This week’s edition of P.S. features new board leadership at the Dallas LGBT+ Bar Association, an Austin-based chief marketing officer who recently won an award from the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association, an upcoming mixer involving Dallas-area allied bar associations and the judiciary, and a group of Texas lawyers — including top-ranking lawyers at American Airlines and Energy Transfer — who were recently recognized by Legal Services Corporation for their contributions to pro bono work at the state legal aid organizations that LSC funds.
Plus: info on the North Texas charity Carrington Coleman donated thousands of diapers to last year.
The Latest
— On Feb. 20, a group of bar associations are hosting the Dallas Allied Bars Judges “Mixer,” which brings together diverse attorneys in Dallas and provides an opportunity for them to mingle with local state and federal judges. The allied bars include the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, J.L. Turner Legal Association, Mexican-American Bar Association of Dallas, Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, Dallas Women Lawyers Association, Dallas Trial Lawyers Association, Dallas LGBT+ Bar Association, Dallas Asian American Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association Dallas and the Dallas Bar Association’s Equality Committee and Minority Participation Committee.
When: Tuesday, Feb. 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Dallas Arts District Mansion (2101 Ross Ave., Dallas)
Sponsors: Bradley Arant Boult & Cummings, Bell Nunnally & Martin and the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
To register: Visit here.
— On Jan. 25, the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association honored Akerman Chief Marketing Officer Iris Jones with its Pathfinder Award, which recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to TCWLA and have used their law degrees in inspiring ways for the greater community. Jones, a graduate of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, was honored with the award during TWCLA’s Pathfinders’ Luncheon at the University of Texas Etter-Harbin Alumni Center.
Jones has served on TWCALA’s scholarship fund board and is an active member of the Legal Marketing Association (where last year she was inducted into its Hall of Fame), serving on numerous committees and as the D&I task force co-chair. When Jones practiced law, she served as an assistant attorney general in the Texas Attorney General’s Office and as the City Attorney in Austin, where she oversaw the city’s 50-attorney law department. Besides Akerman, Jones’ legal marketing career has included CMO roles at Chadbourne & Parke, Dykema Gossett and McNees Wallace & Nurick. She also served as founding CEO of Alchemy Business Strategies, a business development and marketing strategy coaching and consulting firm for the legal sector. At Akerman, Jones is based in the firm’s Austin office.
— The Dallas LBGT+ Bar Association recently announced its leadership for 2024. This year’s president is Elissa Wev, an assistant district attorney in the juvenile justice division of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. She succeeds immediate past president Callie Butcher, founding partner of Butcher Legal Group and a 2024 congressional candidate. Before becoming an ADA, Wev was an associate at Kastl Law and before that, a criminal defense attorney representing low-income and immigrant clients facing misdemeanor and felony-level offenses. The other 2024 board members are:
- Assistant City Attorney Thomas McMillian of the City of North Richland Hills (president elect);
- Carrington Coleman associate Joshua Dossey (secretary);
- Dykema partner Sean Buckley (treasurer);
- Thompson Coburn associate Elizabeth Rocha (director);
- Clark Hill senior attorney Monica Uribe (director); and
- Carrington Coleman associate Haley Ablon (director)
In her first newsletter of 2024, Wev pointed out that for the first time in 2023, the Dallas LGBT+ Bar awarded scholarships to four LBGT+ students, assisted 20 transgender and nonbinary individuals at its Name Change and Gender Marker Correction Clinic and increased its community engagement, including at the Dallas, Frisco and TX Latino Pride events.
The LGBT Bar is currently soliciting nominations from the Dallas area for the National LBGTQ+ Bar Association’s 2024 Annual Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 awards, which will take place in August in Washington, D.C. The nomination deadline is Feb. 15. Criteria information here and nomination link here.
— In a recent newsletter, Carrington Coleman announced that in 2023 it donated 17,055 diapers through its annual adopt-a-charity program. The firm’s 2023 partner charity was Hope Supply, a nonprofit that meets the critical needs of homeless and at-risk children in North Texas by providing basic necessities.
— On Jan. 22, Legal Services Corporation recognized six Texas attorneys for their pro bono service at an access to justice-focused forum and awards presentation at the Magnolia Hotel Houston. This event marked LSC’s first event in 2024, LSC’s 50th year in operation. The attorneys have handled significant chunks of pro bono work for the various legal aid organizations in Texas that LSC provides funding to.
The honorees were:
- Kevin King, a partner at Covington & Burling who led an appeal in both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) student client who brought an excessive force lawsuit;
- Michael McNally of McNally & Patrick, who handled more than 400 pro bono bankruptcy cases over the past 34 years and served more than 600 LSLA clients. He also chaired the Smith County Bar Association Pro Bono Project for many years and recruited, mentored and trained many new LSLA volunteer attorneys;
- Energy Transfer chief counsel Jacqueline Moy, who spent four years leading a team of nine pro bono attorneys who provided free legal assistance to more than 40 low-income families (and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid clients) who lost their homes during Hurricane Harvey, including assisting them with closing processes on the homes provided by the Victoria County Long Term Recovery Group. Moy was a partner at Porter Hedges when she began this work, leading the firm’s involvement in the effort;
- Amy Warr, a partner at Alexander Dubose & Jefferson who has worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid representing mothers of the 435 children removed from a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints’ ranch in West Texas. Warr’s pro bono team demonstrated to Austin’s Third Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court that the state had not met its burden of proof, allowing the children to be reunited with their mothers;
- American Airlines Chief Legal Officer Priya Aiyar, who has promoted a culture of pro bono service at American and led the airline’s annual donation of American Advantage miles to Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. The American legal team also partners with Dallas-based New Friends New Life to provide pro bono services to survivors of human trafficking, allowing them to expunge their records and obtain housing, employment and other benefits; and
- Family attorney Lon Loveless of the Webb Family Law Firm, who has served as the chair of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section Pro Bono Committee and, in that role, has presented at Family Law Essentials Seminars that recruit attorneys to take on pro bono cases from local legal aid programs.
During the forum portion of the event, LSC hosted discussions around responding to domestic violence and regulatory reform centered on expanding access to justice for low-income and rural Americans. Speakers on the domestic violence panel, moderated by State Bar of Texas President Cindy Teasdale, included Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse CEO Marsha Colter, Travis County Court at Law Judge Dimple Malhotra, Lone Star Legal Aid director of innovative programming Sonia Lopez, and Houston Area Women’s Center CEO Emilee Dawn Whitehurst. LSC president Ron Flagg moderated the regulatory reform panel, which featured Kuhn Hobbs founding member Lisa Bowlin Hobbs, arbitrator/mediator Hon. Michael Massengale and Scott Douglass & McConnico partner Kannon Wooten.
Other speakers included Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (TX-7), Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, SCOTX Justice Brett Busby, Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support CEO Jan Edgar Langbein, former White House Counsel/Locke Lord partner Harriet Miers and LSC board chairman John Levi.