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The Austin Bar Foundation hosted a ribbon-cutting event celebrating the opening of the Austin Bar’s onsite conference space on April 16 at Hilgers House.
The Jim & Patty Arnold Conference Room has been a goal since the Bar moved into Hilgers House in 2019. Formerly the garage of the Loewy Family Carriage House, the space has been completely transformed into a sleek conference space that can accommodate up to 30 people.
The conference space will be a boon to the Austin Bar’s 28 substantive law sections, which have until now had to schedule CLEs at off-site locations. Now they will be able to utilize the conference space at no cost.
The conference room is named after Patty Arnold and her late husband, Jim, an Austin Bar member who passed away in 2020 due to complications of Parkinson’s disease.
After graduating from UT Law in 1973, Jim started his legal career as a legal aid attorney in the Rio Grande Valley. When he returned to Austin, he started his own firm, Arnold and Associates, and was one of the first attorneys to get certified in civil litigation by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Outside of the law, Jim served on the boards of Legal Aid, SER Jobs for Progress, Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, and the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic.
Jim met Patty Pargaman at UT, who would eventually become his wife and business partner for the next 50 years until Jim’s death. Together, they raised a family with three daughters: Jenny, Katie, and Julie (pictured beside her in the photo above).
When Patty donated to the Foundation to sponsor the conference space, she only wanted Jim’s name attached to it. But at Foundation Chair Justice Chari Kelly’s urging, and with Patty’s approval, the name was changed in order to honor Patty, as well.
The April 16 celebration was an exclusive event for Fellows of the Austin Bar Foundation. Sustaining Fellows–Fellows who have completed their $200 over 10 years commitment and continue to make annual contributions to the Foundation–were our honored guests and were gifted beautiful charcuterie boards emblazoned with the Austin Bar logo.
Of particular note are three Fellows of the Foundation who made exceptionally generous gifts at the April 16 event: Laura Fowler, Matt Garcia, and the Hon. Eric Shepperd.
Now that the construction beside Hilgers House is finished, we encourage you to take a look at the garden beside the cook’s kitchen, which was recently planted with marigolds that are eagerly growing. In that garden, you’ll find a plaque that says, “Laura Fowler Garden.”
If you know Laura, you know how kind and generous she is. She’s the longtime and enthusiastic chair of the Lovin’ It Lawyers section.
Established in 2017, the section is “not limited to any specific age category…The section is open to all seasoned attorneys who are still passionate about the practice of law and all the future holds for them and their careers,” reads the announcement in the March 2017 issue of Austin Lawyer.
The Austin Bar sincerely thanks Laura for her $5,000 contribution to the Foundation.
Matt Garcia currently sits on the Austin Bar’s board of directors and is the chair of the LGBTQ+ Law section. He is also a co-founder and the managing member of Barnett & Garcia, a civil litigation firm.
Matt is also heavily involved in the planning of the Austin Bar DEI Committee’s annual Equity Summit.
Matt earned his JD from UT Law in 1999. His practice focuses on debt collection and judgment enforcement on behalf of insurance carriers, creditors, and financial institutions in state and federal forums.
Matt is admitted to practice in the Western District of Texas. He is a member of the Commercial Law League of America, the International Association of Commercial Collectors, and the American Inns of Court’s Robert Calvert Inn.
The Austin Bar Foundation is grateful for Matt’s $4,000 contribution.
The Hon. Eric Shepperd is the current judge of County Court at Law #2, an office he has held since 2007.
He served as the Austin Bar president for the 2015-16 bar year. During his term, he focused on raising the public’s awareness of legal services and highlighting the ways in which Austin’s legal community works to provide services to those in need.
Prior to assuming office at the county court, Judge Shepperd was the director of civil litigation at the Travis County Attorney’s Office and an assistant attorney general for the Law Enforcement Defense Division.
Since 2007, Judge Shepperd has taught in UT Law’s Trial Advocacy Program, and he is a past board member of the Texas Center for the Judiciary and past chair of Leadership Austin.
In 2023, Judge Shepperd won the Austin Bar’s Joseph C. Parker Jr. Diversity Award, which honors an individual who has made exceptional efforts to diversify Austin’s legal community.
Judge Shepperd recently announced his retirement from the bench at the end of his term in December 2026. While still a year away, we want to wish Judge Shepperd a happy and healthy retirement, and we thank him for his $5,000 donation to the Austin Bar Foundation.
Patty Arnold, middle with scissors, was on hand for the April 16 ribbon-cutting for the Jim & Patty Arnold Conference Room, an onsite conference space at Hilgers House that is available to the Austin Bar’s sections to host CLEs.
(L-R): Austin Bar Executive Director DeLaine Ward and President Mary-Ellen King.
(L-R): Third Court of Appeals Chief Justice Darlene Byrne and King & Spalding partner Edward Fernandes.
(L-R): Austin Bar President Mary-Ellen King, State Bar of Texas President Steve Benesh, and past Austin Bar President Justice Chari Kelly.
(L-R): Mary-Ellen King thanks Matt Garcia for his $4,000 contribution to the Austin Bar Foundation.
(L-R): Past Austin Bar President Kennon Wooten, DeLaine Ward, and Past President Martha Dickie.