Texas Life Fellow Thomas Leatherbury has been appointed to the Texas Access to Justice Commission to serve a three year term. Based in Dallas, Mr. Leatherbury co-leads the Appellate practice group of Vinson & Elkins LLP and also serves as Director of the First Amendment Clinic at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. The Texas Access to Justice Commission, created by the Supreme Court of Texas in 2001, is charged with developing and implementing initiatives designed to expand access to justice in civil legal matters for low-income Texans. Mr. Leatherbury joins another Texas Fellow from V&E, Harry Reasoner, who has served as the Chair of the Commission for over a decade.
Mr. Leatherbury is a frequent speaker, particularly on First Amendment topics, with organizations such as the Practising Law Institute, the ABA Forum on Communications Law, and the Media Law Resource Center. He currently serves as President of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society and as a Council Member of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section.
Mr. Leatherbury is also deeply committed to pro bono work, from family to immigration to constitutional law and was recently honored with the State Bar of Texas Patrick Wiseman Award for Civil Rights for these contributions. Among many other honors, he was named a fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, received the Dallas Bar Foundation Justinian Award, and was awarded a Presidential Citation from the State Bar of Texas for his commitment to helping its diversity and inclusion efforts.