Candidates Announced for AYLA Board of Directors

Elections to be Held April 13 to May 1, 2020

Aslin

Cuellar

Haley

Harp

Jones

King

Leake

MacCarty

Nelson

Parks

Shell

Suggs

The Austin Young Lawyers Association announces the candidates for its 2020-21 board of directors. A link to the electronic ballot will be sent in an email from BallotBox Online on April 13, 2020. The election will close on Friday, May 1, 2020. Please add noreply@ballotboxonline.com to your account so the message gets past your spam filter.

The following candidates are running for the AYLA officers and board of directors. The new board will take office on July 1, 2020, along with David King, who will serve as AYLA’s president. King has been an AYLA director since 2015. He is currently president-elect of AYLA and previously served as secretary and treasurer. He is also co-chair of AYLA’s Bench Bar Conference and Holiday Programs committees. Outside of AYLA, he is a shareholder at Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, and he serves on the board of directors of Mainspring Schools.

OFFICERS

The only contested officer race is for the office of secretary. Candidates for secretary are Sarah Harp and Eric Nelson.

Harp is an assistant team leader in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Attorney General’s Office. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa School of Law. Since moving to Austin from Oklahoma in 2014, Harp has been a dedicated and involved member of AYLA.

Nelson is an associate attorney at Warren & Lewis and primarily practices in the areas of wills, trusts, and estates. Eric has been a member of AYLA since 2015 and has served as a director on the AYLA board for the past two years.

Rachael Jones is running unopposed for AYLA president-elect. Jones has been actively involved in AYLA and the Austin Bar since becoming licensed as an attorney. She has been on AYLA’s board of directors since 2016, serving as secretary in 2018-19 and treasurer in 2019-20. She is currently a co-chair of AYLA’s Bench Bar, Holiday Programs, and CLE committees, is on the Austin Bar Communications committee, serves as the Austin Lawyer copy editor, and is a 2016 Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy graduate.

Blair Leake is running unopposed for AYLA treasurer. Currently serving as AYLA secretary, and formerly as an elected AYLA director, Leake has worked to rebuild the Community Service Days committee, which now hosts monthly volunteer events with local charities. He has served as the chair of that committee for the last three years, and has also served on the Runway for Justice committee, the Women’s Resource Fair committee, and MLK Day of Service committee.

DIRECTORS

Seven candidates are vying for four two-year terms on the AYLA board of directors. The four elected board members will join directors Ben Dower, Cathy Garza, Jenna Reblin Malsbary, and Emily Morris, whose terms expire in 2021.

Brian Aslin is an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General’s Transportation Division. He previously served as an Assistant District Attorney in Waco, where he also earned his JD and BFA from Baylor University. Brian is currently a member of the 2020 Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy.

Eric Cuellar is proud to be an AYLA member because it is a welcoming, organized, and professional association. He wants to help AYLA continue to grow and provide great resources to its members. As a director, he will work hard to continue to make AYLA a great home for young lawyers.

Callie Haley is an attorney at Wright & Greenhill. She feels fortunate to have started her legal career in Austin. The collegial community within the Austin Bar has invaluably shaped how she practices law and inspired her to run for a position in AYLA.

Jessica MacCarty is the founder of The MacCarty Law Firm, which handles workers’ compensation, personal injury, and appellate cases. She graduated from The University of Texas in Austin and Baylor Law School. Jessica has been an active member of AYLA since 2012.

Ciara Parks is an Assistant District Attorney with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. She was a member of the Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy Class of 2019 and now serves on the Leadership Academy’s planning committee. Parks currently serves as the Corresponding Secretary for the Austin Black Lawyer’s Association.

Morgan Shell practices personal injury, construction, and employment law at Wright & Greenhill. She is a member of the 2019 Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy and has volunteered at the MLK Day of Service. She would be eager to serve the Austin community and legal profession as a director for AYLA.

Hailey Suggs is a civil litigation associate at Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody. Prior to joining GDHM, Hailey received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the Michigan Law Review. Hailey is a native Austinite. AL