2026 TYLA District Director Runoff Election
Lisa Luz Parker, of Houston, has won the runoff for the District 6, Place 4 seat on the TYLA Board of Directors. View the results.
2026 State Bar of Texas Election
Sarah Clower Keathley has been elected State Bar of Texas president-elect for 2026-2027. View the results. Claire Harbert has been elected TYLA president-elect for 2026-2027. View the results. Read the press release.
State Bar President-elect Candidates
The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors Nominations and Elections Subcommittee voted to recommend Sarah Clower Keathley, of Corsicana, and Ray Thomas, of McAllen, as nominees for 2026-2027 State Bar president-elect. The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors voted to approve their nominations at its quarterly meeting in Fort Worth on January 30, 2026.
Click the names below to read the nominees’ interest letters and resumes as submitted to the subcommittee.
SARAH CLOWER KEATHLEY
Corsicana
Campaign
brochure
Letter of interest
Sarah Clower Keathley is the co-founder of Keathley & Keathley, a
general community law practice in Corsicana. Her career includes service
as assistant general counsel for the former General Services Commission;
work in private practice; service as city attorney for the cities of
Dawson, Rice, and Richland; and service as a municipal judge. Keathley
received her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law. She is
a credentialed mediator trained in collaborative law.
A longtime leader in the organized bar, Keathley has served for more than 20 years as president of the Navarro County Bar Association, including her current term. She has served on the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors; chaired its Professional Development Subcommittee and Continuing Legal Education Committee; served on the council of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section; and currently serves on the State Bar’s Law Practice Management Committee, where she co-chairs a subcommittee on succession planning and practice management.
Keathley is a member of the Texas Bar College and a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. A frequent State Bar CLE speaker, she has also been recognized for volunteer service by Lone Star Legal Aid and the McLennan County Dispute Resolution Center.
Keathley and her husband and law partner, Steve, have practiced in Corsicana for nearly three decades. They are the proud parents of Luke, a second-year law student at St. Mary’s University School of Law, her alma mater, and Kate, a first-year law student at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, his alma mater.
RAY THOMAS
McAllen
Campaign
brochure
Letter of interest
Ray Thomas is certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization and president of Ray Thomas Law Group with offices in
McAllen and Seguin. He is an advocate member of the American Board of
Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a PACE Setter for the ABOTA Foundation, a
fellow of both the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the
International Society of Barristers, and a sustaining life fellow of the
Texas Bar Foundation. Thomas received his law degree from the University
of Texas School of Law.
He currently chairs the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section following two terms and an officer rotation on the council. Thomas’ past bar leadership includes service on the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors, as well as service as president and vice president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, commissioner on the Texas Access to Justice Commission, and presidential appointment to the National Board of ABOTA. He also served on the Supreme Court of Texas Grievance Oversight Committee and as faculty for ABOTA’s National Trial College in Chicago, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Advocacy College of Texas, and the State Bar Litigation Section’s Trial Academy.
Thomas has been married to Sandra for 37 years. They have two children and three grandchildren. The family owns and their son operates the Lodge at Santos Patronos Ranch in Seguin, a ranch retreat for corporate events and family retreats. They also breed and sell fine Wagyu cattle, genetics, and beef. Thomas serves as a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Seguin. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Club of McAllen.
Nominations and Elections is a subcommittee of the State Bar board co-chaired by Immediate Past President Steve Benesh and Immediate Past Board Chair Paul K. Stafford.
PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATE FORUM
State Bar of Texas president-elect candidates Sarah Clower Keathley and Ray Thomas participated in a live, virtual candidate forum on March 31, 2026. The forum is accredited by the State Bar of Texas for 1 hour of MCLE ethics credit. Note: MCLE accreditation was only available to viewers who watched the live broadcast of the candidate forum on March 31, 2026, from noon to 1 p.m. CDT. Viewers who watch the video on demand of this candidate forum can report it as self-study credit.
Watch the 2026-2027 State Bar of Texas President-elect Candidate Forum here.
MEET THE CANDIDATES
To help voters get to know the State Bar president-elect candidates better, we are sharing the “Meet the Candidates” video featuring messages from Sarah Clower Keathley and Ray Thomas. Watch the video here.
State Bar District Director Races
Seven State Bar districts will vote for a district director position in 2026. View candidate biographies here.
For information on how to run as a district director, go here.
2026 TYLA Election
TYLA President-elect Candidates
The Texas Young Lawyers Association Board of Directors approved the nominations of David R. "Dave" Hagan, of Longview, and Claire Harbert, of Waco, as 2026-2027 president-elect candidates. This year, nominees for president-elect are from metropolitan counties.
DAVID R. "DAVE" HAGAN
Longview
David R. “Dave” Hagan is the current chair of the Texas
Young Lawyers Association Board of Directors and has served on the TYLA
board since 2019 when he was first elected as the direct representative
for District 1 (Northeast Texas). While on the board, Hagan has served
as a project lead, a committee chair, and the ABA/YLD Representative
for the 26th District (North Texas).
Hagan completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas, where he majored in history and Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies. He received his law degree from Baylor Law School with a certification in criminal practice.
Licensed to practice law in Texas since 2016, Hagan has worked in government at the Gregg County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney, personal injury trial lawyer with the Sloan Firm in Longview, and as a solo practitioner based in Longview, where he focuses on criminal defense and personal injury.
Hagan and his wife, Mallory, are the proud parents of 2-year-old Harry, 4-month-old Maggie, two dogs, and five cats.
CLAIRE HARBERT
Waco
Born and raised in Beaumont, Claire Harbert has known she wanted to be
a lawyer when she grew up for as long as she can remember. She earned
both her undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University before
beginning her legal career in Houston.
Harbert’s practice focused on general civil litigation and construction law, both as an associate and as general counsel for a construction company. In 2022, she relocated to Waco, where she is a staff attorney for the 10th Court of Appeals and serves on the adjunct faculty at Baylor Law School. Harbert has the privilege of coaching mock trial teams for Baylor Law each fall and spring, including co-coaching Baylor’s 2024 American Association of Justice (AAJ) National Mock Trial Championship Team.
She has represented District 9 (Central Texas) on the TYLA Board of Directors for three years, a role for which she received the President’s Award of Merit. Harbert is also the current president of the McLennan County Young Lawyers Association. Beyond her professional commitments, she has the great joy of being a wife and the mother to her 2-year-old daughter (and her two dogs).
TYLA District Director Races
Eighteen TYLA districts will vote for a district director position in 2026. View candidate biographies here.
