TYLA Officers
   

Rebekah Steely Brooker, President
   

Dustin M. Howell, Chair
   

Sam Houston, Vice President
   

Baili B. Rhodes, Secretary
   

John W. Shaw, Treasurer
   

C. Barrett Thomas, President-elect
   

Priscilla D. Camacho, Chair-elect
   

Kristy Blanchard, Immediate Past President

TYLA Directors
   

Amanda A. Abraham, District 1
   

Sharesa Y. Alexander, Minority At-Large Director
   

Raymond J. Baeza, District 14
    Aaron J. Burke, District 5, Place 1
   

Aaron T. Capps, District 5, Place 2
   

D. Lance Currie, District 5, Place 3
   

Laura W. Docker, District 10, Place 1
    Andrew Dornburg, District 21
    John W. Ellis, District 8, Place 2
    Zeke Fortenberry, District 4
   

Bill Gardner, District 5, Place 4
   

Morgan L. Gaskin, District 6, Place 5
    Nick Guinn, District 18, Place 1
   

Adam C. Harden, District 6, Place 6
   

Amber L. James, District 17
   

Curtis W. Lucas, District 9
    Rudolph K. Metayer, District 8, Palce 1
   

Laura Pratt, District 3
    Sally Pretorius, District 8, Place 2
   

Baili B. Rhodes, District 2
   

Alex B. Roberts, District 6, Place 3
    Eduardo Romero, District 19
    Michelle P. Scheffler, District 6, Place 2
   

John W. Shaw, District 10, Place 2
    Nicole Soussan, District 6, Place 4
    L. Brook Stuntebeck, District 11
   

C. Barrett Thomas, District 15
    Judge Amanda N. Torres, Minority At-Large Director
   

Shannon Steel White, District 12
    Brandy Wingate Voss, District 13
    Veronica S. Wolfe, District 18, Place 2
   

Baylor Wortham, District 7
    Alex Yarbrough, District 16

   

Justice Paul W. Green, Supreme Court Liaison
   

Jenny Smith, Access To Justice Liaison
   

Brandon Crisp, ABA YLD District 25 Representative
   

Travis Patterson, ABA/YLD District 26 Representative
   

Assistant Dean Jill Nikirk, Law School Liaison
   

Belashia Wallace, Law Student Liaison

 

 
TYLA Office

Tracy Brown, Director of Administration
Bree Trevino, Project Coordinator
Michelle Palacios, Office Manager
General Questions: tyla@texasbar.com

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 12487, Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711-2487
(800) 204-2222 ext. 1529
FAX: (512) 427-4117

Street Address

1414 Colorado, 4th Floor
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 427-1529

 

Views and opinions expressed in eNews are those of their authors and not necessarily those of the Texas Young Lawyers Association or the State Bar of Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editor's Column

Editor's Column

Plan for Success
By: Robert E. Booth, Mills Shirley LLP

It’s been six months since you made your New Year’s Resolutions. Take a few days this summer to evaluate your progress and adjust your goals. Get organized, adjust your plan, and strive to succeed.

Working for a midsize firm on Galveston Island has made me plan ahead. We are in the middle of hurricane season. Before Hurricane Ike in 2008, I had two days to prepare my home and get to safety. Fortunately, three months before, I spent a weekend cutting templates to cover my windows. The work was tedious and did not lead to an immediate benefit, but later it sure made the prestorm preparation easier.

Unfortunately, dusting off that old hurricane plan won’t work this time. My wife is pregnant with our first child so evacuating to Houston probably isn’t far enough. It’s time to adjust my plan.

A common mistake for young lawyers is to simply cover the bases at work. Is your practice reactionary? Where do you want to be in a year? In five years?

Your immediate problems aren’t as big as they seem. Worse yet, those immediate problems will never end. Instead of waiting until January to review your plan, or make new ones, take a break from fighting the fires of your daily life and plan the next six months.

Has your supervisor told you to develop new clients? Start now. Join the TYLA’s Partnering for Pro Bono, which is a web-based matching program that pairs in-house attorneys with private practice attorneys. You develop contacts with a corporate counsel and help a person in need.

Maybe you want to expand your practice into different topic areas? Check out the TYLA’s Ten Minute Mentor on a new topic area to investigate new practices.

Are you thinking about opening your own law office? The TYLA’s Office in a Flash provides you direction.

Consider marketing yourself to potential clients by soliciting to be a speaker at a lunch event for a local civic, business or cultural organization. You don’t even need to create the presentation. The TYLA has canned presentations for you to use. Download, edit and present.

Do you want to meet young lawyers from all over Texas? Join a TYLA committee!

Ultimately, you have to take responsibility for your success. Merely completing assignments won’t get you there. You need a strategic plan for your personal life and your career.

Robert Booth is a partner at Mills Shirley LLP where he practices civil litigation focusing on large commercial disputes involving construction projects. Robert and his wife Amber live and work on Galveston Island and are expecting a baby boy in October.