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TYLA Welcomes New Directors and President-elect; State Bar of Texas Welcomes New President-elect
By: Brandy Wingate Voss

TYLA’s members elected Sam Houston of San Antonio to serve as president-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association for the 2015–16 bar year.  Houston is an appellate lawyer practicing in San Antonio with his firm, Houston Dunn.  Houston began his legal career as a briefing attorney on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas.  Since then, he has worked in the appellate sections of prominent San Antonio law firms managing appeals and assisting trial lawyers with law-intensive matters.  Houston is board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  Houston and his fellow president-elect nominee, John Shaw of Fort Worth, campaigned throughout Texas in March.

The State Bar of Texas also welcomes a new president-elect.  Frank Stevenson of Dallas is a partner with Locke Lorde Edwards, where he has a transactional practice representing financial institutions, owners, developers, and other clients in workout matters, construction lending, permanent financing, equity financings, and bond financing, among other things.  He previously served as the chair of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors, as well as a director on the board, and president of the Dallas Bar Association.  Stevenson will serve as president-elect in 2015–16 and as president in 2016–17.

C. Barrett Thomas of Waco (formerly Sweetwater) will serve as TYLA president for 2015-2016.  Along with Thomas and Houston, TYLA’s 2015-2016 officers will be Vice President Baili Rhodes (College Station); Treasurer Alex Yarbrough (Amarillo); Secretary Sally Pretorius (Southlake); Chair Priscilla Camacho (San Antonio); Chair-elect Zeke Fortenberry (McKinney); and Immediate Past President Rebekah Steely Brooker (Dallas).

TYLA members also elected members of the board of directors from their individual districts. Joining the board next year are Joel Towner (Houston); Shaprecia Bryson (Houston); Rachel Grove (Beaumont); Ryan Scharar (Fort Worth); Scott Bodkin (Denton); Joann Garcia (McAllen); Sara Anne Giddings (San Angelo); Bryan Mackay (Odessa); Matthew Harris (Lubbock); Alex J. Bell (Dallas); and Jonathan Garcia (Laredo).  The new minority at-large (large city) director will be Courtney Barksdale Perez (Dallas), and the ABA YLD representative will be Rusty O’Kane (Dallas).

Thomas will be sworn in as TYLA president, and the terms of TYLA’s new officers and directors will begin, at TYLA’s Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting will be held June 19 in San Antonio in conjunction with the State Bar’s Annual Meeting.