Tiye Foley, Michael Ritter, and Ryan V. Cox received On the Rise—Top 40 Young Lawyers Awards from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.
The ABA’s On the Rise award program began in 2016 and has provided “national recognition for ABA young lawyer members who exemplify a broad range of high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and legal and community service,” according to its website. Candidates for the awards are ABA members, licensed to practice in the U.S. or its territories, are 36 or young, and are nominated by those familiar with their professional work.
Foley is an attorney with Exxon Mobil Corporation’s Environmental and Safety Law group and previously worked in litigation with Baker Donelson. In private practice, she focused on creditor lawsuits, commercial disputes, and bad-faith insurance claims. Foley also has a background in mechanical engineering, which aids her intellectual property and environmental cases. In addition to practicing law, she spearheads monthly legal clinics in the Houston area as chair of the NAACP-Houston Legal Redress Committee and is on the board of directors for and general counsel to JJ’s I’m Me Foundation, which is a nonprofit that hosts life-development workshops for at-risk girls.
Ritter has worked extensively with the state’s court system, including the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, and currently the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio. He’s drafted more than 350 opinions and worked on more than 700 appellate matters. Ritter has authored more than 30 law review articles and legal publications, with one being cited by the Texas Supreme Court. Outside of his law practice, he co-owns a business to help students in 47 states and six countries develop argumentation and presentation skills; promotes access to justice and diversity through the Texas Young Lawyers Association, or TYLA, and San Antonio Young Lawyers Association, or SAYLA; served as president of the San Antonio LGBT Bar Association and Texas Association of Appellate Court Attorneys; and volunteered with nonprofits that help LGBTQ youth, people living with HIV, and single parents without transportation.
Cox is a senior attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project in San Antonio, where he works on voting rights litigation in state and federal courts, with a focus on addressing systemic issues that prevent voter access to the polls. He previously was a briefing attorney with the 13th Court of Appeals and clerked with the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas. Cox is a TYLA director and has worked on local affiliate programs and projects that address fair housing and eviction cycles. He has also previously served the SAYLA as a director and president in 2017-2018, a year when its projects won ABAYLD Service to the Bar, Service to the Public, and Comprehensive Programming Awards, as well as the W. Frank Newton Award from the State Bar of Texas in recognition of efforts to increase legal services to the poor.
The ABA’s On the Rise award program began in 2016 and has provided “national recognition for ABA young lawyer members who exemplify a broad range of high achievement, innovation, vision, leadership, and legal and community service,” according to its website. Candidates for the awards are ABA members, licensed to practice in the U.S. or its territories, are 36 or young, and are nominated by those familiar with their professional work.
For a full list of 2019’s award winners, go to americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/awards_scholarships/on_the_rise/2019-honorees.