A prominent Houston lawyer who worked at Fulbright & Jaworski and Weil Gotshal & Manges before forming his own law firm was apparently murdered by a burglar, police say.

Scott Lassetter was shot more than two weeks ago at a home where he sometimes stayed with his ex-wife and children, who were gone because of spring break, the Houston Chronicle reports. Pool cleaners found the wounded man in the back yard. He died at the hospital two days later.

Lassetter’s cell phone and laptop are missing, and other valuables in the home had been moved around, police told the newspaper.

The murder “shocked the Houston legal world, where Lassetter worked on both sides of civil lawsuits but was best known for big firm work and big wins for giant car and insurance companies,” the story says. “He was a lion in court, dressed meticulously, drove fancy cars, married a judge's daughter and had a soaring career.”

He divorced in 1998, but had a good relationship with his former wife and children, according to the story. At Weil, he served five years as managing partner. He handled plaintiffs cases when he formed his own law firm in 2006, but later turned over much of the work to other lawyers. More recently, he managed his housing investments, including homes in Mexico where he lived part time.