On June 4, 2024, DeLaine Ward celebrated her 40th anniversary as executive director of the Austin Bar Association.
In 1984, when Ward saw the advertisement for the position, she was a recent journalism graduate from The University of
Texas. She intended to become a journalist and took a job with the State Bar of Texas in order to add some bona fides to her resume.
“My boss at the State Bar saw the position and said, ‘You should apply,’” Ward said. “I was only 24 at the time. I thought, ‘I’m never going to get this job.’”
But, to her surprise, she did.
Ward’s 20th anniversary as executive director was commemorated on the front page of the July/August 2004 issue of Austin Lawyer. That article describes a 1984 Austin Bar that is nearly unrecognizable today, with fewer than 1,000 members and a budget of just $75,000. The Bar was housed in the Brizendine House. There were only two sections, just a few committees, and, before Ward, no staff.
Once Ward was hired, she was responsible for organizing Bar events, putting out the monthly newsletter, overseeing the Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service, and doing all accounting by hand.
In the 40 years since Ward was hired, the Bar has changed more than it had in the 91 years between its founding in 1893 and 1984. During Ward’s tenure:
The Bar moved out of the Brizendine House to a larger office on Lavaca Street. However, the Bar’s increasing staff soon outgrew that space and moved to 816 Congress, where it would be headquartered for more than 15 years before finally coming home to Hilgers House.
The Bar’s membership increased from less than 1,000 to nearly 4,000, including lawyers, law professors, judges, paralegals, and law students.
The Bar established 27 sections and 14 committees. And whereas the committees of the 1984 bar were very general in their missions, today’s committees serve very specific functions, such as the Adoption Day Committee, which helps organize the annual Austin Adoption Day.
The Bar renamed itself in 2004, from the Travis County Bar Association to the Austin Bar Association.
Also in 2004, the Austin Bar Foundation (ABF) was founded, with the goal of providing grants to deserving local organizations. To date, the ABF has awarded more than $480,000 in grants.
The Austin legal community of 1984 did not have an LGBT bar. The Austin LGBT Bar Association was founded in 2013, and in 2019 it merged with the Austin Bar to become the Bar’s LGBTQ+ Law Section. Together with the ABF, the Section administers the LGBTQ+ Scholarship program, which awards multiple $5,000 scholarships to Texas law students from the LGBTQ+ community or who advocate for LGBTQ+ causes.
In Ward’s tenure, the Bar’s leadership has diversified significantly. The Bar had no women or minority presidents from 1893 to 1984. However, from 1984 to 2024, the Austin Bar has had its:
First female president (Karen Johnson, 1985-86; later also the first female State Bar executive director, 1990-94)
Second female president (Martha Dickie, 1988-89
First Hispanic president (Richard Pena, 1990-91)
Third female president (Judge Jan Soifer, 1994-95)
First Black president (Rev. Joseph C. Parker, Jr., 1996-97)
Fourth female president (Beverly Reeves, 1998-99)
Fifth female president (Mina Brees, 1999-2000)
Sixth female president and second Black president (Velva Price, 2000-01)
Second Hispanic president (Judge Jim Coronado, 2001-02)
Seventh female president (Laura Bellegie-Sharp, 2003-04)
Eighth female president (Jo Ann Merica, 2007-08)
Ninth female president (Ann Greenberg, 2009-10)
Tenth female president (Judge Elisabeth Earle, 2014-15)
Third Black president (Judge Eric Shepperd, 2015-16)
Eleventh female president (Leslie Dippel, 2016-17)
Twelfth female president (Amy Wellborn, 2017-18)
Thirteenth female president (Kennon Wooten, 2020-21)
Fourteenth female president, third Hispanic president, and first Hispanic female president (Amanda Arriaga, 2022-23)
Fifteenth female president (Justice Chari Kelly, 2023-24)
Sixteenth female president (Mary-Ellen King, 2024-25)
Additionally, while the Bar has always been involved in pro bono legal efforts, it was only with Ward at the helm that we were able to put on regular pro bono events. For example, the ABF’s Veterans Legal Assistance Program puts on a monthly legal advice clinic at the VA, where volunteer attorneys advise veterans on legal matters. The Bar also created the CanLaw Clinic in 2017. This regular clinic pairs volunteer attorneys with individuals who have advanced-stage cancer to provide free estate-planning services.
While the success of the Austin Bar has been a joint effort of everyone involved, Ward’s role can’t be overlooked.
Stability is key to success, and Ward has certainly provided the Bar with stability over the past 40 years, creating a foundation on which we continue to build.
On behalf of the Austin Bar, thank you for your service, DeLaine Ward!