Press Release
Contact:
Maggie Martin
Director, Marketing and Communications
O: 346-471-3428
maggiem@hba.org
Diana Gomez Sworn in as First Latina President of the Houston Bar Association
Gomez is the first Latina, 6th woman to serve as HBA President in the organization’s 153-year history
(HOUSTON – May 12, 2022) – Diana Gomez, shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Chamberlain Hrdlicka, took office as the 2023-2024 President of the Houston Bar Association. She succeeds Christopher V. Popov of Vinson & Elkins LLP. Gomez was sworn in at the HBA Annual Dinner on May 11.
Gomez’s priorities for the bar and its over 10,000 members are: promoting community service, fostering attorney engagement, and reinvigorating pipeline programs.
“I am honored to serve as HBA president,” said Gomez. “As lawyers, we have the privilege to serve our community, our profession, and talented young minds. This year, we plan to focus on attorney engagement and increasing access to justice with initiatives like the HBA’s first ever multi-practice bench bar conference and installing L.A.W. (Legal Access Workspace) Pods to bring our downtown law library services to our county at-large.”
Gomez is a trial attorney with extensive experience in civil lawsuits in state and federal courts. She focuses on complex labor and employment disputes by providing a full range of employment law services to her clients from pre-termination counseling, investigations, EEO training, handbook review, drafting of policies and employment agreements, non-competes, defense in administrative proceedings (EEOC charges, unemployment hearings) and arbitrations, as well as all aspects of trial from pre-suit through appeal.
In addition to being a long-standing member of the Houston Bar Association, Gomez was also the employment attorney for the HBA and has served on its board of directors since 2014. She has also chaired numerous HBA committees, including the Law and the Media Committee, the HBA Dispute Resolution Committee, the Houston Lawyer Referral Service, and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.
“We are thrilled to celebrate Diana’s investiture and this historic first for the Houston Bar Association,” said HBA Executive Director Mindy Davidson. “On behalf of the HBA staff, I want to express our appreciation to Diana for everything she has done in her years of service to the HBA so far, and we look forward to working with her in this exciting year ahead.”
Diana was featured in the Texas Lawyer after being recognized as one of “Houston’s 50 Most Influential Women of 2020-2021” for her legal expertise, knowledge, credibility, and trustworthiness. She was also a featured conversationalist during the 25th Annual Table Talk Luncheon hosted by the University of Houston. Diana has been named by U.S. News as one of the “Best Lawyers in America 2022” and has been named to the Texas Super Lawyers List consecutively every year since 2013. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Woodrow B. Seals Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award, the President’s Award by both the HBA and the Houston Hispanic Bar Association, and the Latina Lawyer under 40 Award by the Mexican American Bar Association of Texas Foundation.
Other officers for the 2023-2024 HBA bar year are David E. Harrell of Locke Lord LLP, president-elect; Kaylan Dunn, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP; first vice president; Greg Ulmer, BakerHostetler LLP, second vice president; Daniella Landers, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, treasurer; Collin Cox, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, secretary; and Christopher V. Popov, Vinson & Elkins LLP, immediate past president. Directors are Colin Pogge of Gibbs & Bruns LLP; Jeff Oldham of Bracewell LLP; Carter Dugan of Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP; Greg Moore of Blank Rome LLP; Robert Painter of Painter Law Firm PLLC; Keri Brown of Baker Botts L.L.P.; Samantha Torres of Okin Adams Bartlett Curry LLP; and Seepan V. Parseghian of Beck Redden LLP.
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The Houston Bar Association is a nonprofit professional organization for attorneys that provides education and service programs for the legal profession and the community. With over 10,000 members, the HBA is one of the largest metropolitan bar associations in the nation. Learn more at HBA.org.