Travis Sales comes from a family of lawyers and bar leaders, and grew up surrounded by Houston’s greatest legal minds. His administration will focus on providing greater access to the legal system for all Houstonians, particularly veterans.

THL: Tell me where you grew up and where you went to school.

Sales: I’m a native Houstonian. I was born in 1962 and spent my early years in the Sharpstown area. I remember our first house. Three bedrooms, one bath, with one window unit air conditioner that my brother, sister and I would sneak out at night and sleep in front of in the middle of the summer. In 1969 we moved to west Houston. I went through the Spring Branch public school system, and I graduated from Stratford High School in 1980.

Then I attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate, obtaining a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, with a major in accounting, in 1984. I went directly to UT Law School, graduating with a J.D. in 1987.

THL:Tell me about your family.

Sales: My parents are James and Beuna Mae Sales, and I’m very proud of them. My dad is now of counsel with Fulbright & Jaworski. He was a long-time partner and head of the litigation section at Fulbright. I have an older brother, Mark, who is a partner at the K&L Gates law firm, formerly Hughes & Luce, in Dallas. My sister, Debbie Elmore, is a partner at Cruse Scott Henderson & Allen law firm here in Houston.

As for my immediate family, I’m married to a wonderful woman, Sandy, and we will celebrate 21 years of marriage in January. We have three beautiful children. Katie is 17, and she is going to be a senior at Memorial High School. Emily is 15, and she’s going to be a sophomore at Memorial. My son, James, just turned 12 and will be going into the 6th grade at Spring Branch Junior High School. They are great kids, mainly because they have a great Mom.

THL: You are the third HBA president to have a father who was also president of the HBA. Did your father’s history of service to the bar influence you to become a lawyer, and to get involved with the HBA?

Sales: I think it is safe to say that my dad loves the law, and he loves the Houston Bar Association and the State Bar, having served as president of both.  But my dad and mom never pushed us to be lawyers. They always said, “You can be whatever you want to be, do whatever you want to do.” While both went to UT, they didn’t even object when my brother decided to go to Texas A&M. I do think the way my dad conducted himself over the years, led us to not only want to become lawyers, but also to get involved in service to the bar.  I also had the great fortune of growing up around some of the best lawyers in Houston.  Lawyers are great conversationalists and interesting people. So at a fairly young age, I knew I wanted to become a lawyer. I’m very excited to now have the opportunity to try to follow in my dad’s footsteps with service to the Houston Bar Association.

THL:Tell me about your first job out of law school.

Sales: I actually worked in the supply room of Baker Botts in the summer of 1980, before I went to the University of Texas as an undergraduate. In the summer of 1986, I came back to Houston and worked as a law clerk at Baker Botts, as well as two other firms. I joined Baker Botts in September of 1987, and I’m coming up on 22 years with the firm in September.

THL:Tell me about your law practice.

Sales: I have always done litigation work, mainly personal injury defense. I have also represented clients in commercial litigation, on both sides of the docket. I started out working on insurance defense and automobile product liability cases. I now primarily handle pharmaceutical product liability defense and commercial matters.

THL:Who are some of the people that you consider your mentors, either in the law or in life?

Sales: Certainly my father and mother have been great influences. As I mentioned, I had the great fortune of growing up around some incredible lawyers. One of our dear family friends is Wayne Fisher, who is like a second father to me. Through various bar trips, ABA meetings and IADC meetings, I was able to meet people like Ralph Carrigan, Paul Stallings, and Dick Hogan, as well as many of the great lawyers at Fulbright & Jaworski and Baker Botts. One of my roommates in college was Kevin Krist. We had a lot of fun, and I was able to hang out quite a bit with his dad, Ron Krist. Talk about a great conversationalist.

When I started at Baker Botts, I worked with Ralph Carrigan, Bob Malinak, Richard Josephson, and some really tremendous trial lawyers. I’ve been fortunate to know real professionals on both sides of the docket, both in their professional lives as well as their personal lives. It’s hard to name them all, but those are a few who really stand out.

THL:How did you first get involved with the HBA?

Sales:I was taught mainly by example that you need to do more than just practice law to have a full, rich professional life. I started working on and off with the bar as an associate, and the firm encouraged me. I ran for the HBA board in 2001. One of my favorite quotes is: “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” I think there’s a lot of truth in that saying. It shouldn’t be just about making money and practicing your piece of the profession.

It’s also a lot of fun. Getting involved in the HBA is a great way to meet and work with people that you normally don’t get to work with – people from different practice areas, different size firms, family lawyers, criminal lawyers, lawyers from all over Houston.  I have an entire set of lawyers and community friends and contacts that but for my bar involvement, I would not have. And at the end of the day, it is rewarding to have given something back to the profession and the community.

THL:What are some of the HBA committees and programs you’ve worked on?

Sales: There have been many different, interesting ones. I was one of the committee chairs that helped start the IDEA Committee, which teams doctors and lawyers to speak at schools and educate fifth graders about the legal and medical consequences of drug addiction and drug use. It was rewarding to help get that committee off the ground and running. Chairing the CLE Committee was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I think our CLE programs are one of the great benefits to HBA members, providing top-notch CLE programs either at no charge or at a very affordable cost. I’ve been chair of the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program. I think out of all the programs we sponsor at the bar, HVLP may be the most rewarding and most important. You are providing access to justice to people who can’t otherwise afford it. Our members can really feel good about the profession working through that committee. I’ve worked with many committees and programs over the years, and I enjoyed them all.

THL:What do you think is the role of an organized bar like the HBA in society today?

Sales: Its role is to provide service to its members, as well as to society in general, to educate the community about the law, and to let the public know about the great work that lawyers do for our justice system, as well as our community. I believe it is important to have one group that focuses on service to its members and the community, that is basically “one-stop shopping.” If you are a lawyer in Houston, by joining the Houston Bar Association you can get your CLE, keep up with news, join a specialty section. Whatever particular interest you have in civic or non-professional work for the community, you can work through the HBA. Membership also provides excellent networking opportunities. Now that the legal community in Houston is so large, it’s especially important to have one organization that keeps track of all of those avenues for service to members and to our community.

THL:What do you see as your role in the organization?

Sales: I hope it’s to lead by example, not just to talk, but to do. I think action spurs others to action, so I want to get out into the community to make sure people know that lawyers are professionals, that they care about one another, that they care about the profession, that they care about citizens in Houston. I think it is also important to make people aware of how diverse and accepting the bar is of all groups, all practice areas, all size firms. I want the HBA to continue to expand, and I think we have a successful, longstanding voluntary bar because we do serve all of the members. We want to continue to make sure that everyone is welcome.

THL:What will you focus on during your administration?

Sales: We have some exciting new projects this year. One, we’re going to focus on serving our veterans’ legal needs. We will expand our legal clinics through the VA hospital, from one Friday each month to every Friday. We will hold legal clinics every month at DeGeorge at Union Station and Midtown Terrace, two homes for veterans recovering from addiction and disability, to provide them legal counseling on various topics of law and to answer their legal questions. We want to work with all veterans to try to improve their access to justice for any legal issue, but certainly for disability benefits. There has been a lot of discussion about bottlenecks in the system for veterans’ disability benefits, something that does not need to happen to people who have served our country. They deserve to have full access to the all of their benefits, as well as full access to the justice system.

We will also meet with the leaders of the VFW and American Legion to discuss providing legal assistance through counseling on a quarterly basis, and we will provide legal counseling at musters and stand downs for returning veterans. The bottom line is we’re going to dramatically increase our service to veterans. We welcome everyone who would like to volunteer for this program. There is a lot of pro bono work done in the city, but it doesn’t suit everyone’s interest. I hope that this is an area where people, regardless of their political views, can rally around the fact that our veterans deserve to be treated with respect and deserve to have full access to our justice system. They’ve sacrificed for us, so it’s time to give back. This is a way we can uniquely do that as lawyers.

THL:I know you were also able to facilitate a new program in our courts that will begin in September.

Sales: That is another focus. With the assistance of the district judges, the administrative judges, the district clerk’s office and the sheriff’s office, we will unveil the first family evening court in Harris County. It will be once a month, starting September 9. It will enable those with eligible uncontested family law matters, who are either pro se or who are represented by a pro bono attorney, to come to court after hours - from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The litigants can make appointments ahead of time and will not have to miss work. Hopefully, this will also relieve some of the congestion on the crowded family court dockets. I’m really excited about the project. It has the full support, as does our veterans’ initiative, of the mayor, the county judge, and all of our public officials.

Also, we will continue to promote pro bono and volunteerism among our HBA members and all Harris County lawyers. For the first time ever we are going to have an official judicial pro bono awards ceremony, with winners selected by the judges. There will be awards in five categories -- small firm, mid-size firm, large firm, corporation, and an overall outstanding lawyer. Candidates may self-nominate or may be nominated by an outside party. The main criteria for the award is outstanding pro bono service without any compensation. The winners will be permanently recognized on plaques in the ready rooms of the civil, criminal, family law, and juvenile justice courthouses.

THL:What other programs are coming up?

Sales: There are a couple of other things we have going on this year. One is our participation in the Anna E. Casey Juvenile Justice Initiative, which will examine and make recommendations on our juvenile detention procedures and facilities. The HBA will have a representative on the executive committee of that organization and will help implement ideas to improve the way we, as a society, deal with juvenile justice.

Then finally, we will work through our Historical Committee, the Texas Historical Commission, and the mayor’s office on selecting and displaying documents and artifacts that tell the amazing history of the Houston Bar Association and the Harris County courts when the 1910 courthouse renovations are complete in the next couple of years.

THL:What do you think has changed most about the practice of law since you were licensed in 1987?

Sales:I think there have been many changes in the almost 22 years I’ve been practicing, mostly for the better. I know people can look back to days when the bar was smaller and the nature of our practice was different and long for the good old days. But for the most part, I think there have been improvements in our profession. The makeup of the bar is much more diverse than it was 22 years ago. There are many more women in positions of power and as partners in law firms. The bar is much more ethnically diverse. Those are definite positives.

From a practical aspect, nothing has changed more dramatically than technology. When I started, we still did not have personal computers. Lawyers did not have cell phones and Blackberries. That technology has dramatically increased the pace of the practice of law, which is both good and bad. It has certainly improved communication and changed the ways in which people practice. Cases also seem to be larger, with fewer small case dockets. It’s a challenge to get young lawyers the trial experience that we were getting a couple of decades ago. I think the profession needs to continue to work on finding opportunities for young lawyers to get that experience.

THL:Are you involved with any other organizations?

Sales:I am. I have the privilege of now serving on the executive committee of the University of Texas Law School Alumni Association. I am also a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute.

THL:What do you like to do outside the practice of law?

Sales:I enjoy spending time with my family and being involved in what they’re doing. My children are very important to me, so I am involved in their activities. Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at coaching baseball, football and soccer here and there. I certainly enjoy following University of Texas sports, of course more so when they win! And I enjoy playing golf and tennis, when I have the opportunity. The golf game needs some work, though. I recently received some new golf clubs, which unfortunately confirmed to me that the equipment is not the problem.

THL:Is there anything else that you would like HBA members to know?

Sales: Just that I’m very proud of our profession, and I’m humbled to have the opportunity to serve as president of the HBA. I’m going to do my absolute best to represent all lawyers and be as inclusive as possible. My goal is to encourage involvement. We’ve got some very exciting, worthwhile projects going on this year that will serve our community and our profession well. I would love to have more of our members get involved.