Judge Hanks is a native of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Prior to his appointment as a district judge by President Barack Obama, he served as a United States Magistrate Judge, a Justice on the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas and as the judge of the 157th District Court in Houston. In private practice, Judge Hanks was a shareholder in the law firm of Wickliff & Hall, P.C. where he specialized in commercial and medical malpractice litigation. He previously worked at the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP. Judge Hanks graduated first in his class from Louisiana State University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in economics, summa cum laude. He attended Harvard Law School where he received the Legal Defense Fund/Earl Warren Scholarship and was an editor of the Harvard Blackletter Law Journal. Upon graduation, he served as a law clerk for United States District Court Judge Sim Lake. He later received his Master of Laws degree from Duke University School of Law. Judge Hanks is a member of the American Law Institute, American Board of Trial Advocates, and served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Judge Hanks is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Judicial Education Program at George Mason University. He is a published legal author and a lecturer at continuing judicial education seminars throughout the country. He has served as a member of the Texas Judicial Panel for Multi-District Litigation and the Board of Directors of the Texas Bar College and the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas.