This month’s featured leader is Shannon Dacus, president of the Smith County Young Lawyers Association (SCYLA), which is based in Tyler. Shannon has been instrumental in reviving a local young lawyers organization that had faded away in recent years. Shannon’s non-Presidential time is spent as an associate at the law firm of Ramey & Flock, where she primarily practices in toxic tort litigation defense. She also acts as counsel for local school districts on a variety of topics, including employment issues, contract negotiations and disputes, personal injury claims, and district policies.

Shannon grew up in San Antonio and La Joya, Texas, the latter of which is a one-light town in South Texas. In 1990, she graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Arts. She majored in political science. While at UTSA, Shannon worked three different jobs simultaneously and still stayed involved, including serving as a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority. After undergrad, she attended law school at Baylor University and graduated in 1994. Shannon says that she chose Baylor because it had a great reputation for preparing its students for a litigation career. While at Baylor, Shannon met her future husband, Deron, who is a shareholder at Ramey & Flock. The couple has two wonderful children: Mason (5) and Sydney (3).

Shannon did not begin her career in Smith County. Rather, after law school, Shannon worked as an assistant attorney general in Fort Worth and then enjoyed a position with the Social Security Appeals office. While pregnant with their first child, Shannon and Deron decided they wanted to raise their family in a smaller city. Tyler was the perfect solution. According to Shannon, Tyler has been a wonderful place to live and, in her opinion, is a great place to raise children. She loves the legal community in Tyler, in part because the attorneys are very civil to one another and the judges are very accessible.

In 2001-02, Shannon served as Secretary of the Smith County Bar Association. During her tenure, she was encouraged to serve as president of the SCYLA. It was during this time that SCYLA was attempting to revive itself from a dormant period. Since Shannon has taken over as president, SCYLA has dramatically increased its number of members. SCYLA now has over 50 members, which is approximately half of the young lawyers in Smith County. Shannon has also helped SCYLA to improve its financial standing by obtaining grants from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Texas Young Lawyers Association. Similarly, SCYLA’s programs and projects have increased dramatically in number, as has member participation.

It is clear that Shannon has met, and exceeded, her goal this year of “just accomplishing something.” Although Shannon is a driving force behind the rejuvenation of SCYLA, she gives most of the credit for its recent success to her fellow officers and board members.

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