Federal Bar Association - Southern District of Texas Chapter

Thanks to the judges from the Brownsville for participating in a fantastic CLE today. Thanks also to our amazing division representative, Sara Stapleton Barrera, who planned and moderated today’s program, and thank you to our co-host , which also sponsored, as well as sponsors Atlas, Hall & Rodriguez and Stapleton &Stapleton! It was a well attended and very informative event.

The lawyers on the panel were passionate about and college sports, and it resulted in an incredibly engaging and informative program. Many thanks to these lawyers for being on the panel and to everyone who helped plan and attended.

We are pleased to announce our 2026 Blask Fellows! These students are working for federal courts or agencies this summer, including working with federal judges in the Houston, Brownsville, or Galveston divisions, and learning from attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s office, ICE, or the Federal Public Defender’s office. Please join us in congratulating these students!

Floridell Berry, University of Texas School of Law
Chidera Ekwem, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Austin Espey, Harvard Law School
Stephen Ferrer, Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Armando Garza, University of Houston Law Center
Vivian Gee, SMU Dedman School of Law
Hannah Kay, University of Houston Law Center
Makenzie Lohman, University of Houston Law Center
Daniel Pierce, South Texas College of Law Houston
Young Smith, South Texas College of Law Houston
Dean Toumajian, University of Texas School of Law
Judie Enkhjin Usukhbayar, South Texas College of Law Houston
Sarah Williams, University of Houston Law Center
Shiva Zamen, South Texas College of Law Houston

Thank you to the Blask Foundation, which funds these fellowships, and all of the firms that support our Annual Dinner, which raises funds for the Blask Foundation.

Breaking News!! We are starting a newsletter. This will be a quarterly publication, and we are going to fill it with news federal practitioners from throughout the district will find helpful. Submit your ideas and articles here by May 29 via the form linked at the QR code in the second picture.

Galveston Chambers Chat and Courthouse Tour.

We are co-hosting a CLE in Brownsville with the about federal practice in the Brownsville Division! RSVP as noted on the flyer. Thanks to Atlas, Hall & Rodriguez for sponsoring!

Our May CLE is a game changer! Or, rather, it’s about a game changer. Join us in person or online to learn more about NIL in college sports. Sign up on our EventBrite site—or find the link on the events page of our website, fbasdtx.org.

hosted our first law student event, and it was wonderful! Thank you to STCL student and Chapter Education Committee member Caroline Burchett and to Chapter student member Catherine Crawford for their work on the event.

Thank you so much to President Santos Vargas and Andrea Belanger for coming to Houston for our monthly CLE today. Mr. Vargas’s remarks were both inspiring and informative.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to chat with the two federal judges sitting in Galveston! On May 8, the SDTX Chapter, along with the Galveston County Bar Association and the Litigation  Section of the State Bar of Texas, are pleased to announce the opportunity to attend this Chambers Chat, hosted by Hon. Jeffrey Brown and Hon. Andrew Edison, at the Galveston Federal Courthouse. RSVP through Jordan Raschke Elton, the Chapter’s Galveston Division Representative, as indicated on the flyer.

Thank you to Jordan for all of her work putting together this event.