Mr. Moran received a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas in 1973 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, with honors, from South Texas College of Law in 1984. He was an award winning reporter for the Midland Reporter-Telegram and the Houston Chronicle from 1973 until 1989, when he became associated with Schneider & McKinney.

Mr. Moran is licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Texas, the United States Army court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme of Texas. He is also admitted to practice before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, located in The Hague, the Netherlands, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, located in Arusha, Tanzania.

Mr. Moran retired from the U.S. Army Reserves in 1994 after 21 years of commissioned service. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Air Defense Officer's Basic and Advanced courses. As an attorney in the Army Reserves, Mr. Moran was both a defense lawyer and a prosecutor.

He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. He is a former chairman of the State Bar's Public Affairs Committee and was awarded a State Bar of Texas President's Citation for his leadership in organizing a statewide education program on open government.