FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2025
Contact: Rebecca Johnson
Public Affairs Director, State Bar of Texas
512-427-1714
rebecca.johnson@texasbar.com
G. David Smith of Rockwall elected State Bar of Texas president-elect
AUSTIN — Texas attorneys elected G. David Smith of Rockwall to be president-elect of the State Bar of Texas.
Smith received 52.03% — 8,541 — of the 16,417 votes cast during the monthlong voting period that ended April 30. His opponent, Deborah L. Cordova, of Edinburg, received 47.97%, or 7,876 votes.
Smith will be sworn in as president-elect during a State Bar of Texas Board of Directors meeting on June 19, 2025, and will serve as president of the State Bar of Texas from June 2026 to June 2027.
G. David Smith is a founding partner
in Smith & Lee Lawyers in Rockwall. Originally from Slaton, his
family moved to Canyon and later to Muleshoe, where he graduated from
high school. Smith earned his bachelor’s degree from the
University of Texas at the Permian Basin and his law degree from Texas
Tech University School of Law.
After earning his law degree, Smith joined the Odessa firm of Brannan
and Pipes in 1983. The following year, he opened the Law Offices of G.
David Smith in Odessa, focusing on criminal defense and civil
litigation. In 1989, Smith relocated to Dallas to expand his practice
to include personal injury law. In 2002, he moved the office to
Rockwall, and the firm eventually became Smith & Lee with the
addition of his stepson, Ryan K. Lee.
Smith has been actively involved in his local legal community, serving as president and on the board of the Rockwall County Bar Association, as well as on the board of the Rockwall County Bar Foundation. He serves on two nonprofit boards – one for affordable housing and the other for indigent medical care. Smith is a member of the Texas Bar College and a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. From 2021 to 2024, he represented District 1 on the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors. Smith has served on several bar committees and is currently on the Pattern Jury Charges – Malpractice, Premises & Products Committee. He has been board certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1990. Smith now has an extensive mediation practice in addition to his trial work. David and his wife, Diane, have four grown children, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, and Boudreaux, their fuzz-ball companion.
In other results, the following individuals were elected to the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors:
John Wendel Greenslade, Tyler, District 2; Craig L. Stahl, The Woodlands, District 3; Jed Ross Silverman, Houston, District 4, Place 1; Cheryl Camin Murray, Dallas, District 6, Place 1; Bill Mateja, Dallas, District 6, Place 5; Scott Lindsey, Fort Worth, District 7, Place 2; Natalie Koehler Denbow, Cranfills Gap, District 8; Mary-Ellen King, Austin, District 9, Place 2; Patricia “Patty” Rouse Vargas, San Antonio, District 10, Place 2; and Jason Phillip Sosa, San Angelo, District 15.
Texas Young Lawyers Association election
In the Texas Young Lawyers Association election, Armin Salek of Austin was elected president-elect and will serve as TYLA president from June 2026 to June 2027. Salek received 52.6% of the 4,053 votes cast, while his opponent, Ashton Barrineau Butcher, of Dallas, received 47.4%.
While studying at the University of
Houston Law Center, Armin Salek volunteered as a law instructor in
Houston ISD. Unfortunately, the high school students’ description
of lawyers involved firms they could not afford, legal aid they did not
qualify for, and language barriers between their parents and effective
counsel. Motivated by this experience, Salek returned to Austin and
launched the first high school legal aid clinic, allowing him to both
teach and provide free legal support. For that work, he was named the
Austin ISD High School Teacher of the Year and the Texas Outstanding
Young Lawyer of the Year. After completing his Master’s in
Education from Harvard, he returned to Texas and established a
four-year, paid fellowship for aspiring first-generation lawyers.
In addition to serving on the Texas Young Lawyers Association Board of Directors, Salek serves on the State Bar of Texas Law Focused Education Committee, the Houston Young Lawyers Association DEI Committee, the American Bar Association Commission on Youth at Risk, and the Austin Young Lawyers Association Board of Directors. He also co-chairs the Austin Law Related Education Committee and the Barbara Jordan Inn of Court’s community service program. He previously represented Texas in the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division assembly.
The following individuals were elected to the TYLA Board of
Directors:
Todd W. Smith, Longview, District 1; Jimmy
Vaughn, Lubbock, District 3; J. Collin
Spring, Dallas, District 5, Place 1; William Biggers,
Dallas, District 5, Place 3; Anietie Akpan,
Houston, District 6, Place 5; Nadine Ona, Beaumont,
District 7; Mary C. Rios, Austin, District 8, Place 1;
Claire Harbert, Waco, District 9; Andrew
Tisdale, Fort Worth, District 10, Place 1; Madison
Lengel, Denton, District 11; Rebecca Lopez,
McAllen, District 13; Jack Hurd, Abilene, District 15;
Jackson Willingham, Midland, District 17;
Jenna Castleman, San Antonio, District 18, Place 1;
and Julia V. Rubio, Laredo, District 19.
There will be a runoff for the District 6, Place 3
seat. Mariame Aana and Maryam
Ghaffar, both of Houston, were the top two vote-getters
in that race. Voting will take place May 12-27.
Detailed election results are available at texasbar.com/elections.
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The State Bar of Texas is a public corporation and an administrative agency of the judicial department of state government 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 X (formerly 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.
