April Faith-Slaker Introduction of State Bar of Texas Executive Director Trey Apffel
Trey Apffel State Bar of Texas Updates and Announcements; Introduction of Keynote Speaker Nikole Nelson
E.A. “Trey” Apffel III became executive director of the State Bar of Texas in December 2017. A longtime Galveston County trial lawyer, he previously was the owner and principal of the Apffel Law Firm in League City, where he focused on personal injury litigation, toxic torts, medical malpractice, and family law. He is certified in both civil trial law and personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Apffel has served as State Bar of Texas president (2014-2015), on the State Bar Board of Directors, and as a member of the board’s Executive Committee. He is a former member of the Commission for Lawyer Discipline, a member of the Texas Bar College, a Texas Bar Foundation Life Fellow, and served on the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees.
Nikole Nelson Keynote Address
Nikole Nelson is the founding CEO of Frontline Justice. Prior to joining Frontline Justice, Nikole was the Executive Director of Alaska Legal Services Corporation, Alaska’s only statewide provider of free civil aid. During her 25 years in the field, she worked to build community-led, people-centered justice models and to expand the scope of who can provide legal help, including the groundbreaking launch of Partnering for Native Health, a medical-legal Partnership involving non-lawyer justice workers that won the 2019 World Justice Challenge. She also spearheaded reforming restrictions on unauthorized practice of law for justice workers in Alaska—these reforms were approved in 2022 by both the Alaska Supreme Court and State Bar Board of Governors. Nikole is a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense (SCLAID) and is a member of the Legal Services Corporation’s Rural Justice Task Force.
