The President-Elect Campaign Series | EP. 2: The Future of TYLA

What’s their vision for TYLA? In this episode, each candidate breaks down the initiatives, priorities, and impact they hope to make for young lawyers across Texas. You can access this and all future episodes at this link, or anywhere you get your podcasts: https://tyla.org/resource/young-gunners-podcast/

Don’t forget – voting for Texas Young Lawyers Association is April 1-30, 2026!

#uncommonleaders #tyla #tylaelection #texyounglawyers #younggunners #presidentelect #legalpodcast #leadershipinlaw #barservice

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Welcome back to our special Young Gunner series with the 2026-2027 TYLA President-elect candidates. In this episode, we're digging into each candidate's vision for TYLA, the initiatives they've champions, how their goals meet the needs of young lawyers today, and how they plan to measure the impact of their leadership.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

What are, if you could share with us, uh maybe what are some of the top three initiatives that you would prioritize if you were elected and why? So we'll start with Claire on that one.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Absolutely. As I have touched on in previous questions or discussions, is I want to put the uh people that are in the practice of law and that are um benefited by the practice of law first and help them. And I think the ways that we can do that is um re-evaluating and bolstering our mentorship programs that are offered through the bar um and TYLA, that every lawyer, particularly lawyers know, young lawyers know that um someone above them has and someone before them has done it and has what the path that's there. Um this unique struggle that they're facing. There's someone that's been through there that has wisdom to offer and that can walk alongside you and help you through that and provide wisdom. So pairing those up with people, um, I think back on my practice of law, and I would not be where I am without great mentorship and people that ushered me along the way. Um, so what we can do to make that something that every lawyer and young lawyer has access to and feels comfortable reaching out to a mentor. Um, the other thing is I think more than ever, there's it's a blessing and a curse how much we can do on Zoom and online. We're doing this interview right now. That's a that's a blessing. That's a great thing. That's a benefit. Um, there's free CLEs offered online. Um, there's so many great resources. I think with that, um it's hard as a young lawyer getting pulled in different directions to prioritize bar service, showing up, getting involved in your local affiliate or statewide bar service and leadership. And so what we can do to bring more young lawyers into the fold, to get young lawyers into the room to meet with and connect with their peers and facilitate events that get more young lawyers involved to meet people and see the benefit that comes with building a professional network and then also the personal growth that can be offered through that involvement. Um, so getting more young lawyers into the fold is the best way to wrap that up. And then I think third, so many wonderful leaders have gone before me in TYLA. There are so many fantastic resources and projects already available that I feel are underutilized. So, what we can do to get those resources in people's hands to act on the great work that has already been done before me. So, so much of the practice of law we know is let's not reinvent the wheel. There are great wheels in place, let's roll them out. And so, what we can do to plug um the things that exist and get them to be utilized. So it could be summed up with let's get young lawyers in the room with the people and the resources they need.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

And over to you, Dave. Same question. What are some of your your top three initiatives and um and why would you want to prioritize those?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Sure. So uh my number one priority is mental health, substance abuse, and uh and attorney well-being, work-life balance. Uh it's a perennial issue. It it it's something that's probably never going to go away, but it's something that is vitally important that the state bar and TYLA uh do everything that they can to support uh the young lawyers and uh the bar in general, um, because that it's it's a facet of our existence that's that touches every other area of our practice. You know, if you're if you're not doing well mentally, if you are struggling with substance issues, if you do not have a proper balance, whatever that is for you, uh between uh your work responsibilities and your personal life, uh, you are going to your work as an attorney is gonna suffer. It will. It's not an it's not an if, it's a win. So uh that's my number one priority is to refocus the association's attention on those issues uh and to uh attack them with renewed vigor, uh push out resources that we already have, develop new resources that can benefit our membership. Um so that's my number one priority. Uh another thing I'd want to do is sort of a corollary to that. Uh there are some new uh cessation uh cessation of practice rules uh that got passed over the last couple of years. It was an initiative started uh by Laura Gibson, uh previous state bar uh president. And uh it it is designed to and can make uh stepping back from practice when uh a lawyer has suffered, you know, um a mental health crisis or uh an untimely uh death or mental incapacity, uh, something that causes them to have to step away from the practice. We have these new rules in place uh that are meant to make that process more efficient, uh better for clients, better for court systems. Unfortunately, I think there's still a lot of confusion in how those rules are implemented. Um so I think this is an area that TYLA is, you know, really good at producing uh material that can help streamline a process, explain it, and you know, give us step by step so that uh judges administering dockets that are affected by uh an attorney that has to step away from their practice, their dockets don't get clogged up, uh lawyers that step in to help uh know what their responsibilities, obligations, and protections are. And the clients are that are affected know how they how their case is going to progress uh and so that they don't languish, you know, not even knowing who their lawyer is anymore. Uh and I like I said, I think that's that's something that is eminently doable and that TYLA is really good at producing those types of uh material. And then lastly, uh I want I would want to have a renewed focus on supporting our local affiliates. Uh as an ABAYLD representative, you know, part of my job was uh to uh you know take the pulse of uh the local affiliates. And uh I've certainly seen that there there are things that the local affiliates do that that TYLA as part of the mandatory bar just cannot do. Um and they're important things and they're good things that help their communities. Uh local affiliates, because they are local, because they are, you know, at the ground level uh in their communities, they have a good sense of what their communities really need. And that's true for the lawyers that make up the local affiliates, but also the public that live in those communities and make up those lawyers' clientele. So I think it's important for us uh to support those uh local affiliates to the fullest extent allowable under the law. And uh that's what I would want to do if I'm president. And just to be clear, I I think I've Claire and I have talked about this, and I think she's of a similar mind as me. So this is not a unique opinion for me.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

You'll find a lot of crossover where Dave and I agree on a lot, which is why it's nice to run with a friend.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

That's right.