ENRLS Member Andrew Strong Discusses His Run for President-Elect of the State Bar of Texas.

At 4:30 a.m. on March 23rd, Andrew Strong was heading out to Houston’s Hobby to fly to Dallas for another day of “meet and greets” at Dallas law firms, punctuated by luncheon and dinner speech engagements. He knew that the election for State Bar President is often decided by the votes of Dallas and Houston lawyers, and had scheduled his time accordingly.

It was a fast-paced quest, starting in late January when he accepted the nomination of the State Bar Board of Directors to run as one of the two candidates for President-Elect of the State Bar. The other nominee, Gib Walton, was also from Houston. The State Bar has rigid rules for campaigning for its highest office. The campaign is compressed into four months, with three phases. The first phase is in-office campaigning through phone calls, letters, and e-mails. The out-of-office campaign is the second phase, running from March 1st through April 3rd. The last phase is devoted to getting out the vote.

Andrew used his technical expertise to prepare his website, electronic brochures and striking e-mails, and tapped his connections made through his practice and State Bar service into joining his steering committee. Andrew’s long and active service to the bar and community include serving as the President of the Texas Young Lawyers Association and the Executive Committee of the Environmental & Natural Resources Law Section.

After the whirlwind of campaigning, the results were in the evening of May 2nd. Although the campaign did not end the way he had hoped, Andrew has no regrets. “It was a great honor to run. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting attorneys from around the State. I am very excited for my opponent, Gib Walton, who will make an excellent President of the State Bar. I wish him well in all his endeavors as he leads our Bar in coming years."