Page 14 - 2021 UHLC Annual Report

Leaving a Legacy: Scott Chase

Scott Chase ’71 retires from five decades of health law

practice and includes UH in estate plans

attending UH, Chase said he became “very attached” to UH and
the Law Center over the years.
To illustrate his gratitude for UH, Chase endowed the J.S. Chase UH
Tier One Scholarship in 2009 in honor of his father. From 2017-
2019, he funded an annual scholarship for Health Law students.
Then in 2020, Chase shared that he had named the University in
his will. The bequest will establish the Scott Chase Endowment in
Opera Production at the Moores School of Music, the Scott Chase
’71 Endowed Scholarship in Health Law and a fund for current use
scholarships entitled the Scott Chase ’71 Scholarship in Health Law.
“I just had a good career, so I have to give UH credit for that in
terms of my education,” he said.
After graduating from the Law Center in 1971, Chase went to infantry
officer school where he was routinely placed into an array of situations.
“They try to make it hard on you, to make you think and to make
you be more flexible,” Chase recalled.
Chase said he thought of himself as a “mediocre” law student, but
when he started serving in the Army and interacting with lawyers
from around the country, he discovered he was holding his own
in the profession.

“Out of that, I figured out that my education was pretty good, that
Scott Chase, a 1971 graduate of the University of Houston Law I could figure out how to do something different almost on a daily
Center, recently closed out a 50-year legal career marked by basis,” Chase said. “It worked very well for my law practice, too.”
military service and health law experience.
Chase retired from Dallas-based firm Farrow-Gillespie Heath Witter Following his two years of service in the Army as a First Lieutenant,
Chase joined Campbell Taggart Inc., a Dallas-based company that
L.L.P., where he led the firm’s healthcare practice, until the end of 2021. was once the nation’s second-largest producer of baked goods, as an
A Distinguished Military Graduate from UH’s ROTC program, in-house attorney. His first boss was the company’s General Counsel
Chase began his legal career in the midst of the Vietnam War. Donald Mackaman, whom Chase considers a mentor because of his
As a U.S. Army “utility” Legal Officer at Fort Lee in Virginia, analytical skills and relationships with colleagues and clients.
he wrote wills, processed administrative discharges and most As someone who has worn various hats throughout his legal career
notably, served as general counsel to the army agency that – from in-house and general counsel roles at Campbell Taggart
privatized kitchen police duty. Inc., Dr. Pepper Company and Republic Health Corporation, to
"What I really discovered was, I had an ability to be flexible,” Chase said. working as a solo practitioner – Chase said he would emphasize
Chase counts his military training and education at the Law the importance of being versatile to aspiring attorneys.
Center as key experiences that gave him the dexterity to pivot “In one sense, my time at Republic Health was the best part
throughout his career. because it led to me being Board Certified in Health Law,” Chase

Chase said it was “always known” that he would attend said. “It’s been a really good specialty in my career, and I’ve gotten
the Law Center. His father, Donald Chase, was in the first a lot of accolades from being a health lawyer.”
graduating class of the University of Houston’s College of In 2002, Chase became one of the state’s first attorneys to be
Pharmacy in 1954 on the GI Bill after WWII service, and Board Certified in Health Law by the Texas Board of Legal
some of his earliest memories are of UH. In the mornings, Specialization, which he maintains to this day, and was a founding
his father would hop on his bicycle from their home two member of the Dallas Bar Association’s Health Law section.
miles from campus and pedal through MacGregor Park on In retirement, Chase continues engaging the community
his commute to the pharmacy school. through his work on various boards, mentorship, travel and
Given his family’s connections with UH, and his siblings later genealogical research.

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