Craig Ball has been announced as a 2025 finalist for the Gayle O’Connor Spirit Award. He serves as an adjunct professor at Texas Law and general counsel of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model. The award celebrates members of the e-discovery and legal technology communities based on “singular energy, enthusiasm and verve.”
George M. Jirotka has retired after almost 20 years as a circuit court judge in Florida’s 6th Judicial Circuit. Previously Jirotka practiced law for nearly 20 years as a shareholder at the firm Fowler White Boggs Banker.
Sharon Kay Talley passed away on August 21, 2025. She served the Austin community for over 40 years—both in private practice and for the Travis County Attorney’s Office—specializing in the protection of victims of family violence, the environment, and animals.
Arleas Upton Kea has been named president and chairman of the board of the Texas Exes, the alumni association of the University of Texas. Kea plans to focus her tenure on expanding membership, supporting scholarships, and strengthening alumni engagement across the globe.
The Hon. Debra Lehrmann has been selected to receive the Texas Bar Foundation’s 2025 Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award. She is the senior justice on the Supreme Court of Texas and the longest-serving woman to serve on the Court in the state’s history.
Senior Justice Debra H. Lehrmann, Texas Supreme Court’s longest-serving woman justice, has been named the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Samuel Pessarra Outstanding Jurist Award by the Texas Bar Foundation.
Edward Carstarphen passed away passed away on Oct. 16, 2024. Carstarphen served a 40-year career as a civil trial lawyer in Houston, representing Fortune 500 corporations in product liability and toxic tort litigation. He was a life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, a fellow of Litigation Counsel of America, and served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Cornelius of the Court of Appeals, Sixth District of Texas.
Donald Lee Mau passed away Sept. 28, 2024. Following his retirement from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel, Mau earned his law degree from Texas Law and enjoyed a second career in philanthropy and fundraising including time with the Texas Law School Foundation.
Dennis McClendon passed away on August 8, 2024. McClendon, whose interests and talents were varied and broad, had a lifelong love for the city of Chicago, history, and travel. A well-respected cartographer and designer, he established his own company, Chicago CartoGraphics. McClendon also lectured on a variety of topics and ran the website “Chicago In Maps,” a trusted resource for historic map collections.
Judge Jan Soifer recently was honored with the Austin Bar Association’s Larry F. York Mentoring Award. Judge Soifer is the judge of the 345th District Court in Travis County, a civil and family trial court. This award is given to a local lawyer or judge who has demonstrated exceptional skill and generosity in mentoring younger members of the bar.
Mark Burroughs passed away on May 2, 2024. His legal career was based in Denton where he practiced business law, personal injury and property tax collection at his real estate law firm, Sawko & Burroughs. Burroughs also served as a city council member and mayor of Denton from 2008-2014.
Layne Thompson has been appointed as the district attorney of the 159th Judicial District in Angelina County by Governor Greg Abbott. Thompson, who previously served as an assistant district attorney, is former of counsel for Mike Love & Associates and former vice president of Thompson Cattle Company.
Louis Taylor passed away on Jan. 21, 2024. Taylor served as the chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and was responsible for enacting key policies benefiting American small business owners.
Janice Pardue passed away on Dec. 21, 2023. Pardue was a celebrated family lawyer, selected by her peers as a Super Lawyer and serving as chair of the HBA Family Law Section, Gulf Coast Family Lawyers, the Collaborative Law Section and Association of Women Attorneys.
Parker Folse has been named “Lawyer of the Year” in Seattle for Antitrust Litigation. Folse is a partner with Susman Godfrey, LLP in the firm’s Seattle office and represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters.
Lisa McDaniel Crane passed away on May 15, 2023. She enjoyed a successful career as an attorney and real estate developer. She joined her husband Les as a partner in the ownership of Longhorn Dental, a business they worked together to build and expand.
Jay Howard has received the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Kansas School of Business. The is the owner and president of JDH Asset Management and JDH Investments in Austin, he is a member of KU Endowment’s Board of Trustees Executive Committee.
Marc R. Stanley is the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic. Prior to his service as a diplomat, Stanley was a trial lawyer for 40 years, focusing on national class actions and complex litigation.
Susan Byrd Burr passed away on May 23, 2022. Burr graduated Texas Law with Order of the Coif, after serving as Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review. She worked as both of counsel and senior counsel for two California law firms until retiring in 2011.
Carrin Patman has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Iceland. She is the chair of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas and previously practiced as a partner of Bracewell LLP.
Nancy Gail Black Sagafi-Nejad, 83, passed away on Sept. 27, 2021. She earned a Masters in art history and served in the Peace Corps teaching. Later, she graduated with her J.D. and worked as an employment discrimination and civil rights lawyer for the government and in private practice. Sagafi-Nejad wrote a book, Friends at the Bar: A Quaker View of Law, Conflict Resolution, and Legal Reform (SUNY Press, 2011), exploring how Quaker values can contribute to improvements in legal practice and the impact of the law on society.
William J. Gibbons passed away on July 1, 2021 in San Antonio at the age of 90. He flew 58 combat missions in Korea, flew 206 combat missions in Vietnam, having an illustrious career in the Air Force. Upon his retirement from the Air Force, William fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming an attorney. He embarked on a second career in the field of criminal prosecution, with several years of service as a Justice of the Peace in Caldwell County.
Kay U. Brooks was included in Sacramento Magazine’s 2020 Top Lawyers List for her work in Estate Planning & Probate. She was also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© 2021.
During the 2020 Andrea Pair Bryant Legacy Luncheon, Austin Black Lawyers Association (ABLA) honored Former Police Monitor Ashton Cumberbatch for his service to ABLA and the legal community.
The San Antonio Bar Foundation (SABF) is pleased to announce the appointment of the Honorable Judge Michael Mery to the SABF Fellows Program newly-elected 2020 class.
David Vineyard, JD, MD, had the pleasure of leading a charity climb up Mount Kilimanjaro last July to benefit Neema Village, an orphanage in Arusha,Tanzania
Reynolds Frizzell Partner Chris Reynolds was inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL) at their 2019 Annual Meeting. Founded in 1954, the Academy is known for an extremely rigorous vetting process and is recognized as the most prestigious organization of trial lawyers in the world. The Academy seeks out Fellows who have achieved a career of excellence as shown by their skills in trial, and as demonstrated by their integrity and professionalism.
Arleas Upton Kea, the President of Texas Law’s Alumni Association, has been named Chief Operating Officer and Deputy to the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Kea replaces Barbara Ryan, who retired as COO on July 27. Prior to her appointment as COO, Ms. Kea served as director of the Division of Administration, a post she has held since May 1999.
McGinnis Lochridge welcomes Ashton G. Cumberbatch, Jr. as a special counsel in the firm, effective May 1. His primary practice areas include alternative dispute resolution and labor-employment law. He is rejoining McGinnis Lochridge after working at the firm previously from 1989 to 2002, including a period as leader of a period as leader of the employment law section.
James (Jim) Smith recently joined the Crain Caton & James (CCJ) law firm as Shareholder in the Environmental and Intellectual Practice Areas. His practice principally focuses on environmental matters including counseling, supporting transactions, and trying cases. He also has experience in intellectual property matters and is registered before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a patent attorney.
The law firm of Thompson & Knight LLPis pleased to congratulate Joe Pevsner for his inclusion in D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas 2016,” which is featured in the magazine’s May issue.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is pleased to announce that Steve Demby, a shareholder in the firm’s Denver office and a member of its executive committee, recently was appointed to serve on the board of directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). His term starts in March 2016 and will initially last a period of three years.
Center for Women in Law founder Carrin Patman was recently appointed Chair of the Houston Metro Board.
Joseph S. Pevsner was named “Local Litigation Star” in Texas by Benchmark Litigation 2016.