Austin Bar Board Candidates

2023-24 Austin Bar Board Candidates Announced

Electronic Ballots to Be Distributed on April 14; Voting Will End on May 5

The Austin Bar’s nominating committee announces the following candidates for the board of directors for the 2023-24 bar year.

All races for officer positions are uncontested and there are eight candidates vying for four director positions. Director positions are for a two-year term.

The new board will take office on July 1, 2023, alongside incoming president Justice Chari Kelly.

Officer Candidates

President-Elect: Mary-Ellen King

Secretary: Maitreya Tomlinson

Treasurer: Judge Maya Guerra Gamble

Director Candidates

(four positions available)

Randy Cubriel

Rob Frazer

Matt Garcia

Mary Henderson

Rachael Jones

Cheryn Netz

Shelby O’Brien

Ciara Parks

Any qualified member not receiving the nomination of the committee may be included on the ballot by submitting a written petition signed by 75 members by Friday, April 7.

Electronic ballots will go out on Friday, April 14, and voting will conclude at the annual Bench Bar Conference on May 5.

Mary-Ellen King

King is an attorney practicing general civil litigation with Thompson Coe LLP. She currently serves as secretary of the Austin Bar board. She has served as treasurer and as a director of the Austin Bar, as well as the AYLA board of directors. King was named the 2019-20 Austin Bar Outstanding Director and the 2012 AYLA Outstanding Young Lawyer; received AYLA’s President’s Award of Merit in 2013; and is a graduate of the Austin Bar/AYLA Leadership Academy. She also served as Judicial Reception Committee chair from 2010 to 2014 and Austin Bar Foundation Gala co-chair from 2020 to 2023. She has been a member of the Solo and Small Firm section, where she served as chair, vice-chair, and programming committee chair. She currently serves as president of the Austin Chapter of CLM, on the Women Symphony League board of directors, as Outreach on Austin Pilgrimage Council, on the TRLA board of directors, is the 2022-23 president-elect of the Rotary Club of Westlake, and is an active member of the Westlake Chamber of Commerce.

Mary-Ellen King

Maitreya Tomlinson

Tomlinson is a board-certified civil appellate attorney and managing member of The Tomlinson Firm, PLLC. He currently serves as treasurer of the Austin Bar and has previously served on the board as a director.

Maitreya Tomlinson

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble

Judge Guerra Gamble was elected to the 459th District Court bench in 2018. Her varied career prior to taking the bench included a solo practice representing children and parents in child protective services cases; representing whistleblowers at O’Connell & Soifer; prosecuting child pornography and child exploitation cases for the Texas Attorney General; suing companies committing fraud against the United States for the Department of Justice; and clerking for Judge Richard Cudahy on the 7th Circuit.

She currently serves as a director on the Austin Bar board. As chair of the Equity Committee, she oversaw the inaugural Equity Summit presented by the Austin Bar.

Judge Guerra Gamble is a native Austinite, graduate of Austin High School, Yale College, and Yale Law School, and is married with two teen sons. She is a devoted Scouter, honored to recently receive the Capitol Area Council’s “¡Scouting … Vale La Pena!” service award.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble

Randy Cubriel

Cubriel maintains a thriving business law practice. He also represents clients at the Texas Capitol and state agencies. Cubriel co-founded the Cancer Law Clinic (CANLAW), which provides comprehensive pro bono estate planning services to cancer patients and caregivers. He is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and Texas.

Randy Cubriel

Rob Frazer

A partner at Goranson Bain Ausley, Frazer is board-certified in family law, a director of the Austin Bar Association, and proud father of three. Frazer has been named among The Best Lawyers in America from 2019 to 2023, and was recognized by the Austin Bar as Outstanding Director for the 2021-22 bar year.

Rob Frazer

Matt Garcia

Garcia, co-founder of Barnett & Garcia, is the proud parent of Travis and Marisa. He moved to Austin in 1992 and has been practicing here for over 20 years in creditor’s rights. He is a firm believer in building relationships, giving back, creating mindfulness, and promoting healthy worklife practices.

Matt Garcia

Mary Henderson

Henderson is a member of Butler Snow’s Tort, Transportation and Specialized Litigation Group. She is board-certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She has served on the Austin Bar’s DEI, History and Traditions, and Law-Related Education committees. She is a past president of the Corpus Christi Young Lawyers Association.

Mary Henderson

Rachael Jones

Jones is AYLA’s immediate past president, having previously served in all other positions on AYLA’s board and on numerous AYLA committees in years past. She is also the editor-in-chief and interim managing editor of Austin Lawyer, as well as the chair of the Austin Bar’s Communications Committee. Jones maintains a solo law practice focused on civil appeals, research and writing, complex motions, contracts, and small business law. She also serves as the director of operations for her family’s small business, Cool Kids AC & Heat, LLC (named for their two sons, Riley and Serren).

Rachael Jones

Cheryn Netz

Netz has served as the Assistant General Counsel of the State Securities Board since moving to Texas in 2017. She is a past chair of the Business, Corporate and Tax Law Section of the Austin Bar, and a member of its Labor and Employment Law Section and DEI Committee.

Cheryn Netz

Shelby O’Brien

O’Brien is a partner at Enoch Kever PLLC, where she specializes in litigation at the trial and appellate levels. She has previously worked as a staff attorney at the Supreme Court of Texas and at the Texas Legislative Council.

O’Brien is a current director of the Austin Bar Association. She previously served as chair of the Civil Appellate Section’s Governing Council, chair of the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Foundation, and president of the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association. She is a member of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court and is board-certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

O’Brien and her husband, Chay, are the parents of two boys and a beloved dog, Rosie.

Shelby O'Brien

Ciara Parks

Parks is the General Counsel for the Texas Board of Law Examiners. She worked previously as an Assistant District Attorney with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office in Dayton, Ohio.

She is the president of the Austin Black Lawyers Association, secretary of AYLA, and a board member of the Austin Bar. Parks also serves as an Assistant Area Coordinator for Texas Youth Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

She has been married to Cliffton Parks for 13 years and they are the proud parents of Chaya, Ceana, and CJ.

Ciara Parks