Judge Clifford Brown, Sylvia Faye Hardman-Dingle, and Dexter Gilford were the honorees at the 2024 Austin Black Lawyers Association Foundation (ABLAF) Andrea Pair Bryant Legacy Luncheon. The trio was honored for their significant contributions to the African American legal community.
Judge Eric Shepperd emceed the event, which was held at Chateau Bellevue. ABLAF President Ayeola Williams and ABLA President Johnathan Stone welcomed and thanked the guests. Velva Price chaired the luncheon.
Attendees at the luncheon included many judges from the Travis County Criminal and Civil District Courts, justices from the Third Court of Appeals, and members of the Austin Bar Association’s executive board.
The Legacy Luncheon is named after Andrea Pair Bryant, one of ABLA’s founders, who was always a “woman with a mission” and an iconic figure who held a deep passion for law, the arts and volunteerism.
All funds raised by the luncheon are for ABLAF’s Virgil C. Lott and Heman Sweatt scholarships.
Judge Clifford Brown
Judge Clifford A. Brown was introduced by Gary Cobb, retired Assistant District Attorney and private counsel.
Judge Brown received his B.B.A. in business management & finance from Adelphi University in New York, and earned a J.D. at The George Washington University in Washington D.C.
Judge Brown has worked both sides of the aisle, as both a defense attorney and prosecutor. Upon graduating law school, he served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office in New York City. In 1993, he entered private practice as a partner in the New York City firm of Jackson, Brown, Powell, and St. George.
Judge Brown and his family relocated to Austin from the New York metropolitan area in 1999, whereupon he worked for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. He once again began to prosecute the most serious of cases in the district courts of Travis County, such as homicide, aggravated robbery, and child as well as adult sexual assaults.
In 2004, Judge Brown was selected to serve in a newly created position as a Community Prosecutor in the North Central area of Austin, where he served as a liaison working in partnership with various community residents, groups, and organizations, as well as the Austin Police Department, seeking to help facilitate solutions to local problems, thereby strengthening neighborhoods.
In January of 2007, Judge Brown was selected by the City Manager to serve as the City of Austin Police Monitor. This office was the vehicle for citizens to file complaints of misconduct against the Austin Police Department. The office oversaw the investigation of those complaints to provide a sense of transparency to that process, thereby enhancing public confidence and support of the police department.
In November 2010, Judge Brown was elected to serve as judge of the 147th District Court in Travis County. He took the bench in January 2011 and now presides over the most serious felony cases, ensuring that all participants in the criminal justice system are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. He is presently the Presiding Judge of the Travis County Criminal Courts.
Judge Brown serves as a member of the Deacon’s Ministry at his church, Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church. He is a past board member and volunteer basketball coach with the Lake Travis Youth Association. In addition, Judge Brown has served as a mentor within the Austin Independent School District.
Judge Brown is a regular facilitator at the African American Youth Harvest Foundation’s monthly African American Men and Boys Conferences. He is a past board member of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement; is co-chair of the Austin chapter of the “Do the Write Thing” anti-violence and bullying program; is a board member of the Bakari Foundation; and is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Function Committee.
Sylvia Faye Hardman-Dingle
Sylvia Faye Hardman-Dingle was introduced by Mary Wolfe, former Associate Commissioner for the Texas Rehabilitation Commission (TRC).
Hardman-Dingle received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.
She began her legal career as an assistant attorney general in the tax division. Next, she worked as a staff attorney in the fraud unit of the Texas Department of Insurance, in both civil and criminal law enforcement agencies.
Hardman-Dingle served as the Deputy Commissioner for Legal Services, General Counsel and Ethics Advisor for the TRC from 1998 to 2004, and was the first and only Director of Legal Services, General Counsel and Ethics Advisor for the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, TRC’s successor agency, from 2004 to 2016. She retired from the State in 2016, after 30 years of service.
After retirement, Hardman-Dingle accepted a temporary appointment as Interim Director of the Office of Police Oversight from 2021 to 2023.
She is a graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program, and has served on several volunteer boards and committees, including: the Austin Police Monitor’s Office’s Citizen Review Panel; the Ethics Review Commission for the City of Austin; the Austin Tenants Council; the Travis County Fee Dispute Committee; the Civil Service Commission for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office; and the State Bar Grievance Committee, where she has served as both a regular member and District Chair.
She is a lifetime member of ABLA, where she has served in the following positions: secretary, treasurer, coordinator for ABLA participation in Volunteer Legal Services, and chair of the Virgil C. Lott Scholarship Committee.
Dexter Gilford
Dexter Gilford was introduced by Rickey Jones, Senior Director at the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
Gilford graduated from UT Law in 1992 and has practiced law in Bexar and Travis counties for 25 years, aside from the five years during which he returned to graduate school. Gilford has devoted the entirety of his professional career to either the practice or teaching and writing about criminal law and procedure. Although primarily a trial lawyer, Gilford has represented scores of clients in transactional matters, criminal investigations, and administrative proceedings.
Gilford began his career as a prosecutor with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. In 1995, he went into private practice. Gilford was a solo practitioner in Austin from 1995 until 2013, limiting his practice to the defense of criminal cases in both state and federal courts. He tried cases involving charges ranging from class A and B misdemeanors to felony capital murder charges carrying the death penalty at a time when local Travis County juries were known to return death verdicts. By trial or plea, none of Gilford’s capital defendants were sentenced to death.
In 2005, Gilford was awarded Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year by the State Bar of Texas, after securing the acquittal of a young man he continues to believe was wrongfully accused of capital murder. During this period, Gilford proudly maintained membership in the State Bar’s Texas Bar College and Pro Bono College.
Gilford has served as a director of both the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
From 1999 to 2013, Gilford was a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Board of Trial Advocates.
Gilford is board-certified in Criminal Law and was recognized as a Criminal Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. During this period, Gilford was a frequent presenter at CLE seminars to criminal practitioners both locally and statewide.
Gilford also served as a Commissioner for the Civil Service Commission for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
In 2012, Gilford took a hiatus from the practice of law and returned to San Antonio to care for his mother prior to her death, while also pursuing a graduate degree at Our Lady of the Lake University. While doing so, he taught criminal law and related courses locally at the community college and university levels.
In Gilford, Dexter was invited to return to the practice of law and joined the Travis County District Attorney’s Office as the director of the Office’s newly formed Civil Rights Unit, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of law enforcement cases involving allegations of the unlawful use of force. Gilford has served in this capacity since 2017.
Gilford is the father of four children—Anicet, Talai, Ayo, and Kali—whose ages range from 8 to 29, and two grandchildren.
Judge Harriet Murphy
Judge Yvonne Williams also gave a heartfelt tribute to Judge Harriet Murphy, one of ABLA’s founders, who recently passed at the age of 96.
Judge Murphy was born in Atlanta, Ga. on June 6, 1927. She received her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College, master’s degree from Clark Atlanta University, and law degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 1969.
In 1973, she was the first African American woman appointed to a regular judgeship in Texas, and served on the City of Austin Municipal Court for twenty years. Before joining the municipal court, she was in private practice and served as the head of the government department at Huston-Tillotson University.
Judge Murphy was a charter member of organizations including the Austin Urban League, ABLA, and the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association.
Judge Murphy was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Hall of Fame in 2010. The National Bar Association also awarded her the Raymond Pace Alexander Award in 2005 and the Gertrude E. Rush Award in 2003.
She was the recipient of the first ABLA Legacy Award in 2010, and received from The University of Texas the first Thurgood Marshall Legal Society Award and the Yellow Rose of Texas Award.
The ABLAF especially thanks the following sponsors for such a successful event:
TRAILBLAZER
Gary Cobb
PIONEER
Austin Bar Association
Criminal Court Administration
Hon. Jose Garza
Sylvia Hardman-Dingle
Lloyd Gosselink
Justice Chari Kelly
Hon. Velva L. Price
MENTOR
Justice Thomas Baker
Judge Jessica Mangrum
Jaustin Ohueri
Gabrielle Smith
Judge Jan Soifer
LEADER
Judge Selena Alvarenga
Judge Carlos Barrera
Cassandra Charles
Judge Karin Crump
Judge Laurie Eiserloh
Michael Fallings
Robynn Fletcher
Justice of the Peace Raul Gonzalez
Mary Henderson
Judge Catherine Mauzy
Rose Ann Reeser
Judge Tim Sulak
Manfred Wellington
Justice of the Peace Yvonne Williams
Hon. Todd Wong