State of the State Bar
Update on the resources the State Bar of Texas provides and an information about important developments.
.A. “Trey” Apffel III became executive director of the State Bar of Texas in December 2017. A longtime Galveston County trial lawyer, he previously was the owner and principal of the Apffel Law Firm in League City, where he focused on personal injury litigation, toxic torts, medical malpractice, and family law. He is certified in both civil trial law and personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Apffel has served as State Bar of Texas president (2014-2015), on the State Bar Board of Directors, and as a member of the board’s Executive Committee. He is a former member of the Commission for Lawyer Discipline, a member of the Texas Bar College, a Texas Bar Foundation Life Fellow, and served on the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees.
Sally Pretorius is board certified in family law and is an associate at KoonsFuller in Dallas. She is the President of the TYLA Board of Directors.
Education:
St. Mary’s University (2006)
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude
Honors Program Graduate
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, J.D. (2009)
G. Thomas Vick Jr. Vick is a partner in Vick Carney LLP in Weatherford. Board certified in family law, he has published dozens of works on various aspects of the law and lectured widely.
Vick chaired the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees in 2013-2014. He served on the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008 and the Texas Access to Justice Commission from 2006 to 2009. A former mayor of Weatherford, Vick has served as president of both the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists and the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, as a chair of the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section, and as chair of the Supreme Court Task Force to Expand Legal Services Delivery.
Vick was named the 2008 State Bar of Texas Family Law Section Outstanding Family Lawyer, given the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists Judge Sam Emison Award, and named the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers’ Fellow of the Year in 2009. He received presidential citations for service to the State Bar in 2008 and 2012.
Vick received a bachelor’s degree from Austin College in Sherman in 1977 and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law in 1981.