2007–2008
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Back Row: Charie Turner, Cheryl Bryan, Mona Chandler, Misti Janes,
Kristy Ritchie, Billy Hart, Debbie Guerra, Deborah Hathaway, Michele
Rayburn,
Deirdre Trotter, Kimberly Hennessy.
Front Row: Stephanie Hawkes, Robert
Soliz, Patricia Giuliano, Rhonda Brashears, Clara Buckland
 Patricia J. Giuliano
President
President
Patti is your new
President. She
has gained a lot
of experience
serving PD since
becoming a
member in 2001.
First, in 2003 she
co-chaired the
Socials Sub-
Committee of the LAU (now TAPS)
Planning Committee, and then served as
Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting Planning
Committee in 2004. Subsequent to the
Annual Meeting she was elected to serve as
director of District 5.
In addition to working with the
Division, Patti has also been active on the
Board for the Alamo Area Professional
Legal Assistants, Inc. having served as the
Professional Development Director in
2002-03, and was elected Treasurer for the
2003-04 Board year.
In addition to her paralegal organization
affiliations Patti also serves as the
Volunteer Coordinator for the San
Antonio Bar Association’s Community
Justice Program, and has served on the
San Antonio Bar Foundation’s Courthouse
Fun Run Committee since 2001.
Professionally speaking, Patti is an
intellectual property paralegal with Cox
Smith Matthews Incorporated, and has
over nine years experience working in this
field of law. Prior to her IP days, she
worked in medical malpractice defense
and practiced in corporate and estate planning
law as well. All told, she has worked
in the legal field for over 20 years.
Patti is married to Steve Giuliano and
they have two great kids and one beautiful
granddaughter. Having traveled throughout
the United States as a military wife
(now retired), she has been fortunate
enough to gain experience with the legal
process outside the state of Texas in such
places as California, Indiana, and Ohio.
She attended Indiana University in
Bloomington, Indiana, and received her
degree in paralegal studies from the ABAapproved
program at Sinclair Community
College in Dayton, Ohio.
 Rhonda J. Brashears, CP
President-Elect
Rhonda is a paralegal
in the firm
of Underwood,
Wilson, Berry,
Stein & Johnson,
P.C., Amarillo,
Texas, and has
been in the legal
profession for 21
years. She specializes
in personal injury and civil trial
defense law. She received her B.G.S. degree
from West Texas A&M University in 1998,
her CLA designation in 1996, and was
board certified by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization in Personal Injury Trial Law
in 1998.
Rhonda has been a member of the
Paralegal Division since 1990, and has
served as Director of District 7, 1996 until
2001, Secretary, 1999 to 2001, and was
President of the Division in 2002. She has
also served on various committees
throughout the years. Rhonda is also a
member of the Texas PanhandleAssociation of Paralegals, where she served
as President, President-Elect, Treasurer
and NALA Liaison.
Rhonda is a part-time instructor at
Amarillo College, teaching paralegal classes
in their Paralegal Studies program and
serves as the Chair of the Advisory
Committee for Amarillo College’s
Paralegal Studies program. Rhonda has
been married to her husband Rod for 14
years and they have two children, Cody
and Caitlyn.
 Robert Solis
Parliamentarian
Robert is a paralegal
at the
Victoria firm of
Cole, Cole &
Easley, P.C.
where he has
worked for the
past six years,
mainly under the
supervision of
Rex L. Easley, Jr. and Paul A. Romano.
Robert assists in all phases of the firm’s
personal injury docket, including product
defects, premise liability, auto accidents,
trucking accidents, oilfield accidents, construction
accidents, and wrongful death
cases, as well as the firm’s general civil litigation,
probate litigation and maritime law
practice. Prior to joining Cole, Cole and
Easley, Robert assisted in other areas of
law including appellate, bankruptcy
(debtor and creditor), insurance defense,
employment and family law in his 15-year
career.
Robert is currently obtaining his associate’s
degree in web page design and will
earn a bachelor's degree in networking and
troubleshooting, hoping to specialize in
computer graphic animation for accident
and injury reconstruction. He has been a
member of the Division since 1996 and has
been the District 8 Director from 2004 to
present. He was President and is now
Treasurer of his local legal association,
Crossroads Legal Association. Robert
became a Board Certified Paralegal in
Personal Injury Trial Law through the
Texas Board of Legal Specialization in
2006.
When Robert is not working at the law
firm, he is very active in other civic and
community organizations. He is a member
of the Victoria Northside Rotary
(Director 2003-2006 and Lane Chair in
2003), Victoria USBC Association (formally
Victoria YABA) as past President, Vice-
President and is currently a Director. In
addition, Robert coaches approximately 20
to 30 youth bowlers ranging from 5 to 22
years of age and his family hosts foreign
exchange students through the school
year. Robert’s family has hosted more than
30 students from Germany, Norway,
Brazil, Finland, Sweden, England, and
Italy in the past 9 years. Robert is also a
member of the Association of Trial
Lawyers of America (ATLA), the College of
the State Bar of Texas, and the American
Bar Association. Robert and his wife Leslie
have been married for 17 years and they
have two children—son, Mackenzie, age 13
and daughter, Devon, age 10.
 Clara Buckland, CP
Secretary
Clara is a
Certified
Paralegal with the
law firm of Kemp
Smith LLP, in El
Paso, Texas. She
has worked in the
firm’s specialty
area of Labor and
Employment Law
for nearly 13 years. She enjoys the discipline
of self study in the theories of
Management and Change Management.
Clara serves the Paralegal Division as
District 16 Director. At a time when she
was indecisive about her career path, Clara
went to work in the area of Family Law in
1988, and it was then that she discovered
the paralegal profession and loved it. Clara
would like to acknowledge the professionals
in her life who were instrumental to
her success as a paralegal—her current
boss and mentor, Michael D. McQueen,
and her former boss and mentor, Judge
Kathleen C. Anderson.
Clara received her A.A.S. in Paralegal
Studies from the El Paso Community
College and now serves on the college’s
Advisory Committee for the Paralegal
Program. Clara is a member of the El
Paso Paralegal Association and has served
on that organization’s board in various
capacities, including President in 2003, the
same year she received the Paralegal of the
Year Award.
Clara is married to Mark and they have
two lovely daughters, Jazmine and Olivia.
In addition, Clara has been blessed with
two beautiful grandchildren, Jason and
Maddie.
 Stephanie Hawkes, RP
Treasurer
Stephanie serves
as Treasurer of
the Paralegal
Division in the
second year of a
two year term as
District 2
Director.
Stephanie is a
Senior Paralegal
at Nissan North America, working in the
areas of automotive finance Compliance,
Privacy and Licensing.
Stephanie is a graduate of the
University of Texas at Austin and the
Lawyers Assistant Program at Southwest
Texas State University. In 1999, she
obtained her Registered Paralegal certification
from the National Federation of
Paralegal Associations.
Throughout her career, Stephanie has
been active in professional development of
paralegals. She has served in various positions
on several planning committees for
the Texas Advanced Paralegal Seminar and
Co-Chaired the Annual Meeting
Committee in 2005. She previously served
on the Board of the Dallas Area Paralegal
Association. In 2000, she was awarded the
“Volunteer of the Year” award and in 2001
was designated “Paralegal of the Year”.
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