Meet the Law Practice Management Committee

Dirk Jordan, Committee Chair

received his BA from Louisiana State University and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. He practices commercial and construction litigation and also has a mediation practice. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law teaching a course on how to manage your law firm. He has been a member of the Inns of Court for twenty-three years and has recently been elected to the Board of Trustees for the American Inns of Court.

Penny Robe, Committee Vice Chair

currently serves as president of Phillips Law Firm, which provides a full range of legal services and focuses on three main areas of practice: probate-related matters, family law matters, and business law and corporate transactions.

Prior to opening Phillips Law Firm, she spent a decade as in-house corporate counsel, working for such companies as Pinnacle Anesthesia Consultants, PBS&J, and Star’s Edge International. Her early career experiences include serving as an attorney and officer on active duty in the United States Air Force and serving as an assistant district attorney for the 64th and 242nd district courts and as acting county attorney for Hale County, Texas.

William H. (Bill) Betts, Jr., Advisory Member

is a shareholder with Betts, Walters & Mutscher, PC in Brenham, Texas, whose primary practice is in the area of real estate, probate, trust and related litigation.  Bill is a former Section Representative to the State Bar Board of Directors and Chairman of the Property & Space Committee, as well as the former Section Chair of the General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Section of the SBOT.  He is presently a member, and former chairman, of the District 8 Grievance Committee.

Debra L. Bruce

is President of Lawyer-Coach LLC, which provides executive coaching and training for lawyers on practice management issues, including leadership, team effectiveness, productivity and business development. Capitalizing on 18 years in law practice and 15 years coaching, she helps lawyers adapt effectively to the unprecedented changes occurring in the legal industry today. She serves on the board of the ABA Law Practice magazine and has previously served as the Vice Chair of this Law Practice Management Committee. She was the first lawyer in Texas to be credentialed by the International Coach Federation.

Matthew E. Eilers

is Principal Attorney Editor in the Corporate and M&A section of Practical Law at Thomson Reuters, where he creates, edits and maintains content offering practical legal guidance in the industry. Previously he was Jurisdiction Lead at Westlaw Doc & Form Builder (formerly New Product Manager at ProDoc), leading teams of attorneys and legal professionals to author, edit and develop legal technology and document assembly form templates in diverse subject areas (such as business organizations, immigration, family law, litigation, real estate, estate planning and probate). Prior to ProDoc, he spent a year on sabbatical in Guanajuato, Mexico. Before that, he was the managing partner of Tuck & Eilers LLP, a general practice law firm in Austin, Texas.

Lori Lynelle Gosnell

has been involved in all aspects of civil litigation and law office administration and management since 1993.  After working fourteen years in Austin and six in Houston, she established the Gosnell Law Firm in Wimberley in 2006. In January 2010, she was instrumental in the formation of the Hays County Pro Bono Divorce Clinic, and she remains the coordinator of the clinic today.  She is also active in the Hays County Bar Association and currently serves as secretary of the Board of Directors.  Lori is also a graduate adjunct professor at Texas State University, teaching litigation, advanced litigation, and law office management courses.

John Meredith

is the Chief Operating Officer for Chamberlain Hrdlicka, which is a diversified law firm with multiple practice areas including tax, litigation, corporate, IP, real estate and estate planning. After graduating from Baylor Law School, he practiced trial law in Houston. He worked at nonprofits including Aspiring Youth where he was the founding President and General Counsel and at SpringSpirit as Executive Director and General Counsel. He has worked in law practice management at Greenberg Traurig as Business Director, Beck Redden as Executive Director and Chamberlain Hrdlicka as COO.

Kimberly M. Naylor

graduated law school from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1995 and has practiced family law exclusively for the past 20 years. She is a partner with the firm of Loveless & Naylor, handles family law litigation matters and is also trained in collaborative law. She is a certified family law mediator and is also trained and serves as a Parent Coordinator and Parent Facilitator. She currently sits on the State Bar of Texas Grievance Committee and is a Panel Chair for the Fee Arbitration Committee of the Tarrant County Bar Association. Kimberly has authored numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer for continuing legal education seminars.

Ruby L. Powers

is the founder of a three-attorney firm (Law Office of Ruby L. Powers, P.C.) in Houston focusing on immigration law, including waivers of inadmissibility, asylum, deportation, and family- and employment-based petitions.  She is board certified in immigration and nationality law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She attended the University of Texas and the University of North Carolina School of Law. Powers lived and studied in Mexico, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, and UAE and speaks Spanish and French. She serves as the AILA Texas Chapter advocacy chair, the AILA Law Practice Management Committee chair, and on various ABA Law Practice Division committees. She is a frequent speaker and author on immigration law and law practice management topics.

Anuj Shah

has practiced law since 2002. His primary area of practice is immigration and U.S. nationality law, but he has also practiced international law, energy regulatory law, commercial litigation, and labor and employment law. Before starting The Law Office of Anuj A. Shah P.C. in 2007, Anuj was a founding member of Skadden, Woo, Shah & Azimpoor, PLLC, as well as of a boutique law firm specializing in labor and employment and immigration law. Anuj also worked as an associate attorney in the energy regulatory section of the international law firm of Vinson & Elkins, LLP and as judicial law clerk to the Honorable Marcia A. Crone of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Anuj is proficient in Spanish, French, Gujarati, Hindi, and Classical Sanskrit.

Susan Grothues Simmons

has been a solo practitioner in San Antonio since 2007.   She graduated from Texas Tech School of Law with a J.D. and from the Rawls School of Business with an MBA, having completed undergraduate work at UTSA.  Her practice focuses on the areas of wills, trusts and probate as well as all areas of small business administration including entity formation, contract review and negotiation.  She has been active in both the State Bar of Texas as well as the San Antonio Bar Association.

Mark Unger

is a family lawyer, mediator, and consultant in San Antonio, Texas. He has been practicing family law almost exclusively since 1996. He started his mediation practice in 2009, after becoming credentialed in both general and family law mediation. He has been highly involved with the integration of technology and law since approximately 1998, and he launched Muse Legal Technology in 2015 to help solo practitioners and small firms increase efficiency via the use of technology in their law practices. Mark also serves on the State Bar Computer & Technology Section Council, San Antonio Bar’s Family Law Section Board, Supreme Court’s Judicial Committee on Information Technology, and Technology Section of the San Antonio Bar.

Jessica Vittorio

is a business attorney based in Dallas, Texas. After graduating from Baylor Law School with a J.D. she started her career by serving as primary Legislative Counsel for a member of the United States House of Representatives. Following her tenure with Congress she opened her law practice in Dallas, which focuses on transactional business law – primarily working with young entrepreneurs and startup companies. Jessica is an active member, and frequent speaker, in the entrepreneurial community in Dallas, while also serving as an adjunct professor of Business Law at Collin College.

Committee Members Not Pictured

 

Erich M. Birch, Alternate Board Advisor
Kristen Brauchle Hawkins
Reginald A. Hirsch
Melissa Astala Khan
Jennie Christine Knapp, Advisory Member
Joshua David Massingill
Janet McCullar
Scott Weston Sherwood, Board Advisor