The Texas Board of Legal Specialization has a new chair of its board of directors and five new board members. The board, which was created in 1974 by the State Bar of Texas, works to administer the program that certifies attorneys in 22 specific areas of law and paralegals in seven areas, and members are appointed by the State Bar president.

David Dickson, who was appointed chair on August 1, is a founding partner in Beard Kultgen Brophy Bostwick & Dickson in Waco and also serves as general counsel for the Waco Association of Realtors and the Heart of Texas Apartment Owners Association. He is board certified in commercial, residential, and farm and ranch real estate law (one of only 57 attorneys in Texas to have all three certifications) and is a former State Bar Board of Directors member and chairman of the State Bar’s Professionalism Committee.

“I’ve been involved with this program for more than 30 years and am continually impressed with TBLS members’ accomplishments,” Dickson said in a press release. “There are some great attorneys who’ve served as board chair, the last being Hal Moorman, and [I] feel very humbled with this appointment. TBLS is important for the public and for attorneys in our state as we’re focused on enhancing the quality of legal representation in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

The other new board members will work on overseeing the organization’s finances, enhancing the value of an attorney becoming board certified, and increasing public awareness of board certification. The following members join current TBLS board members Pat Allison, William Elliott, Susan Fisher, Maxine Longoria, Laura Sharp, and Alton Todd.

  • Amy Dashiell, a board-certified labor and employment lawyer with Scott Douglass & McConnico in Austin, joins the TBLS board after previously serving as a TBLS Labor and Employment Law Exam Commission member.
  • Brett Harrison—a board-certified criminal law attorney and partner in Bain, Files, Jarrett, Bain & Harrison in Tyler—joins after serving from 2009 to 2011 on the TBLS Criminal Law Exam Commission. He also is chairman of the State Bar of Texas District 2 Grievance Committee, of which he has been a member since 2011.
  • Brian Webb is a board-certified family lawyer with the Webb Family Law Firm in Dallas. He previously served on the TBLS Family Law Exam Committee, helping to write and grade the exam. He has been president of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas as well as the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Foundation, in addition to numerous other organization affiliations. Webb was recently inducted into the Texas Family Law Hall of Legends.
  • Frank Carroll, board certified in civil appellate law and civil trial law, joins the TBLS board after serving as chair of its Civil Trial Exam Commission. He practices trial, appellate, antitrust, white-collar criminal, arbitration, and intellectual property law in the Dallas office of Dkyema Cox Smith. Carroll is chair of the Federal Bar Association Antitrust and Trade Regulation Section and a former chair of the association’s Federal Litigation Section, the State Bar of Texas Antitrust and Business Litigation Section, and the Dallas Bar Antitrust and Trade Regulation and Business Litigation sections.
  • Grant Scheiner, a board-certified criminal lawyer with Scheiner Law Group in Houston, is a life member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, an officer and Executive Committee member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and a fellow of the College of the State Bar of Texas. In the past, he has served as chair of the State Bar’s Computer and Technology Section, a large-section representative to the bar’s Board of Directors, a board member of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, and chair of the Criminal Defense Lawyers Project.

For more information on the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, go to its website at tbls.org.