Five applicants for State Bar of Texas president-elect will have an opportunity later this month to convince a bar panel that they should be nominated to run for the post in 2019.

The bar's Nominations and Elections Subcommittee will interview the five hopefuls Aug. 29 in Austin. For this election cycle, potential candidates must come from nonmetropolitan counties.

Those scheduled to be interviewed are: Diane V. DeVasto, of counsel with Potter Minton in Tyler; Roger A. Key, a partner in Key, Terrell & Seger in Lubbock; Larry McDougal, attorney with the Law Office of Larry P. McDougal in Richmond; Roy D. Brantley, a partner in West, Webb, Allbritton & Gentry in College Station; and Jeanne C. “Cezy” Collins, a government attorney in El Paso.

A 1974 graduate of Baylor Law, DeVasto had a 23-year career in the judiciary before she joined Potter Minton in 2006. She served as a justice on the 12th Court of Appeals and as a judge for the 241st District Court, Smith County Court-at-Law and Tyler Municipal Court. Mediation and alternative dispute resolution are a primary focus of her current practice.

Noting that she has been a lawyer for 44 years and that the profession has been good to her, DeVasto said she would like to give something back to the legal profession.

“I just feel like I've got a lot of experience that would be useful,” she said.

DeVasto said her major goal, if she becomes bar president, would be to work on relations with the courts and support of the courts.

Key graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1976 and co-founded Key & Terrell in 1981 with his father, Marion T. Key. Roger Key has a general business practice and also serves as chairman of Lubbock National Bank.

“The legal profession has been incredibly good to us and I want to return something to the State Bar,” Key said when asked his reason for applying to the president-elect post.

Key said there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction among members and the State Bar and that there is a perception of insiders and outsiders. He said that he would like to try to unify the bar.

“I would like to try to heal that wound between insiders and outsiders,” he said.

Key also emphasized the need for the State Bar has to be completely transparent about its financial matters.

McDougal, a 1990 graduate of South Texas College of Law in Houston, focuses his practice on administrative law, criminal defense, driving under the influence/driving while intoxicated cases and representing plaintiffs in motor vehicle accidents and personal injury cases. He previously served as a police officer, sheriff's deputy, prosecutor and municipal judge.

If he becomes the bar's president, his term would be called “The Year of the Lawyer,” McDougal said.

“I'm not looking to come in and turn the bar upside down … I just want to make it a better place,” he said.

McDougal said he wants to find ways the bar can make lawyers' lives less stressful, including putting together a program through which lawyers could go online to get their basic continuing legal education for free.

Brantley, a 1985 graduate of South Texas College of Law, worked for a year following graduation as a law clerk for then-Texas Supreme Court Justice C.L. Ray Jr. He is now a personal injury attorney at West Webb. In 2008-2009, he served as president of the Brazos County Bar Association and also co-founded the Young Lawyers Association in Bryan-College Station.

Asked why he wants to lead the State Bar, Brantley said he would be honored to serve the legal profession across the state.

“The goal would be to highlight professionalism and service of the State Bar of Texas so that the public and the members can see we're doing really great work,” he said.

Collins has worked in a variety of positions since she graduated from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1991. She currently is general counsel for the El Paso Independent School District and also has been a partner in Kent Smith's litigation department, an assistant county attorney in the El Paso County Attorney's Office and has worked with El Paso Legal Assistance Society.

Collins did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although only five applicants have been selected for interviews by the bar subcommittee, others may be named.

The election for president-elect will be conducted April 1-30, 2019. Bar President Joe Longley of Austin wrote in his July 19 message to bar members that the 2019 race will be the first under a new State Bar election process designed to more closely align the campaign periods for board-nominated candidates and petition candidates.