay was elected to the bench he was the principal attorney in his white collar criminal defense firm Jay Karahan & Associates, PLLC for seven years trying complex and serious securities fraud, drug and drug conspiracy, armed robbery, immigration crime, sexual assault and murder cases in state and federal courts. Jay pioneered the use of expert witnesses testifying in Harris County district courts to cast doubt on the credibility of eyewitness testimony; he obtained acquittals using this novel evidence in jury trials. Jay also won a rare insanity verdict for his client in a court-appointed murder case brought against a Vietnam veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other cognitive deficits.

Before Jay started his law firm he spent four years as Litigation and Compliance Counsel for Cooper Industries, Inc., formerly a Fortune 100 worldwide manufacturing company based in Houston. At Cooper Jay designed and initiated a federally-approved corporate compliance program under the Federal Corporate Criminal Sentencing Guidelines while managing a full docket of nationwide products liability, commercial liability and personal injury cases brought on behalf of and against the company.

Jay previously served four years as a federal prosecutor representing the United States of America as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, where he tried 25 federal jury trials involving bank fraud, bank robbery, witness tampering, perjury, arson, immigration crimes and child pornography. After he successfully prosecuted two Top Ten FBI defendants for an interstate kidnapping and armed robbery crime spree Jay was awarded the U.S. Attorney General’s Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance. As a federal prosecutor Jay also served as an instructor of Federal Grand Jury Practice at the U.S. Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C.

Jay began his legal career at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office where he served for three years as a law school legal intern and four more years after graduation as a Harris County Assistant District Attorney. He quickly rose to the level of senior felony trial counsel, he served on the Child Abuse Crimes Committee, and while he was being considered for a district court chief prosecutor’s position he left the office to accept an appointment to become a federal prosecutor, as described above.

Jay was board certified in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 1988 while serving as a federal prosecutor. He also served for 10 years as an Adjunct Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law teaching criminal trial advocacy to third-year law students preparing them for the rigors of criminal trial practice in Texas. Many of his students became prominent criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors and trial judges throughout Texas. While at his own law firm Jay became an approved mediator of civil cases in Harris County by court appointment and private engagement; he successfully mediated over 50 personal injury and commercial cases.

After a long and successful career in both public and private law, Jay is proud to be affiliated with The Jed Silverman Law Firm, an elite criminal defense, personal injury and commercial law firm devoted to solving its clients’ complex criminal and civil problems in state and federal courts and in administrative hearings.

In his free time Jay travels internationally with his wife, retired physician Dr. Cynthia Doerr, to experience culture and life around the world; he serves annually as a referee in international World Cup carom billiards competitions; he serves in the Episcopal church as a choir member, lay reader and chalice bearer; and he is authorized to officiate civil weddings for engaged couples as his schedule permits.