They came to reminisce and reconnect, with a little bit of dancing and a whole lot of laughter thrown in. But mostly, they came to celebrate their lifelong connection to Texas Law, and they did it in record-breaking fashion.
Nearly 1,000 alumni gathered in Austin this April for a reunion weekend celebrating six decades of class years, with special honors for those with class years ending in “0” and “5,” from 1960 to 2020. This year’s reunion attendance shattered past records, and so did reunion class giving: More than $1 million was raised to support students through scholarships and the Summer Public Service Program. The Class of 1975 alone brought in over $540,000, a new high watermark in class giving.
An Attitude of Gratitude
The weekend opened with a festive kickoff at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Austin. While the classes of 1960, 1965, 1970, and 1975 gathered for individual class parties, the rest of the alumni in attendance enjoyed live music and a celebratory atmosphere, even after a surprise downpour forced the party indoors from the hotel’s lush back lawn. If anything, the need to improvise accentuated the good spirits.
Gratitude was a constant theme of conversations with the celebrants. “In so many things I’ve done, my law school education has been beneficial,” reflected Jerry Ormand ’65. Ormand, who specializes in business law as an attorney with Glast Phillips Murray Zopolsky in Dallas, can still name all the business and tax-related courses he took at Texas Law.
Some of those were taught by Stanley Johanson, distinguished teaching professor and the James A. Elkins Centennial Chair in Law, who is still going strong after 63 years in the classroom. He made his presence felt at reunion, charming guests at multiple events and reminding alumni that legends live on at the school.
“That’s everyone’s favorite professor,” noted Jeff Civins ’75, who served as a co-chair of the Class of 1975 reunion committee.
Keeping up with—and remaining grateful for—former professors is a treasured experience for alumni. They’re “a wonderful group of people,” said Sam Coats ’65, who spent his career in the airline industry. “Many of them stayed friends all these years.”
Saturday Celebration
Saturday turned the law school into a festive playground: Maudie’s Tex-Mex, frozen popsicles, a claw machine full of swag, and music from “Pops Morales,” the nom de spin of longtime admissions team member—and part-time DJ—Michael Morales. Alumni toured the buildings, swapped stories in the atrium, attended panels, and heard from Dean Bobby Chesney, who delivered a forward-looking State of the Law School Address.
Along with fun came law school tours and the chance to learn from faculty and fellow alumni: Professor Steve Collis and Murry Bowden ’75 had a chance to discuss Collis’s recent book, “Habits of a Peacemaker,” and to make a major announcement. Bowden, who has enjoyed professional success as the executive chairman of the real estate-focused Hanover Company, is endowing, with his wife Polly, a new scholars-in-residence program that will be affiliated with the law school’s Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center. The Bowden Fellows, who will begin arriving at the law school this summer, will enjoy a residency that allows them to study democracy, free speech values, and religious liberty.
After the Collis and Bowden presentation, reunion-goers were treated to a discussion of academic freedom and the First Amendment, led by Professor David Rabban and Diane Wood ’75, who was, until 2023, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Wood, who is now director of the American Law Institute, engaged Rabban in a discussion of his new book, “Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right,” while he, in turn, asked her about various times she had dealt with questions of academic freedom from the bench.
The experience clearly made a big impact.
“It’s my 30th reunion and it’s the first time I’ve come,” said Penn Huston ’95, partner at the law firm MouerHuston PC. “I regret not coming before.”
The visit was especially meaningful for Huston, who was joined by his wife, Deborah Huston ’93, a vice president and deputy general counsel at Talos Energy. The Hustons aren’t just proud alumni. They’re also, as of this year, proud Texas Law parents: daughter Gillian is a 1L.
The Hustons hoped they might have a chance to meet any of Gillian’s faculty. “It’s fun to feel more a part of her education, too,” said Penn.
1975 Chairs
The record-breaking generosity of the Class of 1975 was no surprise to the class’s eight reunion committee chairs, including Scott Atlas, and Jeff and Kathleen Civins. “Everybody pitched in, made calls, sent emails, and reminded people of why we were so looking forward to seeing each other,” Atlas said.
It’s a particularly close class, observed Kathleen. There are about a half dozen “couples from our class who stayed close”—they married, became godparents to each other’s kids, vacationed together, she said. “It’s been a lifelong thing.”
That collective effort produced a serious impact, and the giving by reunion classes will significantly support the law students of today and tomorrow, according to Elizabeth Hundt ’10, who was in attendance not only celebrating her 15th reunion but also as the law school’s chief development officer.
“Alumni love making sure the next generation of Texas Law students have the same amazing opportunities they did,” said Hundt.
Old Memories, New Friends
Reunion offered some attendees a chance to recall memories from their law student days.
“Austin is so much bigger, and the campus has grown so large,” said Donna Frazier ’95, Caddo Parrish attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana. “And the law school has a coffee bar now! That would’ve been cool.”
As a law student, Beth Alston ’80 was president of the Women’s Law Caucus. “The FBI called me. They wanted to come speak to our group—FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had just died—and they were trying to beef up the number of women in the bureau,” said Alston of the Alston Law Firm LLC in Covington, Louisiana. “So, two guys from the FBI came and talked to the Women’s Law Caucus about joining the FBI. I don’t know if anybody did, but it was just an amazing historical experience.”
Walking around the Texas Law buildings, Joe Henry ’95 of Joseph C. Henry PLLC recalled how students used to find out their grades from a kiosk in the hallway, by looking for a number associated with each student listed beside their grade. “You’d have to go up and see, and then you’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, did I get my number right? Did I really make an ‘A’ in that class? Did I really make a ‘C’ in that?” Henry said. “Memories flood back unexpectedly, just walking down the hallway.”
Additionally, Henry said reunion offered a chance to make new Texas Law connections. “I just met a guy from the Class of ’75 and stopped and talked with him for 20 minutes. We connected about life—he’s from Reno, Nevada, and I’m in Northern California now, and we have similar life stories,” Henry said. Reunion is about “meeting people who I wouldn’t normally meet, and what we have in common.”
Save the dates:
Reunion 2026 will be held next April 17-18.
The Texas Law alumni network is a powerful thing. “It’s like a club when you run across other people, whether you knew them before or not,” said sole practitioner Amy Nettle ’95 of Fort Worth. “It’s a tradition I’m proud of.”
View Reunion 2025 Photos on Flickr
