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honors
TEXAS BAR FOUNDATION Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion By Sara Dysart
Photo by DaVeck Studios, San Antonio Texas. Opposite page: photo by Natalee Marion.
8 San Antonio Lawyer | sabar.org
he Texas Bar Foundation honored then-Fourth Court Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion with the 2020 Samuel Pessara Outstanding Jurist Award. With the cancellation of the Texas Bar Foundation Dinner in June, Stephen Benesh, Chair of the Fellows, and Andrea Stone, Executive Director, presented this award to Chief Justice Marion at the Texas Center for the Judiciary Annual Conference on Texas Bar Foundation Day in September 2020. Chief Justice Marion’s acceptance remarks are reflective of the traits that made her so deserving of this award. Included in her comments was a message she received from District Judge Larry Noll at her swearing-in ceremony as an appellate judge—“Always remember that the practice of law is hard for most lawyers.” Attorneys, staff, and law students who crossed paths with Chief Justice Marion were always treated in a manner that made the practice of law a little less hard that day. Bexar County attorneys know Sandee Bryan Marion as practitioner, Probate Judge, Justice, and Chief Justice. Whether you worked with or opposite Sandee Marion as a practitioner or appeared before her in court, you have your own version of her professionalism and empathy. Chief Justice and Mayor Phil Hardberger, Chief Justice Catherine Stone, Probate Judge Polly Jackson Spencer, and Justice Beth Watkins share their experiences of Chief Justice Marion’s professionalism and empathy. A Reliable Antidote to Every Lawyer Joke Ever Told Chief Justice Phil Hardberger knew then-Judge Marion in the community and was aware of her excellent reputation as a Probate Judge when she was appointed to the Fourth Court of Appeals, where he served as Chief Justice. He immediately recognized Justice Marion as being fair-minded, pleasant, skilled in the law, and hard-working: “Justice Marion went immediately to work. She spent a minimum amount of time in socializing, and a maximum amount of time in working. When she walked into her chambers, it was all work.” He remembered on more than one occasion “walking by her chambers in the dwindling light of a dying day, the Court . . . quiet with the departure of the judges, lawyers, and clerks, and seeing her surrounded by law books, cases, and statements of fact.” Justice Marion’s hard work is reflected in opinions in which she “extends dignity and empathy to every lawyer or litigant who
