FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2023
Contact: Lowell Brown
Communications Director, State Bar of Texas
512-427-1713
lbrown@texasbar.com
Texas Young Lawyers Association announces
2023-2024 president-elect candidates
AUSTIN—Texas attorneys new to the practice of law will choose between Dallas lawyers Cali Franks and Hisham Masri for the next president-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association.
TYLA members will cast ballots from April 3 to May 2, and election results will be announced May 2. The winner will serve as TYLA president from June 2024 until June 2025.
TYLA is the public service arm of the State Bar of Texas. All Texas-licensed attorneys in their first 12 years of practice, regardless of age, are members of TYLA.
Cali Franks
Cali Franks has served on the TYLA Board of Directors since 2019 and is currently the treasurer. She has led several TYLA projects, including Iconic Women in Legal History and the podcast Practice Areas 101. In recognition of her service to Texas young lawyers, Franks was honored with the TYLA President’s Award of Merit in 2021 and 2022.
In addition to TYLA, she is also serving her third term as an elected director for the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and is the managing director of programming for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Franks is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and Dallas Association of Young Lawyers Foundation. For her dedication to the profession, she was recognized in the American Bar Association’s On the Rise, Top 40 Young Lawyers Under 40 program in 2022.
Franks attended the University of Texas, then St. Mary’s University School of Law. She began her career practicing civil litigation in Dallas and is currently a program attorney at Lawline. Franks is active in her community, serving on the Dallas Firefighters Museum Board of Directors. When not volunteering, she enjoys traveling with her fiance, Jesse, and coming home to her rescue dogs.
Hisham Masri
Hisham Masri was born and raised in the Dallas area and is the son of Middle Eastern immigrants. He is married to Victoria Mourtada and father to their two children, Celine (2 years) and Jude (4 months). After attending Southern Methodist University and Texas A&M School of Law, Masri worked for solo, small, and national firms. He serves as the North American employment counsel at Flowserve Corporation, where he contributes to the organization’s success as a legal adviser in litigation, labor and employment law, and immigration.
For the Texas Young Lawyers Association, he has served as vice president and secretary. Masri has served as the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division district representative of North Texas and as a Dallas director and has received TYLA’s Outstanding Director and Outstanding First-Year Director awards.
He serves his community and the Texas bar and is a Texas Bar Foundation fellow, an associate in Higginbotham Inn of Court, and a volunteer judge for Plano Teen Court. Masri participates in the Lawyers Promoting Diversity Committee of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, from which he received the Outstanding Chair Award. His wellness activities include running, spending time with family, and playing video and board games.
Media note: Photos of the candidates are available upon request.
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The State Bar of Texas is an administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Texas that provides educational programs for the legal profession and the public, administers the minimum continuing legal education program for attorneys, and manages the attorney discipline system. For more information, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @statebaroftexas, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/statebaroftexas, or visit texasbar.com.
Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA), known as the “public service arm” of the State Bar of Texas, works to facilitate the administration of justice, foster respect for the law, and advance the role of the legal profession in serving the public. For more information, visit tyla.org.
