Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion

CHIEF JUSTICE SANDEE BRYAN MARION is a San Antonio, Texas native who graduated from Robert E. Lee (now known as Legacy of Educational Excellence High School) in 1974. She earned a Spanish degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1980. During law school, Chief Justice Marion was President of the Student Bar Association from 1979-1980.

After law school, Chief Justice Marion practiced law in Boerne, Texas. She credits the small-town setting with giving her a chance to handle a wide range of cases and assisting with building the professional confidence she needed to join the San Antonio Law Firm Sawtelle, Goode, Davidson & Troilo in 1986. In 1992, Chief Justice Marion was elected to Bexar County Probate Court No. 2. In 2002, Chief Judge Marion was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Fourth Court of Appeals until 2014 when she defeated Irene Alarcon Rios in a general election for the position of Chief Justice. Currently, Chief Justice Marion continues to serve as the Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals.

Chief Justice Marion represents the second of three generations of St. Mary’s Law graduates, preceded by her father and followed by her daughter, Natalee. During her career as a lawyer, Chief Justice Marion served as the first woman president of the Rotary Club of San Antonio in 1998 and president of the Board of the St. Mary’s Law Alumni Association from 2004-2005. Chief Justice Marion was also recognized as a distinguished graduate of St. Mary’s University School of Law and was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in 2016.

By John Cadena, St. Mary’s University Law Fellows in Public History (2018), with Chief Justice Sandee Bryan Marion.

References: 

State Bar of Texas, Find A Lawyer, (09/14/15), https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=185398.