 Rachael Rolon
Director and President
Rachael is with the international law firm of Andrews Kurth, L.L.P. as Counsel in the Litigation section of The Woodlands office where focuses her practice on oil and gas litigation. She also handles a broad array of trial and appellate matters involving contract disputes, business torts, intellectual property, employment, general negligence and products liability. Previously, she was a Partner with Drucker, Rutledge & Smith, LLP in The Woodlands, an Associate with Kaye Scholer, L.L.P. in New York, New York, and an Associate with Fulbright and Jaworski, L.L.P. in Dallas, Texas. She is licensed to practice law in both Texas and New York.
Rachael received her B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Spanish, summa cum laude, in 1996, from the University of Saint Thomas. She received her J. D. in 1999 from The University of Texas School of Law.
She previously served The Woodlands Bar Association as Secretary and Vice President of Community Relations. She is also a member of the Houston Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association, Executive Women’s Alliance, Women in Energy Network, and is an alumnus of the 2005 Leadership Montgomery County class.
 Amanda Johnston
Director and Secretary
Ms. Johnston is an associate at Stibbs & Co., P.C., with a practice focusing on estate planning, probate and business transactional work. She received her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Sam Houston State University and her Juris Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from South Texas College of Law.
Ms. Johnston is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, The Woodlands Bar Association, Chair of the Estate Planning & Probate Section of The Woodlands Bar Association, the Houston Bar Association, the Probate, Trusts & Estates section of the Houston Bar Association, and the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.
Eric Thiergood
Director and Treasurer
 Teresa DeFord
Director and Co-Vice President – Continuing Legal Education
Teresa is a partner with Rathwell DeFord & Wallison, PLLC, which has made The Woodlands its home since 1999. Teresa grew up in Michigan and studied political philosophy and criminal justice at Michigan State University. After graduating from college, Teresa worked as an intelligence analyst with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Houston. Teresa graduated cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center. During law school, Teresa was a member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and the Order of the Barons, and was also Senior Articles Editor for the Houston Law Review. Teresa was admitted to the Texas bar in 1995 and the Louisiana bar in 2001.
Over the last 15 years, Teresa’s legal practice has focused primarily on personal injury defense trial law with an emphasis on trucking and oilfield injury litigation defense. Teresa also handles business and employment law matters, family law matters, and civil appeals.
Teresa is active in The Woodlands community where she is a director for The Woodlands Bar Association, the Montgomery County Bar Associations, and The Community Clinic, a local free health care clinic. Teresa enjoys playing golf and is active with Women on Course, a women’s golf organization. Teresa is also active in The Woodlands Chamber of Commerce and is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Montgomery County.
Kirby Hopkins
Director and Vice President - Social
 Karla LaFitte
Director and Vice President - Membership
Ms. LaFitte is the sole proprietor of The LaFitte Law Firm. She received her Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Texas A&M University and her Juris Doctorate degree from South Texas College of Law. In addition to The Woodlands Bar Association she is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, the Houston Bar Association, and the Texas Bar Association, as well as the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce. Ms. LaFitte’s practice focuses on estate planning, probate and animal law.
 Angela Speight
Director and Vice President - Public Relations
Angela is an associate at Stibbs & Co., P.C., a Woodlands-based transactional firm established in 2003. Before joining Stibbs & Co., she served as Briefing Attorney for Judge Fred Edwards, 9th Judicial District Court in Montgomery County, Texas. Angela attended Baylor University with a major in International Studies and the University Of Texas School Of Law in Austin, Texas. Raised in The Woodlands, she values local business and charitable organizations, volunteering her time to chair the Montgomery County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Spring Kids Picnic, as Scholarship Committee Chair of the Alden Bridge Village Association, as Recruitment Reference Board Chair of The Woodlands Area Theta Alumnae and with the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber. Angela is a member of both The Woodlands and Montgomery County Bar Associations.
 Susan Turney
Director and Vice President – Community Affairs
Susan Turney owns an active Business Law and Estate Planning firm located in The Woodlands Town Center, focusing on the business and estate planning needs of companies, owners and executives. She previously served on the WBA Board of Directors from 2006-2008, and is active in the community through several charitable and civic organizations.
 Melissa Proctor
Director
Melissa Proctor is the briefing attorney for the 9th Judicial District Court, Montgomery County, Texas. She received her Juris Doctorate from The University of Texas School of Law in 2002. While in law school, she was a 3-year recipient of a merit-based Endowed Presidential Scholarship and an Officer of the Board of Advocates. Ms. Proctor earned her bachelor's degree with honors in Business-Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin in 1998.
Prior to joining the 9th District Court, Ms. Proctor was in private practice as an associate attorney with The Strong Firm, P.C. Her practice in The Woodlands, Texas focused primarily on transactional matters including contract reviews, commercial real estate, energy matters, and entity formation. Ms. Proctor is licensed by the State Bar of Texas, the State Bar of Colorado, and the United States District Court - District of Colorado. Ms. Proctor’s Colorado practice was based in civil litigation with a primary focus on insurance defense and workers’ compensation defense.
Melissa is serves on the Board of Directors of The Woodlands Bar Association and previously served as its Vice President of Membership. She is also currently serving as Secretary to The Woodlands Young Lawyers Association, and is a graduate of the 2008 class of Leadership Montgomery County. She is also a member of the Houston Area Alumni Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, LMC Alumni, and Montgomery County Friends of the Library.
Jimmie Price
Director
James Stilwell
Director
James H. Stilwell is a partner with Martin, Stilwell and Jones, LLP. He has a varied litigation practice that includes probate, trust and fiduciary lawsuits; developer and commercial real estate litigation; homeowner’s association work; commercial policyholder insurance claims; and commercial/business disputes. Several of the cases that James was involved in have been published, including: In re Estate of Hersey, (Tex.App.—Amarillo, 2006); Lee v. Hersey, 223 S.W.3d 439 (Tex.App.—Amarillo, 2006); Paul v. Merrill Lynch Trust Co. of Texas, 183 S.W.3d 805 (Tex.App.—Waco, 2005); and Parks v. Landfill Marketing Consultants, Inc., 2004 WL 1351545 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.], June 17, 2004).
James earned a Bachelor of Arts double degree in Economics and Political Science from Baylor University in 1992 and his Juris Doctorate degree from The University of Texas, School of Law in 1995. He is admitted to practice before all Texas Courts, as well as several federal district courts (including the Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals).
In addition to authoring numerous law journal articles, publications and seminar papers, James regularly gives presentations to business groups and to attorneys for continuing education. Recent offerings include (1) Business Planning for Uncertain Times: Dealing with the "Killer D's" (Death; Disability; Divorce; Departure and Downturn); (2) Effective Opening Statements for the 21st Century; and (3) Creditor Exempt Assets -- When You Can’t Take It with You, and the Creditors Can’t Take It Either!
James also currently serves the community as a former Vice President of The Woodlands Bar Association, as a Director of Leadership Montgomery County, as a current Director (and former Vice President) of the Woodlands Chamber of Commerce; as a Trustee of Wildwood United Methodist Church; and through regular blood donations and television commercial appearances for the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. James has also participated in the Woodlands Bar Association’s Pro Bono “Wills for Heroes” Project since its inception. In 2005, James was awarded the Woodlands Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Award for service to the Chamber and the Community.
Russell Miller
Director
 Justice Charles Kreger, Texas Ninth Court of Appeals, Place 2
Director
Charles Kreger was born on June 27, 1959, in Klein, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1982 from the University of Houston. In 1985, he received a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas. For 18 years, his law practice emphasized business and consumer litigation, from both prosecution and defense, as well as family law, as a member of a small law firm and as a solo practitioner, with jury trials in courts all across the State of Texas, as well as appellate law. He was elected to the position of Justice of the Ninth Court of Appeals, Place 2, in 2004 and re-elected to a second term in 2010, receiving 74% of the vote in a contested election.
During his first 6-year term on the court, Justice Kreger presided over more than 550 cases and has participated in over 2000 decisions.
Justice Kreger remains actively involved in the communities which the court serves through community service projects and frequent speaking engagements for civic organizations, schools and local legal organizations. Justice Kreger is a recent graduate of the Texas College for Judicial Studies where he continues his legal specialization in appellate law. He was recently selected as a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation for his continuing contributions to the Texas legal community.
Justice Kreger has been married to his high school sweetheart, Edith Kreger, since 1977. They have two adult children, Joshua and Jessica, who are both married and gainfully employed.
Justice Kreger is a past director of the Montgomery County Bar Association and has served on the boards of various civic organizations. He and his wife are active members of Conroe Community Church.
 Richard Judge
Director
Mr. Judge is an attorney with The Ward Law Firm, based in The Woodlands, Texas. Mr. Judge attended South Texas College of Law, where he was a member of Phi Delta Phi International Honors Fraternity. He received his undergraduate business degree from the University of Texas.
Mr. Judge’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts. He is licensed to practice in the State of Texas; United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit; and United States District Court, Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts.
Mr. Judge is also a member of the Texas State Bar Construction Law Section, Texas Young Lawyers Association, Harris County Bar Association, Montgomery County Bar Association, Texas Exes, Longhorn Foundation, South Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, and Woodlands United Methodist Church. Mr. Judge was raised in Conroe, Texas and makes his home in The Woodlands, Texas with his wife, Alison, and their two sons.
Kevin Shea
Director
Mr. Shea is a shareholder with the law firm of Stirman & Shea, P. C. His practice focuses in the
area of consumer and commercial law which includes litigating matters in real estate, business
and construction.
Mr. Shea was admitted to practice law under the State Bar of Texas in May of 2000. He is also
admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Mr. Shea completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas in Austin. He then
attended St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio, Texas where he received his Juris Doctorate.
Mr. Shea is Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization.
Mr. Shea is a member of the Houston Bar Association, the Construction Litigation Section
of the Texas Bar Association, Consumer Law Section of the Texas Bar Association and the
Montgomery County Bar Association.
Aaron Russell
Director and Vice President - Website
Aaron R. Russell is a Land Representative at ExxonMobil Production Company. Aaron has worked for ExxonMobil for 4 years and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 2007.
Aaron received his Juris Doctorate degree from South Texas College of Law where he was on the Editorial Board of Currents: International Trade Law Journal and Co-Founder and Treasurer of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society—STCL Chapter. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University where he won NCAA Academic All-America and NCAA First Team Athletic All-America honors.
Aaron is a Director and the Webmaster of The Woodlands Bar Association. He is also on the Board of Directors of NHAPL and is active member of the AAPL. Aaron is fluent in Portuguese and conversant in Spanish. |
