The Dallas Bar Association, or DBA, recently elected Laura Benitez Geisler, of the Geisler Law Firm, to serve as president in 2019. Upon being sworn in on January 12, Geisler will be the first Hispanic member of the DBA to serve as president.

Laura Benitez Geisler

Geisler currently serves as board adviser to the DBA’s Lawyer Referral Service Committee and to the Alternative Dispute Resolution and Intellectual Property Law Sections. She was elected chair of the board in 2015. Geisler was co-chair of the 2014-2015 Equal Access to Justice Campaign and received a DBA Presidential Citation in 2016. Geisler first served on the board of directors in 2007 in her capacity as Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, or DAYL, president.

In addition to her bar service, Geisler is a fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation, the Texas Bar Foundation, and the DAYL Foundation. She served as president of the Dallas Women Lawyers Association, or DWLA, in 2003. Geisler is a graduate of Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Other officers serving on the board are: Robert Tobey, of Johnston Tobey Baruch, as president-elect; Aaron Tobin, of Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton, as first vice president; Karen McCloud, of Karen D. McCloud, as second vice president; Ashlei Gradney, of Gradney, as secretary/treasurer; and Immediate Past President Michael K. Hurst of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst.

Those serving on the board of directors include: Vicki D. Blanton of AT&T; Jonathan Childers of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst; Chalon Clark of Husch Blackwell; Sakina Rasheed Foster of Haynes and Boone; DAYL President Charles Gearing on Figari + Davenport; Rocio García Espinoza of Hunton Andrews Kurth; Judge Martin Hoffman, of the 68th Civil District Court; Krisi Kastl, of Kastl Law; Bill Mateja of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton; Judge-elect Audrey Moorehead of Dallas County Criminal Court 3; Kathryne Morris of Clark Hill Strasburger; Cheryl Camin Murray of Katten Munchin Roseman; Judge-elect Erin Nowell of the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas and J.L. Turner Legal Association president; Dallas Hispanic Bar Association President Javier Perez of Scott Perez; DWLA President Sarah Rogers of Crain Lewis Brogdon; Mary Scott of Spencer Scott; Dallas Asian American Bar Association President Jason Shyung of Southwest Airlines; and Victor Vital of Barnes & Thornburg.

For more information about the Dallas Bar Association, go to dallasbar.org.